configuring broadband/PC power protection/cable-satellite TV in India...

brownboy66

almost - except the only difference is that with multilink you used completely separate lines. ISDN, on the other hand, acted the same way - but it all happened on just one line, and came in two flavours - basic rate (which had 2x 64k channels on one line), or primary rate (which was effectively a 2meg digital circuit made up of 30x 64k channels).

ISDN connections to the internet had their day - but were just too expensive. In the early days of dial up, however, ISDN connections were the super fast broadband of their day!

Nick-H

And, if the modems (On this one, I have no idea what the box was called. Reminder? Terminal Adapter?) were not configured right, they used to open the line at the drop of a hat.

The bills could be big. And embarrassing.

... Learnt the hard way

__________________
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Just one member of the IndiaMike Mod Team

brownboy66

ah yes, that's right - TA's. Open up multiple channels (each charged for as a separate line) and forget to close down or hardware fault fails to go on hook. Hmmmm....been there too (but didn't have to pay the bill). Phew!

Nick-H

I didn't have to pay the bill.

Just had to explain it to management. It was that big.

Worse; in a way.

brownboy66

well....I'm sure it wasn't funny at the time, but in hindsight...

Nick-H

We managed some bullshit about high levels of remote support being necessary for the new product.

I really don't like bullshit.

But there are times...

Aishah

Well, lucky you didn't have to pay,Nick.. I'm just letting off steam here re my Broadband - the speed is so erratic and at times can be almost as slow as GPRS. It seems to go in spurts - good for 10mins. then slow, then picks up again. It's driving me nuts. Overall I'll say it's better than Landline, but these daily interruptions are annoying. it will also drop out completely and then reset itself (blinking orange light and then once it stops is o.k.) Darned unpredictable, and annoying if you are in the middle of something important (which you don't lose btw - just have to re-connect when it comes right again, all taking time).

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"Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards."

Nick-H

If you can see your router's congig pages, you should be able to see the SNR and Attenuation figures. These will tell a lot about the quality of your line.

I don't know how to interpret them; maybe Brownboy can. Otherwise, there is a lot about them at www.vinuthomas.com, including a thread where you can post yours and get advise.

You should complain about the state of things, though: it should be at least reliable.

Bombay_Bill

Both Reliance and Tata phones use CDMA (sometimes called AMPS) which everyone else has binned as being unreliable as well as horribly insecure.

Tata are still pushing their 'broadband anywhere' system which also uses the same technology.

Goodness knows why, GSM G4 phones are going to make all that stuff obsolete almost overnight.

G4 is available just about everywhere with a developed GSM infrastructure, except, it seems, India. Anyone know when it's coming?

brownboy66

too true - can be a bit of a maze though to go through router sub menus to find the necessary data. What Nick is referring to Aishah is the amount of noise on the line, and the amount of power loss to get the signal through to you. Bottom line - the cleaner the copper the less noise, the shorter the distance to the exchange the less power loss on the signal.

Also some routers are better at handling line noise/ power loss compared to others (mostly comes down to the cost of the innards the router uses).

Still stuck in negotiations unfortunately - so no timeline yet for 3G let alone 4G. The bigger issue for the telcos at the moment is having enough frequency just to do voice (let alone data) - and voice is where they are making most of their money at the moment so there is no real incentive to go beyond 2G/ 2.5G services (not to mention a big chuck of the necessary bandwidth is owned by the armed forces).

to explain - there are two competing mobile systems in the world - GSM and CDMA (sort of like PCs and MACs). The different generations (G) of mobile technology across both platforms are referred to as 1G, 2G, 3G and so on. Currently india has 2G and 2.5G services (although I understand 3G is available in Mumbai from Reliance I think)?

So for both CDMA and GSM, 1G referred to AMPs and TACs networks (these were the original brick cell phones that you could use as a hammer - literally - very tough phones). AMPs referred to the analogue cellular network, while DAMPs was - you guessed it - the first digital cellular network (also one for the first 2G networks).

The CDMA 2G network uses a technology called CDMA1xRTT (this is what Reliance and Tata In*$%@mm have - sorry, I'm biased). GPRS is the the equivalent GSM data 2G network - while EDGE is sort of 2.5G GSM data network.

Next came 3G which for CDMA was a technology called EVDO (really nice - very fast), and for GSM networks it was called HSPDA - and this is where it gets really confusing. The original technology that defined a GSM network only operated up to 2G. To go to 3G a GSM operator had to employ a technology called wideband CDMA - which is what HSPDA and UMTS are part of (so great - we now have two competing platforms using the same terms to describe their networks - and mass confusion reigns supreme).

4G for CDMA networks is uses a technology called Rev A, while for GSM operators its called UMTS.

So if anyone is still awake - apologies for boring you with lists of endless abbreviations (would UMTS qualify as an acronym)? My advice is that 3G mobile is really great - would love to see it in India - amazing the things you can do with a PDA or laptop once you have mobile connection that's as fast as BB, and stay away from tech discussion as to what 2G/ 3G means and which is better (its a trap)!

Nick-H

Zzzzzzzzzzz.....

brishti

glancing thru this thread, i just CANNOT believe DD, BB and N-H discuss technology in the middle of the night.

sheesh - get a life you guys
[ mods please note: i did not take names ]



:brishti

Dilliwala

If u haven't discussed tech in the middle of the night, u haven't lived, period.

Bombay_Bill

It's not for me, I'm back in the UK until next year now.

The wife wants to experience a traditional English Christmas.

So no serious sunshine for another ten months or so...

Nick-H

Absolutely right!