View Poll Results: which 4G/LTE is the better?

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  • Digicel

    1 50.00%
  • FLOW

    1 50.00%
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Thread: Digicel 3g 4g wimax lte vs lime 3g 4g lte

  1. #91
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    Completely agree with Khat17. However, I must say a few things in addition. I'll break it down...

    Voice and Data Call Quality & Reliablity

    FLOW's 3G network is far more complex than Digicel's (especially in the Corporate Area). FLOW's network prefers to have devices (User Equipment) sit on 3G 1900 MHz layer (where available) and only perform Inter-Frequency Handovers when the RSCP or Channel Quality is less than optimal for doing a voice call (which would make for a switch to a closer 3G 1900 MHz cell, a 3G 850 MHz cell or switch down to 2G during call setup - which itself has 2 layers which the device must select and not the network; as it would in 3G). This means that FLOW users are far more prone to dropped/failed calls especially if the Customer/User Equipment is moving at high speed.

    All these variables are not present per se in Digicel's network which uses purely 850 MHz for its '4G' network. In less dense network setups (i.e. those without DC-HSDPA), they use a single 850 MHz layer. This is different from FLOW's setup of 850 MHz and 1900 MHz which gives a balance of coverage and capacity. I've only observed a second 850 MHz carrier from Digicel in Montego Bay and Kingston. FLOW has 2 3G layers in most major towns (and most annoyingly does not have DC-HSDPA in Montego Bay).

    The greatest complexity can be seen in Kingston and St. Andrew where FLOW has 3 3G layers, 1 on 850 MHz and 2 on 1900 MHz (which also has Dual Carrier or Dual Cell HDSPA enabled across them). FLOW's network is optimized to have voice calls (or calls on the circuit switched domain) have the device switch up to 850 MHz for the best possible call quality and release the carrier then anchor onto 1900 MHz for packet switched activity. This setup has seen FLOW data samples on Opensignal in the Kingston Metro Area average at > 5 Mbit/s. This is unlike Digicel (which averages at < 4 Mbit/s), which has a dense network in Kingston unlike FLOW but has only 2 3G layers (2 contiguous blocks i.e. UARFCN numbers 4359 and 4384) which allows for the same speeds as FLOW's 1900 layer but added strain from Voice calls (which have to share the bandwidth) makes for a less than stellar browsing experience. This accounts for FLOW users reporting far less switch-downs to EDGE than Digicel users.

    P.S. FLOW's 3G/'4G' data network is newer than Digicel's and leverages more advanced traffic management techniques than Digicel. FLOW's core network just recently concluded upgrades in November and now the company is undergoing a footprint expansion project in addition to an LTE rollout. A number of new sites are being built with a slice of GSM coverage but massive 3G and LTE capacity. FLOW also has a new co-location agreement with Digicel which will further increase the number of sites and positively impact network reliablity.
    Last edited by Brandysull; Dec 28, 2016 at 10:38 PM.

  2. #92
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    Thanks for the info, am thinking of getting a external LTE/4G antenna for my digicel wimax modem

  3. #93
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    Where i live digicel wimax is the only source of unlimited internet

  4. #94
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    And to simplify some of what @Brandysull said - it's more likely that you can browse and be on a call while on FLOW than with Digicel. It's possible, but your speeds will overall be slower.

    Also @Brandysull - I don't see why they can't use the predictive forwarding unless the next available tower doesn't support the speed/frequency that you're coming from on the previous tower. Even if I lock the network mode in the phone it doesn't make a difference. Also makes no difference if using a dumb-phone which does a whole lot less negotiating with the towers.
    Knowing the solution doesn't mean knowing the method. Yet answering correctly and regurgitation are considered "learning" and "knowledge".

  5. #95
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    Quote Originally Posted by khat17 View Post
    And to simplify some of what @Brandysull said - it's more likely that you can browse and be on a call while on FLOW than with Digicel. It's possible, but your speeds will overall be slower.

    Also @Brandysull - I don't see why they can't use the predictive forwarding unless the next available tower doesn't support the speed/frequency that you're coming from on the previous tower. Even if I lock the network mode in the phone it doesn't make a difference. Also makes no difference if using a dumb-phone which does a whole lot less negotiating with the towers.
    They do have a lot of optimization left to do... especially since not all FLOW sites are the same i.e. They use different equipment vendors. Some sites are Huawei Equipment and some are Ericsson. This is precisely why they have not launched LTE in MoBay yet for example.

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