Sprint's Congestion Management "relies on the radio scheduling software provided by Sprint’s hardware vendors"

Back in April '14, Sprint said that "To more fairly allocate network resources in times of congestion, customers falling within the top 5% of data users may be prioritized below other customers" (see "Sprint's Reasonable Network Management Practices - Fairness, Limit top 5%, Video Optimization" - here). 

It turns out that now, with the FCC' New Net Neutrality rules becoming effective, this is no longer necessary! (or fines like AT&T $100M [here] may cause more damage) - and now the Sprint congestion management "relies on Sprint’s hardware vendors".  

Lance Whitney reports to CNET that "Sprint has stopped its data-throttling policy now that new Net neutrality rules are in place, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

.. Sprint acknowledged the halt to its data throttling in a statement sent to CNET:

'For less than a year, Sprint used a network management practice that applied only at the level of individual congested cell sites, and only for as long as congestion existed. At such sites, we temporarily allocated resources away from the top 5 percent of heaviest users and to the 95 percent of users with normal usage, to try to allocate the effects of congestion more fairly. Once congestion at the site passed, the limitation automatically ended. Upon review, and to ensure that our practices are consistent with the FCC's net neutrality rules, we determined that the network management technique was not needed to ensure a quality experience for the majority of customers'".

Sprint's updated "Open Internet Information" page (here) says: "Sprint employs a holistic approach to managing congestion on its data network. Sprint’s first goal is to avoid congestion altogether by directing traffic to the best available spectrum resources and cell sites. Sprint also attempts to avoid congestion by managing tonnage on its network. Finally, when congestion does occur, meaning that the demand on a particular sector temporarily exceeds the ability of that sector to meet the demand, Sprint relies on the radio scheduling software provided by Sprint’s hardware vendors to allocate resources to user" 

See "Sprint stops data throttling in wake of new Net neutrality rules" - here.

FCC Expands Traffic Management Policies Questioning to all MNOs

Alina Selyukh and Marina Lopes report to Reuters that "The top U.S. communications regulator on Friday said he is asking all large U.S. wireless carriers to explain how they decide when to slow download speeds for some customers, after questioning Verizon Wireless about such a plan"

This follows the letter sent earlier to Verizon (See "The FCC "Deeply Troubled" by Verizon's LTE Optimization" - here) following the MNO's decision to expand its "optimization" policy to LTE and limit unlimited users in congested locations (see "Verizon Expands "Optimization" to LTE Subs to Fight Cell Congestion" - here).

Verizon's response to FCC worries was (here, by TheRegister) that it is the right thing to do and everybody does that (try to claim that in a trial):  "The Commission Has Recognized the Reasonableness of this Form of Network Management .. Such Practices Are Widely Used Throughout the Industry and Have Been Widely Accepted [we are] Managing our 4G LTE to Ensure the Best Wireless Experience [and] With network optimization, our customers continue to be free to go where they want on the Internet and to use the applications, services and devices of their choice"

So ... if everybody does it, need to ask them as well.

Back to Reuters report - "AT&T Inc representatives did not immediately comment. A Sprint Corp spokeswoman said her company "goes to great lengths to be transparent about its network management practices," and will respond to Wheeler's letter as appropriate. "Our network practices are consistent with the Commission’s rules on the open Internet, are innovative and are good for consumers and competition," a T-Mobile US spokeswoman said." 

 

See "After Verizon, U.S. FCC quizzing other carriers on data management" - here.

PCC Deployments [310]: Sprint Selected ItsOn to Enable New Services

ItsOn announced that ".. Sprint will use the ItsOn Smart Services™ Platform to enhance Sprint’s mobile network capabilities and enable new types of mobile services. The multi-year agreement provides Sprint with the ability to design and implement granular service policy control for various data, text and voice services using ItsOn’s SaaS cloud solution.

Sprint will be integrating the ItsOn cloud capabilities into its existing network architecture and the ItsOn Smart Services™ device software will be embedded in all new Sprint Android devices sold through all distribution channels going forward".

At the end of Q1, 2014 Sprint had close to 54M mobile subscribers. Related post "Sprint's Reasonable Network Management Practices - Fairness, Limit top 5%, Video Optimization" - here.

The Smart Services Platform from ItsOn Inc from ItsOn Inc on Vimeo.

See "Sprint to Use ItsOn Smart Services™ Platform" - here.

Sprint's Reasonable Network Management Practices - Fairness, Limit top 5%, Video Optimization

Tammy Parker reports to FierceWireless that "Sprint's pledge of unlimited data [see "Will New Competition Drive AT&T to Bring Back Unlimited Data?" - here and "Sprint CEO: 'we have no plans go to tiered data pricing'" - here] is looking increasingly less sustainable, as the carrier maneuvers to rein in network traffic generated by its heaviest data users and ensure quality of service for the majority of its customers. Postpaid as well as prepaid Sprint customers, including those on its Virgin Mobile USA and Boost Mobile sub-brands, have begun receiving notices alerting them to new data "prioritization management" the operator will employ as of next month to prevent network congestion .. Prioritization can include a reduction of throughput or speed for those targeted users connected to congested sites".

Sprint's "Open Internet Information" page (here) says that 

• Sprint uses various tools and techniques to manage its network .. Sprint's network management activities may include identifying spam and preventing its delivery to customers, detecting malicious Internet traffic and preventing the distribution of viruses or other harmful code or content, allocating spectrum and network resources amongst customers, devices, and price plans, and using other tools and techniques to deliver the best possible broadband Internet experience of Sprint's customers
   
• Network bandwidth isn't infinite. In times of network congestion, the network segment or sector impacted doesn't have enough bandwidth to fully serve all customers requesting it. The network is designed to dynamically allocate available bandwidth in a way that is fair to all users. The fairness algorithms below describe the approach. The resulting impact to the end-user experience is that the user may temporarily experience slower-than-normal data speeds until the congestion has passed.
   
• On the Sprint 3G (CDMA) and 4G LTE networks, Sprint uses a proportional fairness scheduler algorithm that allocates network resources based on radio frequency signal quality and other metrics. During times of congestion, the proportional fairness scheduler algorithm ensures no one user is deprived of network resources.
   
• On Sprint's 4G WIMAX network, Sprint may periodically measure a user's bandwidth usage on a specific network segment or sector, as compared to the overall bandwidth usage for all users on that segment or sector. At times when an individual user is consuming high amounts of bandwidth and at the same time the overall bandwidth is being used by all users on that network segment or sector at high levels, Sprint 4G customers may experience a temporary adjustment in available network resources until the conditions for network congestion have passed.

• Sprint currently employs prioritization to improve data experience for the vast majority of users on Sprint’s CDMA and LTE networks. The heaviest data users consume a disproportionate share of network resources and cause a negative user experience for the rest. To more fairly allocate network resources in times of congestion, customers falling within the top 5% of data users may be prioritized below other customers attempting to access network resources, resulting in a reduction of throughput or speed as compared to performance on non-congested sites .. in addition to the heavy user treatment outlined above, Sprint also reserves the right to alter the priority of other customers on specific devices or plans on the Sprint network. Customers on devices or plans subject to prioritization management may experience a reduction in throughput or speed
   
• Optimization is deployed for RTSP and HTTP video traffic and all HTTP web traffic [by Citrix/Bytemobile - here]. Video optimization uses four basic technologies [see "Sprint Migrates from a "Basket of Tools" to Consolidated Video Optimization Solutions" - here]:
    
• Video Delivery Synchronization: Delivers video "just in time" to the mobile device. Intent is to eliminate network waste associated with transmitting video that isn't watched.
   
• Quality Aware Transcoding: Matches video quality with network conditions in real time. Optimizes video for the bandwidth available to the user. Intent is to minimize or eliminate annoying video stalling. Similar in concept to the optimization techniques already employed by sites using adaptive streaming.
   
• Video Transcoding: Transcodes video with intent to optimize the video experience for the user while efficiently using network bandwidth. Provides for the elimination of video waste using techniques like replacing less efficient video codecs with more efficient ones. Optimizes video for the mobile device the customer is using.
   
• Intelligent Caching: Caches optimized video in the network with the intent of eliminating delay associated with internet video sites.
   
• Web optimization uses three basic technologies:
• Caching: Caches web pages to help avoid delays associated with retrieval of the same internet content multiple times.
   
• Text/Binary Compression: Lossless compression of data and binary files using standard compression techniques supported by HTTP-compliant browsers.
   
• Image Compression: JPEG and GIF compression designed to reduce the size of images while maintaining no user perceptible loss of quality.

See "Sprint slams on the brakes for top 5% of data users in congested areas" - here.

[LightReading]: SDN/NFV Still Doesn’t Show Capex Savings for US MNOs

Sarah Reedy [pictured], Senior Editor, LightReading shows that despite the SDN/NFZ buzz, the great Capex saving are not yet there (at least for 2014).

"SDN and NFV have operators planning for lower capital expenditures, but that's not yet being reflected in their projections for 2014 .. AT&T [see "AT&T Expects SDN and NFV to Reduce Capex in 5 Years" - here], Verizon Wireless, Sprint and T-Mobile US have all wrapped up their fourth-quarter earnings, and on average, their wireless capex projections for this year are flat, none significantly decreased".

Tier-One US Wireless Operators' Capex: 

	2012 Capex	2013 Capex	Projected 2014 Capex
AT&T	$19.7 billion	$21.2 billion (wireless: $11.19 billion)	$21 billion
Verizon Wireless	$16.2 billion	$16.6 billion (wireless: $9.4 billion)	$16.5 - $17.0 billion
Sprint	$5.37 billion	$7.45 billion	$8 billion
T-Mobile		$4.2 billion	$4.3 - $4.6 billion
Source: operators' Q4 earnings reports

Related posts:

• [Light Reading]: Telefonica NFV Plans Start w/DPI and PCRF - here
• Openet: NFV based PCC Deployment by NA Tier1 (AT&T?) - here

See "SDN, NFV Not Slashing Wireless Capex Yet" - here.

Join Us at IMA's 7th 4G Israel Event

This year I was honored to join IMA 4G Israel event's advisory board, and would like invite everyone to attend the one day conference, in Tel Aviv, on January 9th.

   

4G Israel is the largest wireless technology event in Israel, attracting hundreds of thought-leaders and decision-makers from across the country.The conference program provides a vertical view – from business and technology to infrastructure and applications, with case studies of deployments and monetization models.

Among the speakers this year are two of my frequently mentioned industry analysts - Dean Bubley (here), Founder of Disruptive Analysis and Shira Levin (here), Directing Analyst Service Enabelment & Subscriber Intelligence Infonetics Research.  Both will provide their views on the industry and opportunities for MNOs in the LTE era.

Other speakers are from Sprint, Partner (Orange) Israel, Merrill Lynch, NSN, Ericsson, F5, Alactel-Lucent and Mellanox - including a keynote by Dr. Ron Marquardt, VP Technology, Sprint.

See my posts from last year's event:

• Partner (MNO, Israel) on OTT: "We are Crying at Night"; Presents Shopping List - here
• [Cisco Acquired] Intucell CEO Speaks about SON Opportunity  - here.

Registration (through Eventbrite) - here.

[Analysys Mason]: Once Again, Shared Data Plans are Good for MNOs!

A recent survey by Ronan De Renesse, Principal Analyst, Eva Weidinger, Research Analyst and Martin Scott, Principal Analyst Analysys Mason (among 6610 individuals from  France, Germany, Poland, Spain, the UK and the USA) finds that ".. multi-device tariffs offer mobile operators a golden opportunity to more effectively monetise mobile data... Owners of more than one mobile device and those who use their smartphone for 'tethering' use more data than smartphone-only owners, but do not go for higher data allowances, indicating the difficulties of mobile data monetisation".

• 47% of shared or family data plan users have between 1GB and 10GB of data per month, compared to 36% of respondents on other smartphone contracts.

• Similarly, users on high-level tariff tiers, who have more than 10GB of data per month, are more likely to be on a shared data or family plan. 16% of shared or family data plan users reported a monthly allowance of more than 10GB.
   
• In the USA, shared and family data plans are well established. AT&T [see "AT&T: 13M Subscribers on Shared Data Plans; Demand for Bigger Buckets"- here and chart below] and Verizon Wireless have offered shared data plans for residential subscribers since the third quarter of 2012. Both operators increased ARPU in 2012 through the launch of shared data plans, despite the emergence of competing flat-rate ‘unlimited’ plans from Sprint and T-Mobile.

See "The connected consumer survey 2013: smartphones, mobile data access and monetisation" - here.

NSN Reality Check: 3 Types of Unlimited Data Plans

 
Leslie Shannon (pictured), Senior Strategic Marketing Manager, Nokia Siemens Networks, covers the current trends in unlimited data plans, as ".. after luring customers with unlimited data plans, operators soon discovered the downside for their networks: more congestion. This eventually led to a worldwide shift away from unlimited data plans, particularly with the introduction of LTE, which many operators used as an opportunity to pull back on these plans".

"But not everyone. There are still three categories of unlimited data plans out there: Looks unlimited but isn't ..( T-Mobile USA) .. Looks unlimited and is (Sprint, US; LG U+, Korea) .. Unlimited data with varying speeds (Swisscom, DNA Finland)".

Source: Swisscom - see "Swisscom Shows the Unlimited Business-Case"

"Happily, Quality of Service Differentiation can really help here. The key is to think in terms of ‘deprioritizing’ a select few rather than throttling everyone – or no one. Dropping network priority for subscribers over a certain threshold – but only in times of congestion – is common in all of the networks in Hong Kong, for example, and has the advantage of delivering full network speeds when there is no congestion. Alternatively, operators can deprioritize only the highest-usage customers after they reach a set limit, so in practice throttling only those subscribers who cause the most network grief" 

See also "[ABI]: Shared Data Plan Available to 5% of Global Subscribers; Unlimited to 15%" - here. 

See "The temptation of unlimited data" - here.

Sprint Expands Bill Shock Alerts

A month before the CTIA deadline [see "[US] Bill Shock Prevention: VZW, AT&T and T-Mobile will Alert on Exceeding Data Charges" - here] Sprint announced the ".. expansion of its current usage alert program to include wireless voice and text messaging services .. Customers can elect to receive these free alerts via text message or email through Sprint’s Ready Now program or by accessing their account via Sprint.com. If a customer doesn’t choose a preferred method of communication, Sprint will provide alerts via text message as a default".

For International use - "Sprint sends a "welcome" text message when an international roaming subscriber first registers in a foreign country. The text message includes details on the casual rates for voice, texts and data in that particular country. In addition, Sprint sends notifications in approximately $50 increments of international data roaming charges. Casual international roaming users will be required to opt-in when usage charges meet or exceed approximately $100 and $300. Customers on international data plans must opt-in when they meet their data allowance and when they incur approximately $300 in overage charges. All customers incurring approximately $500 of international data usage charges will be suspended, but usage can be restored by contacting Sprint. Sprint will continue to send notifications at approximately $50 increments over $500".

See "Sprint Launches Voice and Text Usage Alerts Fulfilling its Industry Commitment" - here.

Sprint, ALU and IXIA to Support LTE Acceleration Lab in Israel

Sprint announced "..its plan to support an LTE acceleration lab in Tel Aviv, Israel, later in 2013. In collaboration with the Israel Mobile & Media Association (IMA), the LTE lab will add significant momentum to the Israeli-based ecosystem of startups and developers. Well-known for its prowess in the high-tech industry, Israel is ranked second behind Silicon Valley among top startup ecosystems"

" .. At the LTE lab, startups will be welcome to work on their ideas, collaborate with other companies, and see what evolves, with minimal carrier direction. Although Sprint will benefit from having an early look at the technology that may result from this collaborative effort, Sprint has an open approach to development and support for the environment .. the equipment will be provided by Alcatel-Lucent, and the lab will collaborate with their ng Connect Program, an Alcatel-Lucent-founded multi-industry ecosystem dedicated to the creation of the next-generation user experience for connected consumers".

LTE acceleration LAB founders -  Sprint, IMA, Alcatel-Lucent and IXIA

IXIA is also supporting the lab and announced that "Acceleration Lab will employ IxLoad and IxNetwork to enable secure and reliable application delivery for participating startups .. The lab is equipped with high-end testing gear for load, conformance, quality of service, and interoperability and LTE network testing, and is facilitated with Orange Israel and Telefonica network APIs. In addition, it contains a pool of more than 2,000 handsets and other technical services and capabilities. Now, with IxLoad and IxNetwork, startups and developers have the data needed to eliminate guesswork about the performance and security of their applications" (here).

Stephen Bye, announcing Sprint support for the LTE acceleration Lab

Stephen Bye, CTO, Sprint said at the  4GIsrael (organized by IMA)  “As a complement to our efforts to unlock innovation in the United States, this Sprint-sponsored LTE acceleration lab will allow startups and developers in Israel valuable access to dramatically speed up their time to market .. We are committed to an open developer environment, creating opportunities for innovative services, products and technologies to be developed and launched on the Sprint LTE network”.


See "Sprint to Support Launch of IMA LTE Acceleration Lab for Startups in Israel" - here.

Will New Competition Drive AT&T to Bring Back Unlimited Data?

In an interview to Brian Chen, New York Times, Ralph de la Vega (pictured), President and CEO, AT&T Mobility was asked whether AT&T is going to bring back the unlimited data accounts, following the offering of T-mobile (here) and Sprint (chart below), both with Apple's iPhone5.

The short answer was "None at this time". AT&T counts on its customer loyalty -  "We’ve seen Verizon get the iPhone, we’ve seen Sprint get the iPhone and offer unlimited data plans. And now T-Mobile will get it. But while all that’s happened, our customer loyalty has improved and churn has gone down".

Source: Sprint 

See "C.E.S. 2013: Ralph de la Vega of AT&T Mobility" - here.

Optimization Deployments [156]: Sprint Uses Birdstep for On-Device Access Management

Birdstep Technology announced that "Sprint has selected its EasySmart client to provide intelligent data traffic management for Wi-Fi and WiMAX .. EasySmart .. is an intelligent client for smartphones and tablets that enables seamless connectivity to Wi-Fi with automatic credential handling while providing customer service intelligence, secure connectivity, seamless mobility and marketing capabilities".

According to Tammy Parker's report on Fierce Broadband Wireless, Sprint is adding it to Smith Micro's NetWise Director (covered here for its new iOS version) it is already using. See "Sprint adds Birdstep technology for data traffic management" - here.

See "Sprint Selects EasySmart Solution from Birdstep Technology to Help Enhance Quality of Network Experience for Subscribers" - here.

Sprint Migrates from a "Basket of Tools" to Consolidated Video Optimization Solutions

 
The recent trends in traffic management are integrating multiple traffic management and optimization tools into a single solution, and moving away from simple throttling policy to more sophisticated congestion management, OTT control and quality of experience management - considering both network cost reduction and revenues generation.
 
Vendors that used to offer single functions (DPI, optimization) are enhancing their solution with additional functions - either by self-development (F5 and Bytemobile adding DPI), acquisitions (rumors of Allot buying Ortiva - here), OEM or partnerships.

All this is done to stay ahead of some of these capabilities that are offered by existing network elements - such as Cisco's GGSN in-line services or DPI functionality in Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent or Nokia-Siemens Networks GGSNs.

A recent story by Sarah Reedy (pictured) to Light Reading shows how well this approach is accepted by Sprint.

Bob Azzi, SVP of Networks, said "When we deliver video, we we're wasting bandwidth .. the core is aware of the type of device and the content the user is demanding and only sends the bandwidth necessary for both, reducing what's required at the RF layer".

VP of Development and Engineering Iyad Tarazi (pictured) said "We used to see in the past, four to five years ago, one supplier doing caching, one doing encoding and decoding, others looking at pinching and throttling .. We're now seeing consolidation and optimization tools that are customer-friendly .. The tools still have to do all the things -- caching, encoding, decoding, etc. -- but now the tools focus on managing the network, rather than looking at the quality of the video that the content supplier is capable of delivering. That doesn't mean throttling .. it could mean sending video to a consumer that is optimized for the network speed in a specific area, instead of sending the consumer the best possible version of that video available from the content provider". 

See "Sprint's Optimized Mobile Video Strategy" - here.

US ISPs Agreed to Combat Major Cyber Security Threats

While US ISPs get ready to fight piracy by watching for illegal content downloads (here) they have also agreed to ".. better secure their communications networks and protect consumers and business".

  

An FCC press release announced that ".. an industry advisory group for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Communications, Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council (CSRIC), unanimously adopted recommendations for voluntary action by Internet service providers (ISPs) to combat three major cyber security threats, including botnets, attacks on the Domain Name System (DNS), and Internet route hijacking .. Chairman Genachowski applauds voluntary commitments by nation’s largest Internet Service Providers, including AT&T, CenturyLink, Comcast, Cox, Sprint, Time Warner Cable, T-Mobile and Verizon".

• Under the Anti-Bot Code, ISPs agree to educate consumers about the botnet threat, take steps to detect botnet activity on their networks, make consumers aware of botnet infections on their computers, offer assistance to consumers whose computers are infected and collaborate with other service providers that have also adopted the Anti-Bot Code
    
• DNSSEC is a set of secure protocol extensions that prevent such fraudulent activity
    
• CSRIC recommended an industry framework to prevent Internet route hijacking, which is the erroneous routing of Internet traffic through potentially untrustworthy networks 

Some examples from other countries: Sri-Lanka, Nigeria, Egypt, India, Korea, Argentina. AT&T also announced several security initiatives (here , here and here).    

See "FCC advisory committee adopts recommendations to minimize three major cyber threats, including an anti-bot code of conduct, ip route hijacking industry framework and secure DNS best practices" - here and more details (here).

Verizon Wireless will Offer Shared Data Plans in 2012

 

Phil Goldstein reports to FierceWireless that "Verizon Wireless expects to offer data plans for multiple devices sometime in 2012".

A recent Infonetics Research report finds that "Shared Data Plans (a single account, shared by people, usually family members, and/or multiple devices with, for example, a combined data cap) represent a prime opportunity for operators to reduce churn, drive device adoption, and generate more revenue than they have been able to from individual subscriptions—provided they are executed correctly" (see "Infonetics: Shared Data Plans - an Opportunity with OSS Needs" - here and chart below).

According to the FierceWireless report ("Verizon's McAdam: Family data plans coming in 2012" - here), Lowell McAdam (pictured), Verizon Communications CEO, said at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference that " .. customers who are dealing with four or five screens--smartphones, tablets and USB modems for laptops and the like--do not want to pay for all of those devices on separate bills, and neither does Verizon.. I think in 2012 we will see it .. We have been working on this for a couple of years. Getting to one bill and getting to account-level pricing is our goal"

"Executives from AT&T Mobility and Sprint Nextel have hinted at such plans as well"

Source: Infonetics



 

LightSquared: "No intelligence in our network" - but its Retail Partners Use Intelligence!

     

Light Reading's Sarah Reedy quotes LightSquared's CEO Sanjiv Ahuja (pictured) keynote during Open Mobile Summit held in San Francisco this week:

• "LightSquared is building the ultimate dumb pipe .. We want to be the dumbest wireless broadband pipe. No intelligence in our network. None. Zero .. LightSquared was formed to make wireless broadband a pure utility, bringing it to 100 million people in the U.S. before the end of 2012. Inherent in that wholesale structure is an open network"

• "You aren't looking for your carrier to provide intelligence; you want the device manufacturer to have connectivity embedded"

See "LightSquared: 4G America's Dumbest Pipe" - here.

Last month LightSquared announced (here) it has 17 partners across the US (including Sprint and Leap Wireless), and waits now for the FCC approval. While I am not sure if the term "Network Intelligence" means the same to all, it seems that LightSquared customers are using it to a certain degree - see "How does Sprint Use Network Intelligence?" - here and "Leap Wireless/Cricket New Service Plans" - here. 

See also "Sandvine CEO: "there could be some business in the large U.S. carrier wireless side in 2011" - here.

How does Sprint Use Network Intelligence?

 

A recent article by Maisie Ramsay (pictured) for Wireless Week discusses the limited use of Network Intelligence by the leading US MNOs.

 "Operators are putting information about traffic and subscribers to work, but have so far shown little appetite for the upsell business .. wireless networks are more than just conduits for voice and data – they’re veritable gold mines of information on traffic and subscribers. With the right probes and analytics in place, operators can glean information on demographics, location, mobile content, applications, traffic and devices"

The article expands on the use of Network Intelligence (NI) by Sprint (see quotes below) and mentions also AT&T and Verizon - and concludes that NI is mostly used for traffic analysis. Nevertheless, as we saw recently, there is also "active" use for NI - for example for tethering detection (AT&T - here, Verizon - here) and Congestion management (Verizon - here).

"At Sprint, network analytics are being used to help call center workers handle subscribers’ calls about their wireless service. The information also helps Sprint stay ahead of massive increases in data traffic, allowing it to see where congestion is currently occurring and predict where capacity will need to be increased in the future .. The operator has seen a year-over-year doubling in data traffic, and that growth has increased its need to accurately predict trends on its network"

"Sprint isn’t interested in using its analytics to upsell its customers on premium services, which would go against the ethos of its all-inclusive unlimited plans. For now, primary use of the information is making customers happy and keeping Sprint ahead of usage trends that could impact its network"

See "Networks Smarten Up" - here.

Validas: Smartphone Data Traffic Continue to Rise (+150%/Year in Verizon)

 

According to Validas blog post by Dylan Breslin-Barnhart (picture), Consumer Product Evangelist, "In the past year, Smartphone data usage has jumped massively across nearly all major carriers, with the exception of T-Mobile"

"Without caps on their usage and facilitated by fast 4G speeds, Sprint Smartphone users consumed the most data on average and show little sign of slowing down with their average data consumption soaring up by nearly 400MB per month in the last six months compared to the prior six months (see also "Sprint Will Throttle Virgin Mobile Users Exceeding 2.5GB" - here)".

The next report will be more interesting, as it will show the effect of AT&T (here) and Verizon (here) data caps and other measurements taken by the two giants to limit non-profitable data traffic.

See "Smartphone Data Usage Rockets Within Past Year; Verizon Wireless Smartphone Data Usage Up 150%" - here and "Are You Leaving Data On The Table With Your Smartphone Plan?" - here.

Previous reports: "Mobile Data Usage Stats: Savvy Users Get Savvier" - here and "Validas: Usage per User Increased from 96.8 MB to 145.8 MB" - here.

Sprint Will Throttle Virgin Mobile Users Exceeding 2.5GB

 

Will Sprint remain the only "truly unlimited postpaid mobile data plans in place" in the US? Maybe, but at least its prepaid brand, Virgin Mobile, won’t.

The carrier announced that "Beginning in October 2011, Virgin Mobile will also move to reduce data speeds [to 256 kbps - see below] when a customer’s data usage exceeds 2.5GB in a month but still provide unlimited 3G access without a contract, usage cap, overage or activation fees. Based on current usage patterns, fewer than 3 percent of Virgin Mobile USA customers use more than 2.5GB of data usage per month. After reaching this level, this minority of customers may experience slower page loads, file downloads and streaming media. When a customer’s next month begins, the data usage meter starts back at zero with unlimited 3G speeds .. Last week, Verizon pulled its unlimited data plan; T-Mobile and AT&T have also moved away from unlimited data usage. At this time, only Sprint, which owns Virgin Mobile USA, has truly unlimited postpaid mobile data plans in place".

See "Virgin Mobile New Beyond Talk Plans Offer Unlimited Data Plan With No Contract" - here.

David Trimble, vice president for Virgin Mobile USA said: “We are all facing the same situation and this is the best way for Virgin Mobile to maintain the best network experience as data usage explodes .. Our no-contract and postpaid competitors like Cricket, MetroPCS and T-Mobile have either implemented more stringent constraints and/or don’t disclose slower speeds and data caps. We believe this adjustment – with no hard cap or overage charges for more usage – gives the most value to the largest group of consumers. It’s important to Sprint and the Virgin brand that we be as up-front as possible with our customers.”

Virgin Mobile's site explains [here] that "Effective in October [exact date TBD] , when any Beyond  Talk customers reach 2.5GB of data usage within a current monthly cycle, they could have their maximum throughput speeds limited to 3G speeds of 256 kbps or below for the remainder of that plan cycle"

[WSJ] AT&T, China Telecom and PCCW Expand Wi-Fi; Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile will not Deploy

   

Cari Tuna covers for the Wall Street Jounral the recent trends in use of carrier Wi-Fi to improve the capacity of wireless data networks. See "Battling a Wireless Deluge" - here.

AT&T, being the most famous wireless operator to use Wi-Fi (see "AT&T: Times Square needs a Wifi Boost to cope with 3G Traffic" - here) : "Today, the carrier has six such Wi-Fi access zones across the U.S. and plans a "rapid acceleration" in its building of such networks over the coming year, said Angie Wiskocil (top picture), AT&T's senior vice president of Wi-Fi services. She called it a "cost-effective complement" to the company's 3G cellular network".

Other carriers using Wi-Fi are Towerstream, PCCW (Hong-Kong) and China Telecom - "Ruckus Wireless said a unit of China Telecom had installed more than 4,000 Wi-Fi access points across Chongqing, a major city in southwestern China, in order to augment its cellular network".

 

Nevertheless, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless are not deploying Wi-Fi. "There are features on cellular networks that you don't have on Wi-Fi—the mobility, security and reliability that our customers have come to expect" said Nicola Palmer, (picture) VP Network, Verizon Wireless.

See also - "In-Stat: Wi-Fi Hotspot Growth Continues to be Strong" - here. 

Gartner analyst Paul DeBeasi told WSJ: "Outdoor Wi-Fi access points are also smaller, easier to install and, at roughly a thousand dollars each, less expensive than cellular towers.. however, that Wi-Fi access points are designed to transmit signals several hundred feet, compared with a cell site's reach of several miles"