Digicel LTE

[Brandysull]

That's Great. It's good to know that they are expanding thier LTE Network. I keep getting kicked off of Flows LTE Network, I did a speed test. And got 36 Mbps down, nothing up.

They're testing... be careful lest when the network is up you're not able register on it properly... It happened to me but I knew what course of action to take... Not something I recommend... Give it a month.

[Nathan77791]

They're testing... be careful lest when the network is up you're not able register on it properly... It happened to me but I knew what course of action to take... Not something I recommend... Give it a month.

I sure will, don't want that to happen to me. If it does happen, how do I correct it?. Does it involve a factory reset of the phone?.

[GPRS Internet]

Keep in mind that 98% of UWI using Digicel, so once LTE is live there bandwidth would get eaten up quickly so Digicel would need to have lots of antennas there..

[Brandysull]

I sure will, don't want that to happen to me. If it does happen, how do I correct it?. Does it involve a factory reset of the phone?.

No... it involves getting someone in engineering to see what's going on with your network attach messages... long and complicated but then again... your mileage my vary

[Brandysull]

Keep in mind that 98% of UWI using Digicel, so once LTE is live there bandwidth would get eaten up quickly so Digicel would need to have lots of antennas there..

You are true in that sense but I must say it's a trend I'm seeing even outside of UWI... they need more bandwidth but that might require some cooperation with FLOW....

[Nathan77791]

You are true in that sense but I must say it's a trend I'm seeing even outside of UWI... they need more bandwidth but that might require some cooperation with FLOW....

One of the former CEO of Digicel Jamaica is the head of the Deep blue cable company. This company will be laying a 8th layer fibre optic cable across the Caribbean, terminating in the US via Miami. With three terminals in Jamaica. This new layout will provide massive capacity for Jamaica and the wider Caribbean over the next 30 years. Digicel it seems, will be independent of Liberty Globals foothold on the fibre optic ring across the Region.

[Brandysull]

One of the former CEO of Digicel Jamaica is the head of the Deep blue cable company. This company will be laying a 8th layer fibre optic cable across the Caribbean, terminating in the US via Miami. With three terminals in Jamaica. This new layout will provide massive capacity for Jamaica and the wider Caribbean over the next 30 years. Digicel it seems, will be independent of Liberty Globals foothold on the fibre optic ring across the Region.

I'm aware of that but what I was referring to was Digicel's spectrum holdings... in Jamaica. Digicel, in order to match or outpace capacity offered by FLOW will have to do spectrum swaps with FLOW, which would also not see a favorable fate for Digicel. There are no allocations wherein Digicel can get 20 MHz of contiguous spectrum that can be aggregated with Band 17. The only way they can do so is if they do a spectrum swap with FLOW on a specific block in PCS (1900 MHz) which is unlikely as Digicel has been cause intermodulation issues FLOW's 850 MHz block (which due to Digicel's 900 MHz block has reduced FLOW's usable bandwidth) therefore FLOW would probably ask for a spectrum swap further up the band plan in exchange. Digicel would need 3CA to compete and Jamaica is simply not the market to do so....

[Nathan77791]

I'm aware of that but what I was referring to was Digicel's spectrum holdings... in Jamaica. Digicel, in order to match or outpace capacity offered by FLOW will have to do spectrum swaps with FLOW, which would also not see a favorable fate for Digicel. There are no allocations wherein Digicel can get 20 MHz of contiguous spectrum that can be aggregated with Band 17. The only way they can do so is if they do a spectrum swap with FLOW on a specific block in PCS (1900 MHz) which is unlikely as Digicel has been cause intermodulation issues FLOW's 850 MHz block (which due to Digicel's 900 MHz block has reduced FLOW's usable bandwidth) therefore FLOW would probably ask for a spectrum swap further up the band plan in exchange. Digicel would need 3CA to compete and Jamaica is simply not the market to do so....

OK, thanks for the clarity. So base on you're assessment, is Digicel doomed?. If they don't get the spectrum swap. What other options do they have for expanding thier LTE Network?.

[Brandysull]

OK, thanks for the clarity. So base on you're assessment, is Digicel doomed?. If they don't get the spectrum swap. What other options do they have for expanding thier LTE Network?.

I would never say doomed... hampered, yes... not even a purchase of Caricel can help them... what they need is more spectrum and either the SMA releases more spectrum for auction or Digicel stays stagnant while the competition adds Band 5 LTE and or buys Caricel and aggregate that with Band 4.... either way, C&W did their homework and are reaping the benefits as a result.

[GPRS Internet]

Was in Kingston few days ago.. was surprised to amount of places I had Digicel LTE... On the other hand in Mobay it's the same locations from when they launched the service... siighhh