3G

3G History

As you may guess, being called 3G, or third generation, there is, inevitably, a first and second generation.

1G refers to the original analogue mobile phones, which resembled a brick. They were large, and very heavy, due to the weight of the battery, they were also very expensive. However, they paved the way for something that was soon to become a revolution in the technological world, phones would soon start to be smaller, lighter, cheaper, and better. Operating time increased while battery weight dropped, this was due to advancements in battery technology, as well as circuit design which allowed for much lower power consumption.

2G saw the birth of the digital mobile phone, and a standard which is the greatest success story in the history of the mobile phone to date. The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard that unified Europe’s mobile phone technologies, it allows one phone to be used throughout Western Europe. Using TDMA (Time division multiple access – see the How does 3G work section for more info), the GSM standard allowed millions of users throughout Europe to travel freely and still be able to use there phone. Although Europe enjoyed a unified standard, in America, three standards still exist, from three different companies. Because of this mobile communications haven’t become nearly as popular in the States, as they have done in Europe.

The 2.5G standard had a major technically different feature compared to its predecessor, it used Packet Switching technology (see the how does 3G work section for more info) to transmit data. The General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) replaced GSM as the 2.5G standard. GPRS actually overlays a packet switched technology onto the original GSM circuit switched network.

Data rates of 2.5G can reach 50kbps, some may think this is a waste of time, and service provides should have gone straight to the goal and implemented 3G, however, the 2.5G standard is a much needed step, as it gives service providers experience of running packet switched networks, and charging on a data bases, rather than a time basis.

As you may guess, being called 3G, or third generation, there is, inevitably, a first and second generation.

1G refers to the original analogue mobile phones, which resembled a brick. They were large, and very heavy, due to the weight of the battery, they were also very expensive. However, they paved the way for something that was soon to become a revolution in the technological world, phones would soon start to be smaller, lighter, cheaper, and better. Operating time increased while battery weight dropped, this was due to advancements in battery technology, as well as circuit design which allowed for much lower power consumption.

2G saw the birth of the digital mobile phone, and a standard which is the greatest success story in the history of the mobile phone to date. The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard that unified Europe’s mobile phone technologies, it allows one phone to be used throughout Western Europe. Using TDMA (Time division multiple access – see the How does 3G work section for more info), the GSM standard allowed millions of users throughout Europe to travel freely and still be able to use there phone. Although Europe enjoyed a unified standard, in America, three standards still exist, from three different companies. Because of this mobile communications haven’t become nearly as popular in the States, as they have done in Europe.

Other than GPRS, another standard called EDGE is another upgrade option from GSM, and is three times faster with a maximum transfer rate of 150Kbps as opposed to GPRS’s 50Kbps. EDGE also can be an upgrade from TDMA networks, so some American operators may go this route – see the How 3G works section for an in depth explanation of this.

Currently there is one 3G enabled network in the UK, known simply as '3'. It is expected that other UK operators will make begin to make the switch in the near future.