Cyprus-Forum.com

[Sotos]

Who told you GSM is dangerous???????

Many say that! You can even boil an egg with 2 mobile phones! http://www.wymsey.co.uk/wymchron/cooking.htm

[Strahd]

Who told you GSM is dangerous???????

Many say that! You can even boil an egg with 2 mobile phones! http://www.wymsey.co.uk/wymchron/cooking.htm

This is fake. It cannot be reproduced, however RF has a thermal effect when in high powers and this is very well known and documented.

WiMAX is not for mobile devices it is for fixed wireless access. To explain if you cannot get ADSL at home you can install a small antenna at the roof of your house and get broadband this way.

[Strahd]

802.16e allows for mobility and some of the major manufacturers are working on this now and will release very soon.

the 3G killer is coming! Imagine in a few years we could have wimax mobiles! excellent!

[marpate1]

the 3G killer is coming! Imagine in a few years we could have wimax mobiles! excellent!

I think that this is likely, although I really think that this will be great for 3rd World countries where we could perhaps implement a mesh network to provide voice and internet capabilities across huge areas at little cost. I recall a politician in Africa (somewhere) once saying that government investment in country wide internet access would reap better returns than building a road infrastructure ... interesting thought!

Saying that, as HSDPA (high speed downlink packet access) starts to be implemented on 3G networks, the potential is huge. If nothing else, consumers will have choice which can only help bring costs down.

Cheers,
Mark

[sadik]

Recently a couple of companies have been interested in launching wireless ISP using WiMax technologies. This will allow wireless internet provision of up to 5MBps and to distance of up to 5miles from base station, no line of sight required.

Finally!!!!

The cost will probably be less or equal to having an crappy CYTA or Primetel ADSL connection!

Wimax can compete with the ADSL only where there is no ADSL available. Setup costs are much higher than the ADSL, with antennas and receiver devices currently starting at $500. WiMax also requires licensing and frequency allocation from the goventment. So far no WiMax licenses have been issued in Cyprus. I heard they are planning to do it at the end of the year. Of course, highet bidders will get these licenses. CYTA will definitely get one of the licenses and other telecom operators the others, so you will have the option of a crappy ADSL line or a crappy WiMax connection from CYTA.

[marpate1]

Wimax can compete with the ADSL only where there is no ADSL available.

Possibly, although it really depends upon what the operator offers. Those with WiMAX and IMS core will offer services advanced telephony and internet capabilities which wireline and DSL cannot.

[poirazis]

As far as i know, CYTA will be somewhat prohibited from participating in the bid for the frequency licenses directly and up to 5 operator licences can be given. Its all a matter of money during the bidding procedure which will take place most propably before the end of the year.

As for the speeds, I hear lots of people complaining about the speeds offered in Cyprus. The problem is not the means, aDSL , cable, fiber, or wireless. The problem for limited speeds is the very expensive international capacity. You may know how cheap it is to get 1GB IP Transit in the London IX, but you might not know is how high is the cost of one single STM1 Line to bring 155Mbps to the Island. As all the submarine fibers are co-owned by CYTA, as the national fiber "manager", the prices are extremely high. I wont hide my id, i am affiliated with Netway, co-owner, and know first hand the costs of such a connection. I am sure all ISP's would be glad to offer much higher speeds, but we are not the bottleneck here.

[Sotos]

Netway is good ISP. One of my favs. Aren't there any alternative ways for international bandwidth? Satellite for example? And why CYTA is charging so much for the submarine fibers? Just because of greed or there are other reasons?

[Strahd]

Netway is good ISP. One of my favs. Aren't there any alternative ways for international bandwidth? Satellite for example? And why CYTA is charging so much for the submarine fibers? Just because of greed or there are other reasons?

Netway is the best ISP I have used for sure, however they are dependant of CYTA ADSL circuits since they do not have their own infrastructure and I am not talking about the cables but the local exchanges... On the question of the international bandwidth CYTA is only one of the options. OTEnet and Thunderworx are the two companies that come to mind now.

[poirazis]

To Sotos :

Other meand like Satellite, are not valid optios, due to the high latency. You can reach london, via the submarine firer in 80ms, while via the Satellite you would need more than 500ms. You can imagine the effects this has on VoIP and gaming. I cannot be sure why CYTA charges this much. I can only assume. I imagine one possible reason, is contracts they have signed with the othe half of the fiber owner (each fiber cable has its owner, and CYTA to allow termination in CY) with prices too high that they cannot now lower. Another reason is monopoly. By controlling the capacity, they control mostly all telecoms. We can go ahead and analyse this , but would take days. The bottom line is, the prices are so high as its extremely hard to buy. And there are further problems. Most circuits are bound with contracts to CYTA, and are just sitting there idle. But you, or me , or anyone , cannot go and get them. They are paid by CYTA and idle there.

To Strahd: Thunderworx can only purchase capacity thought CYTAGlobe, as everybody else at the same prices. OTEGlobe, not OTEnet, has the option to get lower prices, as he is the other end partner of the fibers ending in Greece, and thus get better prices, as he "ownes" half the circuit. Still, he depends on availability. The bottom line is, CYTA is still in control of all the international capacity.