Which Is Better - 3G or EVDO?

[kesav 127]

....It is just that theory and practical considerations are vastly different in Indian Scenario.

My dear friend, I never felt that you're criticizing me even in my dream. I want to make only one thing clear here is except for VORA, whatever I've quoted on 3G-CDMA on this thread are the things which is happening on the ground in India. On the contrary, whatever Ive quoted on 3G-GSM on this thread are mostly my best expectations in the current scenario which at the best I can only hope and pray itll become true. My purpose of these posts is to plead to everyone to look at the practical scenario of 3G-GSM in India rather than being lured by theoretical information thrown in the websites of the operators

.....If any operator has a technology like CDMA which enables it to offer high speed data on mobile and if it is able to do so within the spectrum allocated to it, there is no bar against it in the license conditions......

I feel really this need to be clarified. Never ever DoT officially allowed any CDMA operators to start 3G in the mobile phones. CDMA operators slowly and very slowly moved to this level of providing EVDO on handsets by playing cards very close to their chest. Initially they started providing EVDO on USB modems in the pretext of increasing broadband penetration. DoT saw this as an opportunity to increase broadband penetration since GSM operators didnt consider 3G on USB modems as a serious competition and didnt complain to DoT. This is the fundamental reason why CDMA operators started and continued their 3G operations only on USB modems for a long time. As the days passed by, when GSM operators started providing EDGE on their mobile phones which has theoretical speed greater than CDMA 1X, CDMA operators approached DoT to get clarification on whether they can start EVDO on mobiles which can provide speed greater than EDGE on the spectrum which they own currently. But during these discussions, they never used the word 3G in order to avoid the back-lash from GSM operators. DoT saw an opportunity to bring in 3G without creating friction by clarifying that operators can do whatever they want with the given spectrum. This is the fundamental reason why every CDMA operator promotes EVDO in other names like High Speed Internet Access, 3G-like speed etc., instead of using word 3G. TATA has started EVDO on mobiles offically only few months back( may be start of this year) and was followed by Reliance. BSNL and MTS started just only 2-3 months back. Till the date of allocation 3G-GSM spectrum to GSM operators, no CDMA operator was in a position to promote 3G-CDMA in mobiles in a big way for the reason not to topple their dizzy EVDO business which was moving in an unstable equilibrium with respect to legal clarity.

With the perspective of Reliance Customer, how can they evaluate EVDO V/s HSDPA when Reliance is not offering EVDO except on few OMH Sim Mobiles..........

I didnt mean that every individual has to buy both handsets, test it and compare it. Just wait for 3 months, speak to people, read articles, read reviews from those who have used these technologies from varied operators then make a judgement. Just to reinforce universal truths, 'Haste is waste!' 'Look before you Leap'

Edited October 31, 2010 by kesav

[ATHUL4R 3]

NOW ITS ON FINAL CUT

THE EVDO AND 3G ARE AT SAME RATE.

So its better go for 3G because 3G has more towers than EVDO.

And no news about increasing of the Evdo Towers.

So Go for 3G.

4200RS= 6 MONTHS so only 700/month.

[Karthik R 246]

I have used both technologies for a considerable period of time - EVDO with Tata Indicom and 3G with BSNL, Docomo. In my experience, EVDO was stable and always consistent in speed. But speedways 3G is fares better with sudden spurts at times. Data tariff is pretty high for EVDO so I am preferring 3G and 1x now.

[kesav 127]

The statement hold good only for BSNL.

TATA Docomo's 3G-GSM rates are too exhorbitant and not affordable.

As of today, TATA Docomo's 3G-GSM coverage is too little compared to their own 3G-CDMA(EVDO) coverage.

We've to wait till all the operators launch 3G-GSM to know real market price and coverage.

Edited December 1, 2010 by kesav

[inception 75]

Yeah I used MTS EVDO, that is too good. But BSNL 3G has unstable link, speed varies a lot!

CDMA, and thereafter EVDO can be live in India, if they reduce data tariff like BSNL EVDO which offers unlimited without any FUP @ Rs 750/month.

For voice/sms GSM beats CDMA! I can see CDMA players RCOM and Tata add a few new connections for last some months, MTS gets new customers due to its 1p/2s tariff!

[joshm 818]

well guyz i suppose in light of the recent roll out of 3G in so many circles and promises for a better evdo service from reliance , we can resume the discussion here.

what you specialist feel about the scenario b/w EVDO and 3G.

[Karthik R 246]

There you go again - its time we change the title of this topic to Which Is Better - EVDO or HSDPA.

Guys 3G is a broad standard and EVDO is very much a part of it!

[inception 75]

EVDO vs HSPA - I think HSPA is a better term than HSDPA. Coz operators started rolling out HSPA networks to offer max. 7.2Mbps!

[me_saket 73]

now i have used both

TATA photon EVDO

and TATA docomo 3G.

I feel that 3G is is having higher speed.

Both are coming from same tower ( distance of tower of 3G/EVDO to my laptop is same).

Tata docomo's 3G network in my area is capable of delivering max speed of 3.6mbps and EVDO 3.1mbps,

but actual result on speed test are 3G upto2.8mbps and EVDO 1.9mbps.

Regarding fluctuation, EVDO was stable in older days, but now getting slight 5% fluctuation FREQUENTLY.

#g was unstable previously, but now getting more stabilize.

network fluctuation is very large upto 95%, but very RARELY.

SO I ENJOY MORE with rare fluctuation and higher speed.

Regarding tariff,

For person having usage in range of

above average/medium/above medium/less than large

tariff is really reasonable for 3G data (including phone + pc)

e.g Rs 750 for 2GB is good tariff compared to evdo of any operator.

[inception 75]

for 3G or EVDO, pvt players offers 2GB at the very fixed price of Rs 750 which is 7.5 times more costly than 2G GPRS Data plans

[abhi.r 95]

well thats what i meant when i said..

3G or EVDO.. dosent matter whichever is technically better.

The real question in India is.. which has better feseability

remember the maruti add... "Kitna deti hai!!!"

[ujjwalsarin 9]

Cannot merely evaluate EVDO v/s HSPA with the device & usage throughput paradigm in consideration

Usage Paradigm

For a Dongle user - "faster the better" - users connect via laptops and are poised to inherently consume more data.

Having said that, landline operators sell more of basic broadband plans rather than the high end high speed plans - which clearly signifies that for a common man, there exists a basic speed threshold which is considered adequate

In a more developed market like US - customers could have choosen to go with AT&T(HSPA), Clearwire(WIMAX) over Verizon over the last few months/years. Yet the BIG RED has not seen a mass exodus only becuase it offers the customer lower speeds

Its like - if I have a 320 GB HDD or a 500GB HDD - does it really affect my life.

After a point PEAK DATA RATE is just a number

Tariff

If HSPA and EVDO were equals in DEVICE space - EVDO would have been a clear winner. 3G Business plans will fail if the tariffs equal those of EVDO

Device Paradigm

I always believe DAPO was a boon as well as a curse for CDMA. While it got the technology a critical mass, yet it positioned it as a technology for the poor

We keep ruing that CDMA carriers do not bother about users on high end imported handset. Consider this - if a RCOM invests Rs 20K to procure and sell a high end handset, it can get a 10 more customers with a handset selling @ Rs 2K.

In the way carriers operate today

1. No of subs is more imp than sheer quality of an individual subscriber

2. Cost of serving high ARPU customer is more, and a small and highly dispersed TG does not help

3. The entire machinery is geared towards achieving numbers on entry customers, and as a result a small/significant high ARPU customer base is ignored

At the end of the day - service technology is as good as the proof of service in the customers hand --------which is in this case a device. Till such time device ecosystem is not in place, for India HSPA will be better than EVDO, HSPA will also be better than LTE or WIMAX

[subircozy 1]

I travelled into deep dense forest n high snowy mountain peak of northern india and i saw two towers out their one GSM and other CDMA.... One was BSNL and other was Reliance!

I was able to talk on BSNL and at the same time i was able to steer on internet via RCDMA 1x,, so at end of the day it all comes down to resource availability in this vast country like india however as a frequent traveller i feel when it comes to data, when on mobility its CDMA which is stable supplier compare to GSM Burst mode HSPA 3G UMTS.

Last but not least there shouldn't be a second thought on Reliance,, when it comes to CDMA network in this country!

[dr.faramroze 703]

I travelled into deep dense forest n high snowy mountain peak of northern india and i saw two towers out their one GSM and other CDMA.... One was BSNL and other was Reliance!

I was able to talk on BSNL and at the same time i was able to steer on internet via RCDMA 1x,, so at end of the day it all comes down to resource availability in this vast country like india however as a frequent traveller i feel when it comes to data, when on mobility its CDMA which is stable supplier compare to GSM Burst mode HSPA 3G UMTS.

Last but not least there shouldn't be a second thought on Reliance,, when it comes to CDMA network in this country!

Right but activating EvDo on our CDMA networks is very painful. Where a normal GSM user can switch to HSPA in minutes without too much encryption. Reliance network is no doubt very sturdy but there are very few applications compliant to 1X. In the now multimedia rich internet atmosphere, 1x is just pass class version of internet service. 3G has been fairly versatile in providing promised bandwidth slot. Only ray of hope may be Reliance's 4G LTE service. Again high level user security and encryption and the same customer loss in LTE.

Evoing on Reliance using Tapatalk

[inception 75]

Reliance has quite good cdma coverage, remember Total Network ads ?

But last 2 years Tata CDMA and MTS CDMA gives total competition to Reliance CDMA. Now MTS has widest EVDO coverage in circles it has commercial services.

Tata and Reliance are both shifting to GSM as a result CDMA expansion halted.

[::: VA ::: 531]

Like lot of people have confirmed tata and mts provide evdo activation by default if you use their special ruim or omh. Hopefully so will reliance soon.

Or at least they should release special sim which can latch on to gsm 3g if required.

As after recent experience I found that not just evdo successfully on your handset needs patience efforts and prayers but if you want to change that handset then first you need evdo deactivated which is another additional ordeal.

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