On Tue, 8 Jan 2002, BK wrote:
> Cellular telephony has been invented and patented by AT&T in the early
> 1950s. CDMA has been invented in the early 1940s and used by allied
> forces in WWII as a secure means of radio communications. CDMA was
> hi-tech in the 1940s. Cellular telephony in the 1950s.
>
> Yet, half a century later we are being told by the cellular industry
> that this is the latest breakthrough, and they call it 3G, for third
> generation mobile. So, what's the novelty then ? The packaging ! The
> advance has been in micro electronics to make it all fit into a tiny
> consumer device that can be mass produced.
I do agree with you that CDMA and other "cell" technologies are nothing
new in some respects, but I'd just like to throw in my $0.02 and say that
these technologies weren't necessarially invented for wireless telephony -
CDMA (and it's kissin' cousin, TDMA) are just algorithms and methods for
sharing a section of the frequency spectrum among multiple users. If
you've ever used a digital phone system based on Nortel Meridian hardware,
each phone has a DSP inside and uses a TDMA algorithm to share the phone
line (really more like a phone bus) with everyone else.
> Well, that is at least something tangible. However, we are also being
> told that we will need broadband 384 kpbs data on our mobile phones. Do
> we ? What for ?
Apparently, it's so I can get my 8 pixels of screen on my cell phone
filled even faster. Seriously. IMNSHO, a cell phone is a horrible form
factor for a web browser. Other information systems, maybe, but WAP is on
its last gasp and nothing else has come around. I'm sure someone in Japan
will rebuke me though, I'm just bitter because I'm in North America and we
can't get damn cell phone systems right :)
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