Blink Wireless on-the-go launched.

[BW]

Hi guys. Things just got more exciting in the telecom race, and as always, B-dub here with the latest and greatest news.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v55/PikachuMan/BlinkWirelessModem.jpg

Today Blink has launched On-the-go Wireless service. This runs on a revision to the existing cell-service infrastructure, allowing wireless internet across much of the country via a simple USB modem (form factor similar to a flash drive, see above).

http://www.blinkbroadband.tt/onthego/in ... ?page=home (http://www.blinkbroadband.tt/onthego/index.php?page=home)

Service plans:

Speeds are acceptable for a mobile platform (estimates 300-600kbps), but not up to the level of wired Blink or Flow service. There is also a 2000MB per month cap (with charges for going over that).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v55/PikachuMan/ServicePlans.jpg
Full details at the Blink site [link (http://www.blinkbroadband.tt/onthego/index.php?page=products-pricing)].

Expensive; the service is targeted at professionals, businesses and students. The "Support" section of the Blink On-to-go website has some nifty tools to help you check your current usage and calculate costs. [link (http://www.blinkbroadband.tt/onthego/index.php?page=customer-support)]

Current coverage map:

http://www.blinkbroadband.tt/onthego/_assets/img/trinidad.png
Detailed locations available at Blink's website (http://www.blinkbroadband.tt/onthego/index.php?page=coverage).

For further info, see the article in this week's Business Guardian [link (http://www.guardian.co.tt/bussguardian4.html)].


And this week, TSTT will launch “blink on the go,” a wireless service device which allows customers with laptops broadband access almost anywhere in T&T.

It’s an improvement on TSTT’s EVDO service which will still be on the market, says TSTT’s vice-president of Broadband, Trevor Deane.

“It’s a new product based on newer technology. It’s a great product, more efficient that EVDO. And we’re ready to go,” he said in an interview with the Business Guardian this week.

TSTT stopped selling EVDO about a year ago because there were too many customers on the network which strained its capacity.

“Blink on the go” is a refined product which operates on a new overlay—CDMA revision—which was built in about six months.

And, according to Deane, it has capacity for thousands of customers.
http://www.guardian.co.tt/bussguardian4.html

Have fun guys. Good time for the telecom sector here in T&T.

[sylvestter]

is 2000 MB enough?

[BW]

is 2000 MB enough?

Shouldn't be too hard to stay under that if all you are using it for is email or webpages. Get into YouTube and streaming media though, and the bill might be ridiculous at the end of the month.

Strict caps are just part of the inherent nature of cellphone platforms, unfortunately. The on-the-go service isn't meant to replace Blink wired or Cable internet services, just so that's clear.

:ffox:

[Solachica]

And I can't even get my Blink service yet and its been 9mths already. :roll:

[greall]

is 2000 MB enough?

Shouldn't be too hard to stay under that if all you are using it for is email or webpages. Get into YouTube and streaming media though, and the bill might be ridiculous at the end of the month.

Strict caps are just part of the inherent nature of cellphone platforms, unfortunately. The on-the-go service isn't meant to replace Blink wired or Cable internet services, just so that's clear.

:ffox:

I hope that the public realizes that... :lol:

Greg

[discipuli]

This is for professionals and businessmen who need to access email and information on the go , not meant to replace a DSL landline.

Hardly anything to get excited about , just an upgraded version of EVDO .

If flow wanted to compete they could set up a dozen wi-fi hotspots around POS for free.. half of TSTT's market is automatically gone.

The east west corridor is densely populated enough to blanket most of the important areas with wi fi... industrial level Wi fi equipment can reach up to miles away , a few transmiters in port of spain , san juan, Curepe etc would put TSTT's new service out of business.

[jpf]

but flow has a license for cable.. they might probably need some kind of wireless license like greendot or the other wireless internet providers

[deathwinger]

Lol. Look at those prices. And for 2 gigs. Worthless.

Blink have to come better than that.

[bceo]

Hi guys. Things just got more exciting in the telecom race, and as always, B-dub here with the latest and greatest news.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v55/PikachuMan/BlinkWirelessModem.jpg

Today Blink has launched On-the-go Wireless service. This runs on a revision to the existing cell-service infrastructure, allowing wireless internet across much of the country via a simple USB modem (form factor similar to a flash drive, see above).

http://www.blinkbroadband.tt/onthego/in ... ?page=home (http://www.blinkbroadband.tt/onthego/index.php?page=home)

Service plans:

Speeds are acceptable for a mobile platform (estimates 300-600kbps), but not up to the level of wired Blink or Flow service. There is also a 2000MB per month cap (with charges for going over that).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v55/PikachuMan/ServicePlans.jpg
Full details at the Blink site [link (http://www.blinkbroadband.tt/onthego/index.php?page=products-pricing)].

Expensive; the service is targeted at professionals, businesses and students. The "Support" section of the Blink On-to-go website has some nifty tools to help you check your current usage and calculate costs. [link (http://www.blinkbroadband.tt/onthego/index.php?page=customer-support)]

Current coverage map:

http://www.blinkbroadband.tt/onthego/_assets/img/trinidad.png
Detailed locations available at Blink's website (http://www.blinkbroadband.tt/onthego/index.php?page=coverage).

For further info, see the article in this week's Business Guardian [link (http://www.guardian.co.tt/bussguardian4.html)].


And this week, TSTT will launch “blink on the go,” a wireless service device which allows customers with laptops broadband access almost anywhere in T&T.

It’s an improvement on TSTT’s EVDO service which will still be on the market, says TSTT’s vice-president of Broadband, Trevor Deane.

“It’s a new product based on newer technology. It’s a great product, more efficient that EVDO. And we’re ready to go,” he said in an interview with the Business Guardian this week.

TSTT stopped selling EVDO about a year ago because there were too many customers on the network which strained its capacity.

“Blink on the go” is a refined product which operates on a new overlay—CDMA revision—which was built in about six months.

And, according to Deane, it has capacity for thousands of customers.
http://www.guardian.co.tt/bussguardian4.html

Have fun guys. Good time for the telecom sector here in T&T.














this is weyyy to expensive for students well maybe not rich students. It needs more competition to get better rates!

[Ali]

Oh Please!! It's very much cheaper to get internet access on your mobile phone and use that as a modem....speed isn't that fast but good enough for browsing and checking email.

[jpf]

even if I accept that speeds on a mobile service cant be as good as on a wired platform like dsl or cable, I still dont get those prices- or wait- could it be because TSTT has no competition in the mobile broadband market? remember the days when 256k was $460? what happened? Flow happened.

Actually, according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_device_bandwidths, you can actually get much higher speeds on a laptop with EVDO Rev.B, as seen in this video http://mfile.akamai.com/8499/wmv/qualcomm.download.akamai.com/8499/1xEV/1x_EVDO_Rev_B_Demo.asx

hell even Rev. 0 & A give 2.4 & 3.1 Mbps!! so why only 300-600 kbps? and a ridiculous 2 gb cap, not per day (wired blink has a 4gb limit per day during peak hrs) but per month! people who not in blink (adsl2+) (or Flow digital) areas who take this cant stream or download large files then? (without getting a massive bill that is) It might be suitable if u using it on a cell phone & just surfing websites but not on a (laptop) computer. What about AV, Windows (& God knows what other programs) automatic updates? d amt of Windows fixes & updates Microsoft does release sometimes it could be a couple hundred MB. (or should they disable them & leave their laptops vulnerable to exploits, viruses, etc.?)



Mobile telephone interfaces

Note that the values given are maximum values, and actual values may be slower under certain conditions (for example, noise). Where two values are listed, the first value is the downstream rate and the second value is the upstream rate.
GSM CSD 14.4 kbit/s 1.8 kB/s
HSCSD 57.6/14.4 kbit/s 5.4/1.8 kB/s
GPRS 57.6/28.8 kbit/s 7.2/3.6 kB/s
WiDEN 100 kbit/s 12.5 kB/s
CDMA2000 1xRTT 153 kbit/s 18 kB/s
EDGE (type 1 MS) 236.8 kbit/s 29.6 kB/s
UMTS 384 kbit/s 48 kB/s
EDGE (type 2 MS) 473.6 kbit/s 59.2 kB/s
EDGE Evolution (type 1 MS) 1,184/474 kbit/s 148/59 kB/s
EDGE Evolution (type 2 MS) 1,894/947 kbit/s 237/118 kB/s
1xEV-DO Rev. 0 2,457/153 kbit/s 307.2/19 kB/s
1xEV-DO Rev. A 3,100/1,800 kbit/s 397/230 kB/s
3xEV-DO Rev. B 9,300/5,400 kbit/s 1,162/675 kB/s
HSDPA/HSUPA 14,400/5760 kbit/s 1,800/720 kB/s
4xEV-DO Enhancements (2X2 MIMO) 34,400/12,400 kbit/s 4,300/1,550 kB/s
HSPA+ (2X2 MIMO) 42,000/11,500 kbit/s 5,250/1,437 kB/s
15xEV-DO Rev. B 73,500/27,000 kbit/s 9,200/3,375 kB/s
UMB (2X2 MIMO) 140,000/34,000 kbit/s 17,500/4,250 kB/s
LTE (2X2 MIMO) 173,000/58,000 kbit/s 21,625/7,250 kB/s
UMB (4X4 MIMO) 280,000/68,000 kbit/s 35,000/8,500 kB/s
EV-DO Rev. C 280,000/75,000 kbit/s 35,000/9,000 kB/s wow! 280Mbit/s!!
LTE (4X4 MIMO) 326,000/86,000 kbit/s 40,750/10,750 kB/s

[BW]

^^^ My understanding is that those figures are per cell tower, and not per user. So, that 2.4Mb/s you see there (for EVDO) has to be shared between everyone on that particular cell tower (hence the 300-600kbps estimate for each person, depending on usage, time of day and all that).

It's ironic, because when the EVDO service first came out, they advertised a "maximum of 2.4Mb/s, with average 500kbps". This revision/upgrade to "Blink Wireless" actually lowers those estimates. :o:

Bandwidth is at a premium with mobile services, so you get those ridiculous caps and ultra-high prices. It's a shame Laqtel failed and Digicel doesn't care... the market for these mobile service is apparently there.


hell even Rev. 0 & A give 2.4 & 3.1 Mbps!! so why only 300-600 kbps? and a ridiculous 2 gb cap, not per day (wired blink has a 4gb limit per day during peak hrs) but per month! people who not in blink (adsl2+) (or Flow digital) areas who take this cant stream or download large files then? (without getting a massive bill that is) It might be suitable if u using it on a cell phone & just surfing websites but not on a (laptop) computer. What about AV, Windows (& God knows what other programs) automatic updates? d amt of Windows fixes & updates Microsoft does release sometimes it could be a couple hundred MB. (or should they disable them & leave their laptops vulnerable to exploits, viruses, etc.?)

I imagine most users consider it an additional service, and not a replacement to the main internet connection. The corporate network (provided by fiber, DSL, cable, or fixed-wireless service) provides the main service, with EVDO/Blink Wireless used to keep in touch out in the field.

People not in Blink or Flow digital areas really need to check out Greendot (http://www.mail.tt/), Carib-Link (http://www.carib-link.net/) or Caribel (http://www.caribel.com/) for service options. Blink Wireless isn't meant as a primary internet connection.

[BW]

Quick update:

Mark Lyndersay has gotten around to a review on Blink-Wireless, at the link below:

[b]TSTT reintroduces mobile broadband - BitDepth 664 (http://www.lyndersaydigital.com/bd/files/BitDepth664.html)


The Blink to go service delivers what it promises, though it should be noted that it promises no improvement in speed. Three years after the introduction of the first service, bandwidth on the service remains below one megabit and the cost is still breathtaking. For those who need it and can amortise the monthly bill or can afford it as a luxury, there is no comparable alternative for the mobile user.

He also goes into some details about the new modem, real-world speeds and some slight technical details. Interesting stuff.