3g vs 4g - My Views

Why Telcos Need To Adopt 4g technology?

Over the past ten years mobile communications have transitioned from a luxury item to a utility as critical as electricity and water.  As operators eye the incredible growth and hence strain on their networks, they must ponder the question: When and how do I make the move to 4G for wideband internet? It's no longer a question of 'if', but more a question of "when" and "how".

However, I think   this is not a technology decision, it's a business decision.

Before I put forth my views, let me first summarize the technological improvements along with various features from 1G to 5G.

Evolution of wireless technology in last 30 years

Source of image - http://www.teknocrat.com

• 1G was only for voice communication. It was introduced in the early 1980s

• 2G was introduced in late 1990. It was planned mainly for voice transmission with digital signal and the speeds up to 64kbps. Facility of roaming was introduced.

• 2.5G introduced GPRS .

• What is 3g?

3G  used wide brand wireless network  which increases clarity and gives the perfection as like that of a real conversation. The data are sent through the technology called Packet Switching .Voice calls are interpreted through Circuit Switching.

Not only these but also have entertainments such as Fast Communication, Internet, Mobile T.V, Video Conferencing, Video Calls, Multi Media Messaging Service (MMS), 3D gaming, Multi-Gaming etc are also available with 3G phones.

3G operates at a range of 2100MHz and has a bandwidth of 15-20MHz. Technologies are CDMA 2000,  UMTS, EDGE. Latest technology HSPA & HSPA + 3.5G supports higher throughput and speeds to support higher data needs of the consumers

• What is 4g wireless technology?

In the 4G wireless networks, each node will be assigned a 4G-IP address (based on IPv6), which will be formed by a permanent “home” IP address and a dynamic “care-of” address that represents its actual location. 4G wireless network, use IPv6 transmission protocol along with digital modulation techniques like Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), which transmits large amounts of digital data over a radio wave. OFDM  is able to compress a lot more data packets through less wireless spectrum’s. 4G also use multiple antennas in their radios which improves for better signal reception as well as decreasing latency.

Voice over HSPA (VoHSPA) enables voice calls to be delivered more efficiently from a spectral standpoint over Packet Switched (PS) rather than Circuit Switched (CS) networks freeing up radio resources for additional data traffic.

A device can achieve a speed of 100 Mps.  Available technologies for 4G are WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access),LTE (Long Term Evolution). In 4G, Portability is increased further. World-wide roaming is not a distant dream. WIMAX is better choice as next generation mobile broad band service.But, LTE is the choice for real global service.

Here is an infographic on 4g speed using WIMAX & LTE

Current prediction is download speed of LTE will be 1GBPS and upload speed 50 mbps

The idea of WWWW, World Wide Wireless Web (5G), is started from 4G technologies. The following evolution will based on 4G and completed its idea to form a REAL wireless world. Thus, 5G should make an important difference and add more services and benefit to the world over 4G; 5G should be a more intelligent technology that interconnects the entire world without limits.

Currently there is no 5G technology deployed. It’s expected to arrive around 2010. I hope this article help you to understand 3g vs 4g from technical and feature’s perspectives.

Next article, my views on drivers for selecting right technology for 4G for fastest mobile broadband network. Here is an interesting article on 7 Reasons 4G is Better Than 3G ,

Should you buy Samsung Galaxy Note ?

Since 2007, I was using Blackberry and was a big fan of BBM till I found how Samsung Galaxy tab helped one of my friends to do various official works.

Recent Update : Samsung has announced a quarterly profit of around £4.59 billion, this figure is double that of last year and is in part down to the huge success of their Galaxy smartphones including the Galaxy S3 and the Galaxy Note 2.

It’s just a powerful toy for him. He used it for taking notes, taking photos, video shooting and for video chats with his team or family.  I liked how he played angry bird as a stress buster after a stressful meeting, but I was apprehensive of its size and voice quality.

I was thinking of buying an iPhone and an iPad, but their high cost was prohibiting me from buying it together. I couldn’t delay the purchase much because I required a quality smartphone at least for my daily office work.

At that time, I saw an ad of the Samsung Galaxy note on TV. This 5.3-inch smartphone with stylus was the latest player in the world of connected devices.

I decided to purchase this model because Samsung has shown some amazing innovation in their products, their technology and their concepts in terms of consumer electronics recently. I went to the Samsung store for a demo. I liked the demo and purchased it.  I also took a 3G connection of Vodafone to use this phone.
Here is my review on the Samsung Galaxy Note after using it for one month.

Samsung has already declared it a success, reporting more than one million units shipped worldwide. Actually this model blurs the line between phone and tablet.

Top 12 Features of Samsung Galaxy Note  

1. Samsung galaxy note iPhone has a quick settings toolbar, which is handy for quickly accessing GPS, Wi-Fi and Profile options.

2. The display is super AMOLED (Super Active-Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode)and has a dense 1280 x 800 pixel resolution. I personally appreciate the hybrid nature of the device.

• Super AMOLED differs from other display technologies in that the layer which detects touch is integrated into the screen rather than being overlaid on top. 

• AMOLED display do not need backlights because they emit light itself when electricity is applied.

• If  you held the Super AMOLED display at eye level, you could still see the images on the screen without any blurring or distortion because it provides 180 degree viewing angle.

3. The device includes Android Gingerbread 2.3 and an 8-megapixel/2-megapixel camera combo.

4. It comes with an 8 MP camera on the back and a 2 Mp camera on the front which is great for Video Chat. The phone is a perfect fit for video calling apps, using the Note's 2MP front-facing camera.

5. Tucked in the lower right corner of the Note's frame is the S Pen input device. It probably seems strange that Samsung have introduced the stylus again, but it works well and is accurate to work with. It is perfect for those who like a big screen and with the stylus feature it makes taking notes, writing shopping lists etc a very easy thing to do.  It’s important to note that you can completely ignore it (or lose it) and still use the Galaxy Note just fine.

The S Pen uses Wacom technology and works with the digitizer in the Note's display to allow users to draw and activate things on the screen with the pen-like tip. The tip has 256 levels of pressure sensitivity, so apps that support the S Pen's capabilities can allow the user to draw thick or thin lines depending on how much pressure they put on the screen.

6. Belonging to the Android family, I got access to the many Android applications that are available and grow by the day. The Android Market contains over 400,000 apps, which users can draw from to get the most out of their device and many of the apps are free-of-charge, which is not to be sniffed at.

7. This model is Bluetooth capable so it’s great with a Bluetooth headset.

8. My favourite personal use of this note is for reading e-books and the 1280 x 800 screen makes this a comfortable thing to achieve. It is a similar experience when I decide I need to chill out and just play a game or two.

9. For email, you get the standard Android Gmail client which is always excellent, and Samsung's own Mail app, which can also pull in all manner of POP3/IMAP and Exchange accounts you may use. It also makes full use of the large screen, offering a split, two-pane view of your messages, when put in landscape orientation.

10. All the usual Google apps are on-board, including Maps, Talk, Latitude and Places and you get easy access to the Android Market app store for grabbing new software too. Voice control comes courtesy of a premium version of V-lingo; it's not quite as fully featured as Apple's Siri, but you can quickly train it to navigate media and jump to contacts with the power of your voice alone.


11. I just love the media playback and gaming features. I frequently travel to Pune and I use this device to see movies, TV etc.  There's even a setting that pushes the brightness levels of the screen even further for viewing in direct sunlight, though be prepared to take a noticeable knock to your battery level as a result.
What I love about the Samsung Galaxy Note is that it gives me the perfect capability of both business and personal use, meaning I can take it anywhere and use it for any purpose.

12. Lotus traveler or Microsoft outlook can help you be in touch with my office whereas,  gmail and facebook will  help you to be touch with my friend & family.

Here is a brief summary of pros and cons of this device based on my experience

Pros

• Excellent screen with high resolution 1280x800. This means that you get better viewing fields

• Outstanding camera

• Battery life is a plus. Manage to last a full day and that’s with heavy use.

• Build quality is impressive. Samsung is known for using plastic, which makes some of their devices seem cheap by today’s standards but not the galaxy note. The only plastic you will find here would be the battery back plate and it doesn't look or feel cheap at all.

Cons

• Speakers are weak for a device of this size. 
• Does not support dual SIM
• Camera lens easily scratched

In summary, Samsung’s Galaxy Note is a robust but lightweight device crafted largely of plastics that is very comfortable to use but this phone is not intended for the masses. Not everyone would be comfortable with carrying or holding a device of this size. Overall if you’re looking for something that can function both as a phone and a mini tablet, then this is the device for you.

I still have to do "Icecream" OS update.

OK ! let me also tell you why I wrote this review on Samsung Galaxy Note ?

I consulted few people and everybody told me not to buy it. Consensus was to buy a ipad2 or wait a few months for ipad3. One of them also lend me his ipad for using it, just to convince me that to buy a Samsung device is a wrong decision.

At the end, I must thank Vodafone for having good 3G coverage at least to the places where I frequently visit.


I’m happy that I took this bold decision not to buy iPad.

Interesting reading and additional information: 

1. Apple and Samsung patent cases dismissed
2.How well does Super AMOLED perform next to AMOLED and LCD screens in sunlight by Blake Stimac
3.Is this the next generation of portable devices? Samsung Galaxy Note review by techradar

How to run a business successfully?

This is a common question. There are various opinion and idea to run a business successfully. But most of the time people consider profitability and stock value is the key to measure success of a company.  

Is it true?

After almost 2 decades in industry and working with people from various cultures, religions and ethnicity, I think success of a company depends on happiness in the workplace because happy employees are productive employees.

As per me the best business tips for success is employee satisfaction.

A happy work environment fosters success because they use the power of positive thinking. I think this a culture which needs to be built instead of doing a time bound happiness project.

 “The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved.” 

Here are eight easy ways to increase happiness in the workplace – outside of giving a raise.

1. Praise your employees’ hard work. 

2. Provide a reward for above-average efforts. 

3. Offer flexible work hours. 

4. Make your employees comfortable at work. 

5. Communicate with them regularly. Share the big picture with them.

6. Ask employee for input on how their dept./the company is run 

7. Reward new ideas 

8. Give them opportunities to learn new things 

Happiness At Work - Picture by Chief Happiness Officer Alexander Kjerulf

The benefits of a psychologically well work force are quite consequential to employers, especially so in our highly troubled economic environment.The single greatest advantage in the modern economy is a happy and engaged workforce. A decade of research proves that happiness raises nearly every business and educational outcome: raising sales by 37%, productivity by 31%, and accuracy on tasks by 19%, as well as a myriad of health and quality of life improvements. To know more happiness pays a dividend.

Image source - choose-happiness-at-work

Will iPad 4 and 4G change customer experience in India ?

Market rumor is Apple Inc. appears to be planning to announce the latest version of its tablet computer in the first week of March. This is also reported in huffingtonpost and wsj.

The newest iPad 3 or ipad 4G will feature 4G LTE technology, enabling the tablet to connect to the faster networks on AT&T and Verizon. It is believed that this iPad will support retina display feature along with 10 hour batter life.

Now this latest iPad along with 4G will dramatically improve customers' experience of interactive and capacity demanding services such as web TV broadcasting, online gaming and web conferences.

However, LTE technology is hardly ubiquitous; it’ll take until the end of 2013 for 80% of the U.S. to be covered. But the report suggests the iPad 3 will revert to 3G signal when there’s no LTE available, which makes a lot of sense. 

I hope, Mr. Mukesh Ambani is also keeping information on Apple kitchen and he will kick start his 4g roll out with this latest device. 

I'm waiting to see another Telecommunication Revolution in India after 2003 when Reliance Infocomm brought mobile phone to common mass.

Further reading :What Is 4G? An FAQ On Next Generation Wireless

how to start a business

7 Tips for Starting A Business

In one of the  LinkedIn group, people were discussing passionately why sometimes start up businesses  fail. It's an interesting discussion and some of the tips are applicable to products as well as service companies.

Best Tips for Start Up Business

In this article I will briefly address the question: “What are the key factors for successfully starting a business?”

7 tips on how to create a new business

1. Continue to innovate - If you’ve attained a measure of success, you must continue to innovate your products, services and your marketing just to maintain your position. You can bet the competition is innovating aggressively, and they’ll pass you by in three seconds if you stop doing the things that brought you success.

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Why I recommend android busness development ?

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You should ensure that there is a good demand for your products & services. Once you identify the demand, you need to innovate to create uniqueness of your product & services.

There were search engines long before Google created one,  but their version brings uniqueness in internet searching by using page rank & link concepts. Because of this business philosophy, Google is a number 1 company.

Don’t spend all your money to get behind an innovation. You need to spend money slowly to encourage a culture of cheapness. This is most one of the most important tips for how to run a business

Here is a video on how to start up a business & business planning

2. Know your customer - You should identify your target markets, because marketing towards corporate and mass are not equal. You should know what your customer wants. Your customer segmentation strategy should be very clear because you might be competing against several established companies. You should take advantage of sophisticated analytic tools for psychographic segmentation.

Once again, Google earned revenue from advertisers but they assign higher priority to users. Follow their example, design your product to please users first, and then think about how to make money from it. If you don't put users first, you leave a gap for competitors to do so.


3. Set the marketing tone - This needs to be done by the CEO of your company. Examples are Apple. Amazon, Microsoft, Qualcomm. This is very important to run a business and it’s very important to create a strong brand.

4. Use social media to keep talking with your customers. Send them newsletter or arrange poll and give some free gifts, etc. Use the latest tools for b2b social media or market through social media. But, always check ROI first before using any tool.

5. Focus on strengths - If a telecom company has a strong technological skill they should use it to differentiate them from their competitors because this is their identity. SAS is another example from product companies.

6. Hire a technical manager and excellent techl people for a tech company. Be agile in your approach, because today there is no ‘six months for planning’.

Have you checked the qualifications of the founders on the top 400 companies at Forbes? Most of them are technical people.

Remember, professors are not doing the most innovative and game changing work. So, MBAs who learned from them might not fit for your game plan. You need people who have fire in their belly.

Try to include people with exposure to development, design, marketing, fund raising, and more. See if you can find people with prior experience in other startup companies, especially with experience in how to get start up business loans. In these cases, previous experience matters.

One more thing, if you are a startup, you should look for grad students, not law firms. Aim for cool and cheap, not expensive and impressive.


7. Make great products for a viable market (i.e. a unique solution to urgent market requirement) - I think this is the single most important reason why start-ups, fail but as I kept reading that LinkedIn discussion, it seemed to me that people often believe companies make great products, but they fail due to of the above mentioned reasons.

In summary on steps on how to start a business, while follow your passion stop jumping to next new shiny objects.

• Make sure that if your passion is to start a business, you research how to do it properly and not flit to each new shiny thing.
• You business should address the solve the problems of poor people who are leaving below poverty line. You have huge volume so you can work with thin margin.
• Think for new disruptive innovation live Cover apps. Cover has launched out of beta with an iOS app that lets restaurant goers in New York City easily pay for their meals without having to wait for the check. Cover just brings the convenience to customers.

Be honest so that you can build trust with your employees & customers. While it is good to be a "learn it all" rather than "know it all” type, you should have a team that clearly understands the regulatory requirements.

Most Important Tip   Start working with negative working capital.. This means gets the money first from customer and deliver later within agreed SLA. This is the secret of several successful start ups.

About author: Charles is a digital media and technology professional who has invested and across a range of seed stages, private venture-backed and publicly traded technology companies.He is a start up business consultant. He did B.Com & LLB from Mumbai University and post-graduation in Economics from London. He also has worked with large companies for last 20 years. He started his consultancy firm in 2007 in Minnesota.  Click the link to read this latest business article on  mobile apps for business.

Here is a great article by Tiffany on How To Work From Home as a self entrepreneur.

Share your experience on how to start a business  below as comments “7 tips on how to start a  business“

9 Ways Indian Telecos Can Improve Their Profitability

Indian telecom companies are stilling following old strategy of customer acquisition and price reduction to increase the market share. I think this will not help because of increasing marketing expenses, cost of operation  etc.

Few years before, the Indian market was so attractive, we saw huge interests from foreign investors. Now, situation is different.

After the latest verdict from Supreme court, Vodafone, Airtell , RCOM are really in  advantageous position.

Source -  www.techonzo.com

Will one of them become a new leader or somebody else?

I spoke with few thought leaders regarding what should be correct strategies to dominate Indian Telecom market . Here are 9 points which e believe can improve the profitability of Indian Telecom companies.

1. Coverage. There are no single operator who has really good PAN India coverage. This is true for CDMA, GSM & 3G network. I think this should be the prime focus for the future leader in Indian Telecom market. 

Companies need to focus on indoor coverages and apartments in high rise building.

2. Price war is killing the service quality. High ARPU customers are not getting the desired service level because all operators are targeting the bottom of the pyramid.

3. Companies should proactively track the customer's problem. People buy fancy high cost handsets/ tablets but most of the time they can not configure them properly. Companies should use latest technology to understand and improve customer experience.

4. Company should focus more on online selling of services and promotion to get high ARPU customers. Companies should be more active in social media segment. India might have more than 1 billion people but actual base of English speaking high ARPU customer ( monthly bill amount INR 450)  is around much less than even 100 million.

6. Companies should invest in value innovation to create new market instead of competing for survival in a crowded place. There are still  huge opportunities to merge entertainment, gaming, mobile TV , M commerce on mobile.

7. Companies should capitalize  mobile advertisement right now. They need to innovate something like Google adwords instead of irritating SMS or direct calling. This will open a complete new revenue stream for them.

8. There are huge revenue opportunities in B2B segments. This is virtually untapped market.Some experts and small business owners was talking about SAAS.

9. Mobile companies can tie up various online stores or emall to sell their products where entire service assurance and fulfillment will be the responsibilities of their partners.

In other words, team thought the standard telecom market is saturated. Companies need to deploy disruptive technology along with blue ocean strategy to create new customers to increase revenue. 

Some telecom analyst believes that Mr. Mukesh Ambani will capture the market these types of disruptive technology which will create new customers for him. He did the same by reducing the price drastically in 2003.Click the link to know more on current state of Indian telecom industry .

Are we going to see another telecom revolution in India ?

Are we going to see an interesting competition between Vodafone & RIL?

7 Project Management Steps

Success mantra For integrated project management 

Common challenges for a program or project manager is to get budget approval for a technical project. One of my friend who is certified project manager told me that her boss requested her to prepare “ROI” for cases like upgrading from Oracle 8 to 10g (Oracle does not support 8 ) or replacing EOSL hardware like V240.

 Actually, core of the matter is culture of fear at a senior level: fear of technology through ignorance, and fear of technology over the ongoing investment required to upgrade software and ensure it is fit for purpose. With time the job of a project manager is getting difficult. Because projects operate from multiple locations, span different countries, cultures and time zones, and involve ever-larger groups and communities. It is a world without boundaries, where everyone has an opinion – and where everyone wants to be heard. This truly is project management in the collaborative age.

 Actually project manager adds life to the project because it is their responsibility to bind a group of people for a common goal i.e. completion of the agreed scope of the project within budget and agreed timeline without compromising in quality.

 7 tips to be a successful project manager 

 1. Visualize the outcome and its positive impact on everybody.
 2. Understand what motivates your boss, your customers, your colleagues and your direct reports so you can get them moving! For building relationship, it is critical for you to communicate, influence, persuade, negotiate, inspire or even motivate
 3. Avoid using the words like can’t, try, but and don’t from your vocabulary. Be positive
 4. Stop making excuses or laying blame on others. You are the owner of the project and take ownership of the outcome.
 5. Be passionate to quality and schedule. You can’t compromise here.
 6. Master the art of breaking the culture of silence with crucial conversations
 7. Be Positive

 I think this small note explains what does a project manager do in their daily life.

Here is a good infographics on how to become a project manager.

Revenge of Mediocre

Why Academic Qualification Is Not Enough?
Other day, I was talking with career counselor, Rima on depression at working place. During our discussion, she mentioned an interesting fact that several people feel frustrated during their mid-career because some of their school or college mates, who used to be back benchers, are professionally more successful than them today. 

Rima quoted this as the ‘revenge of mediocre.’

Here are her explanations-

1.    Good students have been taught to work hard to get excellent grades at exam. So, these toppers spent all the time in reading and remembering the content of the books.  And, obviously, they did well in our mechanized education system. 
2.    By virtue of high grades they got admission in top Engineering, Medical or Business Schools. In a way they give a dream start to their career. 

Problem starts here- 

Most of them are capable and skilled but they are not street smart.   These hard skills, along with academic qualifications, make them fit for the job but do not guarantee the success in job.

Whereas, the so called back benchers might not have a flying start in their career. This forced them to acquire some additional skills. Initial hardships helped them to learn various soft skills. Good soft skills are a key to success in this highly competitive corporate world.  

Moreover, large corporates employ people who have technical as well as business knowledge. The truth is that in majority cases these business people bring revenue and increase the profitability of a company. 
Generally, academically sound students join technical course to pursue a secure and bright prospects. But, others learn the ‘business’ game in a tougher way. This forces them to learn how to be diplomatic to tackle complex situation, how to negotiate for success and how to be proactive to solve the problem. 

Disadvantages of an elite education system

(1)    Students pursing education from elite colleges think that they are the best and brightest.  This arrogance sometimes becomes a disadvantage in professional world. 
(2)    To be successful you require social intelligence, emotional intelligence and creative ability, which either you have it on your own or you need to train yourself, as these are not distributed preferentially among the educational elite.
(3)    Actually, elite education inculcates a false sense of self-worth. The tests like SAT, GPA, GRE do measure your ability to take tests, but this is only a small slice of the real test.   


I would like to conclude this article with Stephen R. Covey’s quote ““Opposition is a natural part of life. Just as we develop our physical muscles through overcoming opposition – such as lifting weights – we develop our character muscles by overcoming challenges and adversity.” 

Success follows anyone who is keen to achieve it. You need hard skills as well as soft skills to be successful in life, in career or whatever you are doing. Do not just think that academic qualifications are enough to be a CEO. 

In the next article, I will discuss on how to develop soft skills to be successful. 

 

How To Get A Promotion

 Why I'm not promoted?

 Getting passed over for a promotion can be disheartening and even humiliating. 

Whether you thought you deserved the job or were promised it, no one likes hearing that they didn't meet the mark. The reality is that it happens all the time, perhaps more so in a tough economy when companies hesitate to give out promotions or raises.

In fact, we interviewed nearly a dozen bosses, in fields ranging from marketing and tech to new media, executive recruiting, and financial planning to get some useful tips for you. 

Based on several experts views on this, we prepared 10 tips on How To Get A Promotion.

Related articles : job interview tips