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The Gadget Showdown: The Confrontation in the Next Generation
OK, so it's not the Thriller in Manila, but the Scrap over WAP is heating up...

By Ben King

Published: Wednesday 27 June 2001

GPRS vs HSCSD. They're the nearest thing to 3G you can get if you walk into a shop today - two rival technologies to speed up your WAP experience. But which is better? Ben 'Don' King goes ringside for the rumble in the high-speed mobile data jungle. Seconds out...

Like all good heavyweight encounters, this one follows a bitter war of words in the press and a lot of confusing and unnecessary delays.

They're used to waiting in the mobile industry, but GPRS (General Packet Radio Services) has been unusually slow in coming. BT launched its GPRS service to business users in June 2000, and Orange went live with HSCSD (High Speed Circuit Switched Data) this year, yet the consuming public could only get GPRS last month.

First up, HSCSD is very much a make-do-and-mend kind of technology. It basically takes three phones and bundles them together with a sort of electronic gaffer tape.

There is nothing new here in technology terms. Set up a data pipe, and pay for it as long as it remains open - no matter how much data is pumped up and down it.

GPRS, on the other hand, is brand new and pretty revolutionary. The key difference is that it's "packet-switched". Packet switching chops data up into little chunks (packets) which can be mixed in with everyone else's packets and sent over a shared network. Users only get charged for the data sent, rather than the time connected.

GPRS also provides (in theory) an always-on connection. Instead of the delay which users get with circuit switched data while logging on to the network, they should be able to connect automatically.

So, the two contestants representing these different sects of the mobile data religion are, in the blue corner, a Motorola Timeport T260, only in the shops since May, connected (we hope) to BT Cellnet's GPRS network.

In the, er, Orange corner is a Nokia 6210e from Orange, which has been on the market for slightly longer, and which promises us fast if more expensive connection using HSCSD.

In a purely aesthetic battle, the Nokia phone wins straight off. The solidly constructed handset slips into a surprisingly small, slim package to make one of the most attractive mobiles on the market. The Finns are still a long way ahead in designing phones people actually like to use.

The Motorola is slightly more plasticky and doesn't scream 'Nordic beauty' in the way that the Nokia does, but it has an agreeable space-age look to it - like something out of Flash Gordon or Barbarella, which can't be a bad thing.

But we're here to talk about data, not design. Next up - will the souped-up version of old-style GSM beat the cheeky young packet-switched challenger?

Speed: Once online, HSCSD seemed to connect infinitesimally faster. To get online, HSCSD is a lot quicker than normal WAP services, which take an age to get a call going. This takes just a few seconds.

GPRS is meant to be always-on, so access to a new WAP page should be instantaneous. In practice, it seems to take a couple of seconds to start a WAP call.

In actual use, there is little to choose between them. Ultimately, HSCSD wins by a whisker, although it's difficult to tell how much actual data is being downloaded over these phones.

Functionality: GPRS is the big loser here at the moment, because it can only be used for WAP. With HSCSD, the phone can be used as a computer modem. There are also HSCSD-enabled cards that slot into PC card slots in a laptop, like a modem. Very cool.

Price: The GPRS handsets are £199 from BT Cellnet and £99 from Vodafone. Vodafone has the usual dizzying range of price plans, from £3.40 per month and 2p per KB to £100 per month with 100 free MB and £1 per additional MB. BT prices are slightly higher.

Reliability: Difficult to evaluate over a two week trial, but GPRS definitely produced more of those "look at my new WAP phone... oops, it doesn't work" moments. Partly because I was more inclined to show it off.

The Orange phone suffered from no greater reliability problems than a normal WAP phone. Less, in fact.

GPRS is much less reliable. The always-on connection promised in the bumpf is actually a "sometimes-on" connection, with frequent interruptions and "network not available" notices.

This problem is likely to get worse, before it gets better. At the BT Cellnet press conference for the launch, only one out of six handsets seemed to work at any one time.

The more handsets there are around, the slower they will be, as they all have to share the same space. So expect more "network not available" signs if and as the new mobile technology takes off.

Still, the boffins assure us that there is a cure in the works, as the networks are groomed and polished to give better GPRS service.

Verdict: For user experience alone, HSCSD wins hands down. It's quicker, the phone is nicer and you can do a whole lot more with it.

The only problem is the cost. A one minute WAP call costs 17p with Orange. With GPRS, it might only be 4p.

Unless you're a die-hard gadget freak with an insatiable lust for bleeding edge technology, it's too early to buy a GPRS phone. Wait until a better handset comes out and the propellerheads have smoothed out some of the network problems.

Some analysts tell us that GPRS on the 1800 MHz networks (Orange and One2One in the UK) will have more capacity, so it might be a good idea to wait until Orange launches GPRS this summer. Then we'll see.

If you need a high-speed data phone now, though, and if someone else is paying your bills, then pick up a 6210e from your nearest phone shop tomorrow.