OPINION
Sorting Out the Actual Cost of GPRS Usage
23-08-2002
by Bernie Goldbach
Some members of the Open mailing list have been using GPRS in the trial mode. Even though they're well able to set up and use the network connections, most of these technical users could not figure out the pricing structure.
Being able to use General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) phones does not mean you understand the GPRS pricing structures. In fact, during the early days of GPRS usage, both O2 and Vodafone appear to be confusing the consumer market with their pricing plans.
The confusion often stems from misuse of the terms "kilobyte" and "kilobit." People are used to viewing or reading items comprised of kilobytes, such as images on Web pages. A small logo normally weighs less than 7 Kilobytes. The term kilobit normally refers to connection speeds on the Internet. Downloading files when connected through peer-to-peer sharing programs occurs between 3 and 7 kilobits per second, even though a modem may be connected at 56 kilobits per second. "A Kb is a Kilobit and it is normally 1,000 bits, but sometimes 1,024 bits based on kilobyte. A KB is a Kilobyte, which is 1024 bytes," said programmer Jon Hanna.
"I think the bigger problem with kilobit versus kilobyte is that a byte is 8 bits," said Brian Greene of Doop Design. This distinction can induce an error of 2.4 percent. To avoid misunderstandings, this article uses the complete terms instead of their symbols.
Web developer Eanna Sheehan played around with Vodafone's GPRS ISP and got an Internet connection through his GPRS handset. He used a Siemens ME45 to download a file at 5.5 kilobits per second. "Two different on-line speed test sites reported a connection speed of 41 - 42 kilobits per second. I was able to use VNC through it to do some remote control on a server.
"I was not able to browse to a Web server on the GPRS machine from another connection, nor could I ping or TRACEROUTE it. I wonder what my 1.6 Megabytes of playing around with it will cost?"
Aedin McNamara "had a quick look at the O2 GPRS pricing. It is all broken down into the number of e-mails/WAP pages you can browse." She wondered if a basic per kilobyte pricing scheme existed such as the one on Wavelinks 14 at Briangreene.com.
Discussion on the Open List incorporated calls various list readers had made to both O2 and Vodafone after several people were told the GPRS data charges were fixed at EUR0.02 for each kilobyte.
"I called to check as it worked out very expensive," said programmer Brian Greene. "Charging EUR0.02 a kilobyte will kill PDA or laptop users." Greene did not think the pricing table was correct. "I suppose they are just reading the same Help screen. Hopefully, the vodafone.ie site will have the details posted on it."
Vodafone Customer Care outlined their "Pay as You Go" option and two GPRS packages available.
The "Pay As You Go" package is available to all users with no monthly subscription charge, and is billed at EUR0.02 per kilobyte. The GPRS 1 option is available for all post-paid users, with 1 megabyte inclusive data for EUR11.99. Sharetime subscribers can avail of a GPRS 5 option, with 5 megabytes inclusive data for EUR27.99.
"To clarify the cost after the inclusive 1 megabyte of data was used, they said it was EUR0.02 per 1 kilobyte thereafter. I was surprised at that charge, as each additional megabyte would have been EUR20.48," said Greene.
Following confirmation of several senior Open readers, the consensus opinion concluded that Vodafone has priced itself higher than O2, with fewer tariff options.
"I remember how expensive voice calls were when Eircell was shiny and new," recalled Dermot McNally, technical director of DirectSki.com.
Using GPRS to browse Web pages will make readers well aware of their bandwidth charges. Web pages heavily laden with advertisements will cost more to retrieve and take longer to download. On a 40 kilobit per second GPRS connection, it takes 16 seconds to download the 115 kilobyte front pages at either RTE or Ireland.com. Those 115 kilobytes would cost a Vodafone customer EUR2.30. Reading the 3 kilobytes in this article through GPRS costs EUR0.06, if a Vodafone customer has exceeded the monthly allocation.
Message traffic on the Open mailing list indicates that several regular readers retrieve their e-mail through their mobile phones. However, GPRS is not the only option when using wireless data services.
"I believe the cheapest wireless connectivity remains (Vodafone's) HSD (High Speed Data)," said Ruth Maher from South Tipperary. "It's costing me EUR0.12 a minute and I've done a webcam session with it. I consistently get 28.8 speeds and that's fine for reading e-mail headers."
"After looking at the pricing plans, I wonder if the networks can realistically count on people increasing what they spend on mobile phone charges," wondered Tim Kirby of Xi Creative in Santry. "Some of the wireless telcos have based their business models on their customers increasing their network charges by a factor of five once GPRS becomes commonplace."
"That's a dodgy business model," said John McCormac from Waterford, "as it is based on the idea that GPRS will be the only available network. If WiFi becomes more popular with local connection points, then GPRS is in trouble. The same thing that happened to WAP could happen to GPRS."
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 