What's The Difference?

[Gary A]

How do GPRS EDGE and GPRS/EGPRS (Class A, multi-slot class 32) compare. Is there any speed difference when using AIS EDGE?

I want to buy a Nokia E51 to use with AIS GPRS EDGE. Will it work better than my Nokia N80?

[Guest Reimar]

How do GPRS EDGE and GPRS/EGPRS (Class A, multi-slot class 32) compare. Is there any speed difference when using AIS EDGE?

I want to buy a Nokia E51 to use with AIS GPRS EDGE. Will it work better than my Nokia N80?

I was fad up with the N80!

with Bluetooth enable the battery was last just 1 day! Edge didn't works an distances more that 500 m from W-Cell sender! GPRS very slow!

At last it was loosing the memory nearly bevery day.

So I was trade in the N80 and bought an Samsung U600!

Easy to use, Easy to setup!

Edge works at my Home now. Wit Bluetooth enabled the Battery last 3-4 days! Not so heavy! Big letters! Very good schreen!

So I'm happy with that because can do everything I need it for!

Cheers.

[dave_boo]

How do GPRS EDGE and GPRS/EGPRS (Class A, multi-slot class 32) compare. Is there any speed difference when using AIS EDGE?

I want to buy a Nokia E51 to use with AIS GPRS EDGE. Will it work better than my Nokia N80?

I was fad up with the N80!

with Bluetooth enable the battery was last just 1 day! Edge didn't works an distances more that 500 m from W-Cell sender! GPRS very slow!

At last it was loosing the memory nearly bevery day.

So I was trade in the N80 and bought an Samsung U600!

Easy to use, Easy to setup!

Edge works at my Home now. Wit Bluetooth enabled the Battery last 3-4 days! Not so heavy! Big letters! Very good schreen!

So I'm happy with that because can do everything I need it for!

Cheers.

Hmm, my old lady is the exact oppoiste of you. She loves Nokia (in fact been pestering me to get her a N95!), and has bought one (1) Samsung in her life. She hated it so much I still hear abou it.

As a side note, what ever happened to the cellphone manufacturer 'Siemens'. Are they still producing phones?

[Gary A]

BenQ bought out Siemens mobile phone division. My wife now has a Samsung. It is kind of a neat little slider phone but I cannot use it because I can't hear the other person talking. It has the absolute worst audio of any phone I ever used. She won't complain about it because that's the one she wanted and she is NEVER wrong.

Edited February 12, 2008 by Gary A

[dsys]

How do GPRS EDGE and GPRS/EGPRS (Class A, multi-slot class 32) compare. Is there any speed difference when using AIS EDGE?

I want to buy a Nokia E51 to use with AIS GPRS EDGE. Will it work better than my Nokia N80?

This gets confusing as each company uses slightly different explanations - heres how i learned it

There are three types (interchangable with class) of GRPS devices

Type(class) A - Has two antennas and can run in sync ie you can make a call when the gprs modem is working

Type(class) B - one antenna - can only work either GSM or GPRS at the same time

Type(class) C - only works in GPRS mode - usually GPRS-R works like this.

GPRS

Then there are the classes of modem. Generally this refers to how many "time slots" you can use at once with more being better. Generally the higher the class the greater the number of doenload and upload slots you can use. I have only ever seen a class 12 device in the wild. That has a max of 4 up / 4 down. These are usually on high end PC cards. It has been a few years since I was involved in any of this stuff, so there may be higher classes out there now. I think the specs go up to 40(ish)

While that sounds great most network operators will not allow you to use all of your slots so even if you have a class 12 it would be restricted to say 2down 1 up. This is network set and there is not much you can do about it.

OK thats GPRS now we bring in the marketing guys and you get GPRS edge. Main difference guess what they allow you to use a few more slots. (well a bit more to it actually but thats the easiest way to describe it) Oh i think that edge stands for enhanced datarate GSM evolution, if you are interested.

Now the difference between GPRS edge and EGPRS is speed, the GPRS edge network is an overlay for the circuit switched world EGPRS is packet switched and works at class 4 and above. In marketing terms EGPRS is 3G while GPRS EDGE is 2.5G. In techy speak edge is referred to as 2.75G.

Edge gprs has a theoretical maximum of about 200k (cant be arsed to look it up) using 4 timeslots while EPGRS is about double that (using 8 timeslots)

If you are 100% sure that the network is really EGPRS then go for that with a class 12 (edit - I think Edge modems start at class 30) modem or above. EDIT - looked up my notes class 32 has 5 slots down 3 up and 6 active slots.

Not sure about AIS network you would need to ask whether it is edge GPRS or EGPRS AND be sure that it supports higher than 4 timeslots on the download

Edit (again) Just wanted to make sure you understand that there is significant confusion out there about edge tecchnology, becuase it can operate in either 2G or 3G mode. The company I worked for used the Edge GPRS and EGPRS as ways to differentiate between the two modes. I dont know if they have any installs in Thailand, I know they have almost all of the installs in the UK and ireland - o2 vodaphne three etc, so I would expect them to have some here - possibly hutch.

Edited February 12, 2008 by dsys

[Gary A]

It sure is confusing. Since the Nokia E51 has GPRS/EGPRS (Class A, multi-slot class 32), I would guess that it will get the best out of what EDGE here in Thailand has to offer. Possibly in the near future 3G will be available with AIS as well as CAT CDMA.

[Guest Reimar]

Gary why you not invite some Sales Person with equipment for to check at your place? A lot companies doing that service as well and so you can checkout what's the best for you! Even you ncan invite different seller with different systems so that you can compare!

I believe you're looking for the "replacement" of your Crab-Star?!

Cheers.

[dave_boo]

BenQ bought out Siemens mobile phone division. My wife now has a Samsung. It is kind of a neat little slider phone but I cannot use it because I can't hear the other person talking. It has the absolute worst audio of any phone I ever used. She won't complain about it because that's the one she wanted and she is NEVER wrong.

That's a shame about Siemens. They made some good phones. I WILL NOT buy a Benq product after that disgusting ad they ran:

Note that that's the WTC burning in the background.

I'm surprised your wife isn't all sneaky like mine....."Honey, I need a new phone because I forgot to take it out of the pants before I washed them. The fact the sim card wasn't in the phone at the time is quite coincidental!"

[dsys]

Just had a look at the specs on paper -

http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e51-2106.php

http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_n80-1347.php

Just going on that alone I would go with the E51. As reimar says though better to check it out with a test run.

[Gary A]

Gary why you not invite some Sales Person with equipment for to check at your place? A lot companies doing that service as well and so you can checkout what's the best for you! Even you ncan invite different seller with different systems so that you can compare!

I believe you're looking for the "replacement" of your Crab-Star?!

Cheers.

I was able to get a demonstration of CDMA at the office in Loei. The new high speed system is not up and running yet but the normal Internet hook up was pretty good with their phone and my laptop. When the high speed comes on line the guy is supposed to come to my home and test the signal.

The AIS GPRS EDGE is actually working quite well. I have no idea when they implemented EDGE coverage here but had I known I would have canceled Crapstar right then.The N80 does a good job but I want the lighter, thinner E51 with the longer battery life. Although I was impressed with CDMA, I'm not sure I have a signal here at the house. The CAT guy was not too eager to come and demonstrate so I would bet there is no signal. I think the EDGE here at home is every bit as fast as the CDMA was in Loei, so no advantage to change systems right now.

As it is right now, I have a decent connection, so no complaints.

[Gary A]

Just had a look at the specs on paper -

http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e51-2106.php

http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_n80-1347.php

Just going on that alone I would go with the E51. As reimar says though better to check it out with a test run.

I'm definitely going to go with the E51. It's a great improvement as far as battery life besides being half the weight and much thinner. The N80 has a really good camera but I seldom use it anyways. I have never used the second camera on the front of the phone so I won't miss that at all. When/IF the High speed CDMA is working here, I intend to buy the dedicated USB modem and service.

[Gary A]

Gary why you not invite some Sales Person with equipment for to check at your place? A lot companies doing that service as well and so you can checkout what's the best for you! Even you ncan invite different seller with different systems so that you can compare!

I believe you're looking for the "replacement" of your Crab-Star?!

Cheers.

I was able to get a demonstration of CDMA at the office in Loei. The new high speed system is not up and running yet but the normal Internet hook up was pretty good with their phone and my laptop. When the high speed comes on line the guy is supposed to come to my home and test the signal.

The AIS GPRS EDGE is actually working quite well. I have no idea when they implemented EDGE coverage here but had I known I would have canceled Crapstar right then.The N80 does a good job but I want the lighter, thinner E51 with the longer battery life. Although I was impressed with CDMA, I'm not sure I have a signal here at the house. The CAT guy was not too eager to come and demonstrate so I would bet there is no signal. I think the EDGE here at home is every bit as fast as the CDMA was in Loei, so no advantage to change systems right now.

As it is right now, I have a decent connection, so no complaints.

This is the best connection I have EVER had here;

Last Result:

Download Speed: 209 kbps (26.1 KB/sec transfer rate)

Upload Speed: 42 kbps (5.3 KB/sec transfer rate)

Internet speed test for Internet broadband © 2006 thaivisa.com Thailand Web Stat

[Plus]

"It has the absolute worst audio of any phone I ever used. She won't complain about it because ..."

She never listens anyway?

I also don't like the sound on my Samsung, but otherwise it's ok.

I liked Siemens in black and white display days, I had two models, and I used one as GPRS modem for about a year, later it was featured in Borne Identity movie. After than they were just <deleted>.

[Guest Reimar]

Human beings!! One like this an other like that and so on.

As I wrote, I had bad experiences with the N80 and with the Sony-Ericson 910 before. The Samsung U600 can do all I need, has a very good Reception for both Telephone, GPRS and EDGE! Don't need to complain about the Sound, still good enough for MY ears and for what I need the Sound: Place and Receive Calls! I do NOT use the phone for to listen Music or Radio, which both I can but neverv try!

But it's a personal thing and luckly wise not everyone like the same things!

Cheers.

[Plus]

I'm ok with playing mp3s on my Samsung, but there are strange artifacts, a bit like Mongolian throat singing, during the calls. Sometimes I think it could be speakerphone on the other end that produces these effects, or upcountry calls , but sometimes they are just there.

Also two context menu buttons have VERY different sensitivity, one needs to be touched two-three times, the other reacts to the slighest of touches, I can't even close the phone (slide) without activating it.

Maybe I should take my phone to a service center, if they have temporary replacements.

[petedk]

I used to have a N80 and was quite pleased with it .. the first year. Suddenly I had lots of problems with the display and slider. I used GPRS and the Wifi often so my replacement phone had to have the same features.

I chose a Nokia E51 and have never regretted it. The GPRS and Edge seems to be faster than on the N80. The wifi also seems to better , picking up more sources.

Battery life is superb. I recharge every 4 or 5 days. The N80 lasted under 2 days.

The screen is smaller than the N80 but the text is very clear.

All in all I would recommend the E51.

Oh it's relatively cheap too.

[Gary A]

I used to have a N80 and was quite pleased with it .. the first year. Suddenly I had lots of problems with the display and slider. I used GPRS and the Wifi often so my replacement phone had to have the same features.

I chose a Nokia E51 and have never regretted it. The GPRS and Edge seems to be faster than on the N80. The wifi also seems to better , picking up more sources.

Battery life is superb. I recharge every 4 or 5 days. The N80 lasted under 2 days.

The screen is smaller than the N80 but the text is very clear.

All in all I would recommend the E51.

Oh it's relatively cheap too.

I was quite interested in the E61i too but the E51 looks to have the more advanced communication features. I'm also not thrilled to have such a big phone in my pocket although the huge E61i screen is tempting.