I can see heavy confusion on what is 4G? So thought to make a blog post about it.
Some people even feel like….
:) Let’s try to understand from basic definition about 4G.
As per ITU - 4G refers to wireless technologies which gives as fast as 1Gbps speeds when one is stationary, while 100Mbps speeds when one is on move. That’s it. Full stop.
Well, that’s “just in defination”. In real - there is no technology which is real 4G.
Which DNS resolver is better - ISP’s (default) DNS resolver, or Google Public DNS or the pioneer of DNS openDNS or even a local DNS server?
Let’s try to find out! I am sitting on a BSNL data link, and I will try to perform few tests to find that out: Available DNS resolvers to me:
--- 218.248.255.194 ping statistics ---
5 packets transmitted, 4 received, 20% packet loss, time 4001ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 26.978/27.754/29.122/0.897 ms
--- 218.248.255.194 ping statistics ---
5 packets transmitted, 4 received, 20% packet loss, time 4001ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 26.978/**27.754**/29.122/0.897 ms
--- 8.8.8.8 ping statistics --- 5 packets transmitted,
5 received, 0% packet loss,
time 4001ms rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 121.147/121.878/122.951/0.783 ms
--- 208.67.222.222 ping statistics ---
5 packets transmitted, 5 received, 0% packet loss, time 4005ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 217.678/**219.528**/222.034/1.717 ms
Next, localhost? :)
Recently lucky mobile users in Haryana got MNP i.e Mobile Number Portability.
I too ported my number out from Airtel to Tata Docomo. Reason remains the super slow GPRS network (yup gprs, not even upgraded to EDGE in most of Haryana) and crazy service activation followed by irritating sms’es.
It took around 20 days in porting of my number, and technically speaking - process is yet not (hundred percent) completed even after a month! One of the problems with system is that whenever one requests for a porting code, it is valid for 15days. If we request for porting code again (via sms) we get same code, with same validity. In my case, I request for code, but I submitted documents for porting after 13days of my initial request. On the day of submission, I requested for code again, and got same code which was expiring after 2days. I did informed retailer about it, but he had no clue. Eventually I submitted form. Next, documents reached company by 16th (or to the middle guy), and they triggered request for porting on 16th day with same old code. Result: Port out request failed, because porting code was expired! It took me over a week to realize that, and eventually I submitted documents again. I submitted documents on Monday, and on a fine thursday evening I realized that I didn’t got any call or sms that day! Later, I found I was even not able to send any sms. Outgoing calls were going fine via Airtel connection. I got clue, and tried using Tata Docomo sim card, and it worked! All was OK other then fact that I was not able to recieve calls from Airtel users on Tata’s sim. Callers were getting message - “The Airtel number you have dialed is switched off!” At this point of time I realized a big problem - due to some bugs in system, new carrier actually accepted my number, while Airtel has yet not ported out my number. Good was that I started getting calls even from Airtel users within a day. Logically speaking all was going OK, other then fact that my Airtel connection still works for outgoing, and even at the time of blogging (after a month of porting) it’s still up! Tata Docomo customer support has no clue about it while Airtel support always requests me to visit Airtel relationship center to get this fixed. (Why really? Can’t they do this ONLINE?!)
So, finally 3G is set to launch in India from Private operators. One of my friend came to me and asked:
Very nice one!
It’s quite strange to see, how users are taking 3G. Actually it has been largely “overestimated” technology, specially from Indian media. Let’s first try to understand - What exactly is 3G? Without going into geeky definitions - 3G is simply upgrade from 2G. It uses higher frequency, and thus has more spectrum available for more bandwidth. That’s all. One important thing we need to understand is - 3G is more or less just a last mile technology i.e it connects telecom network’s exchange to consumer’s device. Mostly 3G, 2G, landline network, and broadband network - all share same core network backhaul. Western countries who did deployed 3G many years back are going into hybrid path of taking 3G to 4G apart form offloading peak data to (wired) broadband networks. They are promoting use of wifi, bringing new gadget FemtoCell. At this time, it doesn’t makes sense to say - 3G is everything! Latest capping on uncapped 3G plans by AT&T is a good example of that.
This is a question that I have been asked many times via email and sometimes even phone! Situation is this: you wake up in the morning and found your email hosting is down. You are not getting any emails, either they are bouncing back or going to a blackhole. What should you do in such a situation? Email service is much like a chain – if any part is broken, you won’t get things working (apart from lots of frustration!). Since it’s like chain, one must follow step by step to find the problem.