From time to time, most cellphone users must have wondered why, with all the progress in telecommunications technology the last 20 years, cellphone voice quality is not as good as landline voice quality when Alexander Graham Bell was still alive. But then they push the issue aside because every third TV commercial is about the latest and greatest, cool, smartphone; so the world believes in all this exciting "progress" taking place in that field; so why think thoughts that make you feel like a crank?
It is very gratifying when I actually find something on the internet that is worth reading. And it happens so rarely, I feel like a fool for wasting as much time on the Internet as I do.
There is an interesting article on Karl Denninger's blog today about cellphone service ("The Destruction of Quality"). You don't have to agree with his politics to enjoy the article -- the article isn't political.
It is very gratifying when I actually find something on the internet that is worth reading. And it happens so rarely, I feel like a fool for wasting as much time on the Internet as I do.
There is an interesting article on Karl Denninger's blog today about cellphone service ("The Destruction of Quality"). You don't have to agree with his politics to enjoy the article -- the article isn't political.
Comments
What happened is that the voice channel in these modern megabit/s phones was compressed down to 13kbps, or as low as 1200 bps, before getting transmitted. This was achieved to cram many voice channels into the network to allow as many handset connections as possible, and some standards were established 20+ years ago, long prior to the advent of modern smart phones.
And this digital voice compression/decompression is done by the phones, not by the network, else it would defeat the purpose of reducing uplink and downlink bandwidths from the phones to the network. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speech_coding.
Hmmm... I wonder how low a bit rate my MP3 compression software can go down to. Maybe I'll try 1200bps, if it is there, to see what it sounded like.
It's all about profit margin, which is 90% or higher !!
I/we, my wife and I started and still own a small store in Colorado. My mother was "In Business" her entire working life... though I may be nothing but a lowly, one time working cowboy I learned one certain sure FACT of business in this country;
IF... you run your "Store" on an across the board 125% markup from wholesale cost... YOU WILL NOT SURVIVE. That is a simple fact of economics. Rent, taxes, fees, wages, more fees, insurance, unemployment taxes,soc sec contributions, it goes on and on and on... 40% and a store won't make it six months. 100% and it will depend on how deep their pockets were when they started... because there will be NO Profits to keep it going.
THAT is the cost of socialism... and a parasitic system. SOMEBODY has to pay the tab.
There is an illogical idea out there, which has been explicitly spoken to me; "You're in business! You can afford it!"
To which I can only reply; "HUH?"