Senior Techie
No nothing wrong with that, the live broadcasts of the launch should have been aired on Sunday 26 of February 2017. But due to technical difficulties, the program had to be cancelled. They will air a record of the event this Wednesday at 9:30pm. Flow announce a partnership with crime stop, to stop and reduce theft and vandalism.Originally Posted by GPRS Internet
Senior Techie
In other news, Digicel ammended their F.I.T.W. plan to 300 MB and removes the unlimited social media aspect. Such features are now relegated to a deliberately obfuscated add-on for $50 which lasts for 2 days. Don't fret however, Digicel has introduced new postpaid plans called Digicel RED (I suppose a former Vodafone exec is in charge of Products at Digicel lol) in the Cayman Islands which include free social media in its 3 highest tiers + free d'Music streaming. The pricing is very competitive (even though the highest tier plan caps at 8 GB and at a price wherein users can get 2 GB extra on a 12 Month FLOW MyPlan tariff in exchange for the added text, voice & Digicel Extras perks).
I forsee FLOW jumping on the free social media train or 5 or 10-folding their current data allotments during mid-2017, when their LTE footprint is extensive (when they've hit the 200 site mark). Digicel has not said anything in the way of expanding their LTE network & given the new developments in 'Project Swan' or Digicel 2030 (read more about it at Digicel's corporate site), it seems they will be using ZTE equipment going forward for any future rollouts. This will prove an interesting mix as they have been a long standing customer of Ericsson, who built their original GSM network in 2000-2001. In addition, FLOW is doing rip-and-replaces on their planned LTE sites which were formerly Huawei sites (on the north coast) (Last site count was 44, only in Kingston & St. Andrew). 2017 into 2018 will surely see huge changes to the product offerings from both companies as they improve their data networks and perhaps we will see GSM network shutdowns around 2020 (given the limited spectrum resources companies have at the moment).
Jamaica & the Caribbean in general stands to benefit from this shift in strategy by Digicel (which was arguably brought on by the positive market outlooks on LiLAC, which is looking to fully integrate CWC into its fold by 2020 & earn somewhere over 1.5 billion USD excluding Liberty Comms & VTR). The new shifts will see our operators pushing data & realise further synergies as they continue to innovate and acquire other businesses. Let's just sit back and watch what the market will bring.
Oh, last thing.... Watch out for Digicel perhaps slimming its HSPA+ network or using some dissused spectrum to match FLOW's LTE network which is now either 15x15 MHz or 20x20 MHz Band 4 LTE (capable of up to 115 Mbit/s or 150 Mbit/s). FLOW adding 5 MHz of low band spectrum (either Band 5 (850 MHz) or Band 13 - 700 MHz) will allow them to hit peak speeds of up to 150 Mbit/s or even 185 Mbit/s. If they add 10 MHz, they could touch up to 225 Mbit/s. CRAZY stuff. Exciting times.
Last edited by Brandysull; Feb 27, 2017 at 03:01 PM.
Hardcore Techie
Good, that will make it compatible with my phone
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Techie
When did flow acquire any of the 700MHz band? I cant find any reference to it.
Guru
Digicel know something is coming from Flow hence they raise and change data plans trying to collect as much money before Flow drops their new plans..
Just hope Flow don't come wid no foolishness
Senior Techie
I'm not sure who has band 28 in the 700Mhz spectrum. I believe that Caricel has this band, but I have no specifics. I hope Flows LTE network, will also include major fixes. To prevent the extensive and lengthy outages the Network faces sometimes.
Senior Techie
Any reference to social media and they get cute about it...... rest assured, when the new plans drop I'll be one of the first to know. I suppose it'll be larger data plans more than anything else (which is preferred, A 50 GB plan is better than an unlimited plan with a deprioritization cap of 22 GB per billing cycle).
Senior Techie
That's the thing.......... issues like network downtime are not handled by FLOW but by Ericsson. FLOW & Ericsson signed an agreement to keep the network up 99.99999% of the time (this a gross oversimplification tho... I'm tired so I can't give my usual essay lol). Band 28 could be anyones tbh.... Band 28 is quite large (45 MHz of available bandwidth vs 10 on Band 13 & 17). If FLOW gets even 10 MHz of Band 28, they could easily top 225 Mbit/s peak speed. The only issue with Band 28 (or 700 APT) is compatibility. Otherwise, it's a great asset.
Last edited by Brandysull; Feb 28, 2017 at 07:43 PM.
Techie
When will flow actually complete its network integration? ... Lime and flow. Cause as far as I know that's the hold up to everything. System glitches and application issues. Billing and the works. Features down and everything out of whack. As it stands they are two separate networks behind the scenes with 3 different billing platforms. Legacy lime and legacy flow and the new flow as of October 2015. That's also reflected in the varying call rates between the 3 above.
So my question is do u have any idea if that is slowing down the process still at this moment or have they sorted the issues out?
Senior Techie
They have not finish the Integration process as yet, and I doubt that will be done anytime soon. The Networks are very much separate, as when I restart my phone. It indicates that the Network is Flow, then instantly changes back to Lime. It does this every time I do a shut down, or restart of my phone. The only devices that indicates Flow, are the Iphones from the 5S up.
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