Good stuff on the horizon for wireless internet gamers

N

Neo

New member
So just when you thought that wireless internet would never cater for gamers - here comes LTE!

I've been fortunate enough to spend some time on the launch phase of an LTE (Long Term Evolution) network, and good-golly-miss-molly, does it promise some big things for gamers and normal internet users alike.

Picture this:

up to 70mb/s download speeds
up to 20mb/s upload speeds

Stream 1080p youtube videos without EVER having to wait for the cache to build up.

And here comes the best part:

On testing a Counter Strike Source map on local server here in SA, I had a latency of 5ms. On a recent DotA match, we had a latency of 17! The latency was constant and 100% stable.

I don't know what Telkom is doing, but when LTE technology becomes available in a more widespread manner, I cannot see the need for a fixed landline solution ever again - so unless they improve upon their ADSL service drastically (and we all know that won't happen) they're going to lose a LOT of customers - and that definitely includes me.

So gamers, don't give up on wireless data just yet. There's a whole new world of wireless technology right around the corner, and as an avid gaming enthusiast, I can vouch for it and say that it will be worth the wait!

I don't think the MyBroadband article on the recent LTE network demo was clear enough about how epic this is going to be. But take my word for it, this technology and the speeds it offers changes the way in which you view the web.
 
Ooh, now that sounds like the kind of first-world internet we never thought we'd get in SA. Any word on who's implementing it and when it might happen?

I just hope that I will have coverage, and the cost won't be ridiculously high.

Do you have a link to the MyBB article? I haven't seen it
 
So what's the current cost for LTE and what kind of cap size are you looking at?

That's usually the big deciding factor. I mean its great having such speeds and all but if it's double the price of my current uncapped offering and only a few gigs per month then it's still far from replacing ADSL any time soon
 
How does the LTE work? I'm very interested! Telkom refuses to give me a land line because of cable theft. Then again, I'd want to have an uncapped account with speeds like that. You would spend your cap in mere seconds without realising it if you were capped at say 10GB :/ Please give as many details as you can on how it will work and who will provide it and at what costs?
 
Pricing, data plans and coverage, all things I would consider more important than pure performance.

No point having a super fast wireless technology which costs you more than your car and can only use for 5mins per month because you're still sitting on a 500mb data cap. Even when it comes to actual performance I always have doubts about wireless considering most of the time you're lucky if you get even 10% of the advertised speeds for HSDPA.
 
Sounds promising! Would love to get some more details of this...

I'm currently using my cellc whoosh dongle for gaming, and I must admit it's not bad at all! I get about 50-70 ping on blops!

But I'm sure this will top it by miles!!!
 
Hi guys

I'm not at liberty to give out any more information on this. Sadly :(

As for pricing and other costs - that still needs to be decided, but I'm of the opinion that it will be very competitive. All that I'm saying at the moment is that the technology itself IS out there and it's already here in South Africa. So it's not some sort of "far off dream". If you've been waiting for these kind of data speeds and performance, then this info should give you a reason to keep on waiting.

Here's a link to the MyBB article:
http://mybroadband.co.za/news/broadband/29150-mtn-lte-pilot-all-the-details.html

Consider this as a bit of "inside info". LTE is awesome and you're going to love it.
 
And now for a solid dose of reality: :o

This is a _pilot_ project. Meaning a smallish number of people hooked up to a massive fiber pipe via a fairly clean frequency spectrum.

Once they start loading actual customers on there both speeds and latency take a nose dive, so enjoy while it lasts. Sorry.:(

While wireless has its uses, I don't see anything replacing a good old wired connection in the foreseeable future. Crossing fingers though that "wired" = FTTH soon. :cool:
 
HavocXphere said:
And now for a solid dose of reality: :o

This is a _pilot_ project. Meaning a smallish number of people hooked up to a massive fiber pipe via a fairly clean frequency spectrum.

Once they start loading actual customers on there both speeds and latency take a nose dive, so enjoy while it lasts. Sorry.:(

While wireless has its uses, I don't see anything replacing a good old wired connection in the foreseeable future. Crossing fingers though that "wired" = FTTH soon. :cool:
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Very true, as with any new tech like this, we'll have to wait till it has a big user base before we can expect realistic performance figures. But it's easy to get excited about any potential alternative to Telkom. Look how excited people were about Neotel...
 
I for one will never ever rely on Telkom to provide me with proper service. Although FTTH is a great outlook on the future of what home users can expect, it still seems that in most areas you have a better chance of impregnating male horses than get your hands on that technology.

What, MTN for example, have shown is that the technology is being brought to us much quicker than what we thought.

And yeah, for sure, once you load a site with more devices and start sharing some of the resources you'll more than likely see some difference in the speeds and such. But the points has been made that LTE is LOADS better than current 3G/HSPA offerings, and to be honest, my current HSPA service at my house is on par with my 4mb ADSL line on the download side of things. The only thing stopping me from cancelling my ADSL line is latency - and that has been proven to be remedied with LTE.

Resource sharing always lowers speeds, and that goes for Telkom as well with their fixed line products. I cannot even get proper 4mb speeds on my ADSL line because my exchange is "overloaded" with users. So once again, when comparing LTE wireless technology with fixed line technology you'll find it very difficult to make even a single case in favor of fixed line products.

As consumers (and the usual hard-to-impress gaming community) we'll obviously take the "wait and see" approach. While that might be fair enough, I'm still here today to tell you all that there IS something to look forward to and the future for wireless data and gaming is looking extremely positive.
 
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Neo said:
the points has been made that pilot LTE is LOADS better than current congested & real-world 3G/HSPA offerings
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FTFY.

I don't doubt that LTE is an improvement on 3G. Its just that I feel pilots provide little to no indication of what the end experience will be. Hell even iBurst was impressive when it first launched.

Neo said:
you'll find it very difficult to make even a single case in favor of fixed line products.
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Aside from not having to RICA :p here is a rather convincing one:

ADSL: <0.65c per meg
Cost of 3G: 10c per meg *
8ta 10+10gb offer: 1.4c per meg (i.e. Miles below cost) *

^ Rough data points only, calculated on 75gb.

* Before LTE infrastructure costs.

On a side note, I'd be interested to know what the jitter is on that fancy connection of yours.
 
Sounds like LTE is the way of the future, just waiting to see what it really becomes later on and how it's prices will be, cause I have heard of a similar hype before, and that was with iBurst
 
Wireless for me has always been a convenience product which you use when it's not practical to use wired solutions and it's never been something I would consider for it's performance aspects. That being said I am excited to see what LTE brings but I'm not holding my breath.
 
MOnk said:
Pricing, data plans and coverage, all things I would consider more important than pure performance.

No point having a super fast wireless technology which costs you more than your car and can only use for 5mins per month because you're still sitting on a 500mb data cap. Even when it comes to actual performance I always have doubts about wireless considering most of the time you're lucky if you get even 10% of the advertised speeds for HSDPA.
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Well said, sir.
Pretty much sums up my view on the matter as well.

It helps absolutely nothing to have good internet, when said internet chews its own cap clean in 3.8 seconds...
 
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