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Your advert here!!! Technical Editors:
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What is 3G?3G represents a radical new departure in the way wireless telephone networks will be used in the future. In the computing world, the closest parallel to migrating to 3G would be the leap from DOS to Windows. Yet the only contact most people have had with 3G so far is to hear how network operators like Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom have paid billions of dollars just for the privilege of operating such networks.3G
(short for third generation) takes it name from being the latest 'wave' in the
evolution of cellular telephone networks. In Europe, the first ‘generation’
(effectively 1G) centred on the analogue (TACS) mobile phone networks operated
by the likes of Cellnet and Vodafone in the UK or NMT in Scandinavia operated by
Telenor and Telia. Most people will remember these networks by the fact that the
handsets were huge – most notably the good old Motorola ‘brick’ phone. And
because they were analogue, you could tune in and listen to other people’s
conversations via a cheap gismo bought from a radio spares store. The second
generation (2G) of mobile networks brought in digital technology to replace the
old analogue equipment. The third generation (3G) offers a kind of ‘super’
data network. and continues the trends established by 2G. Roaming
is possible with 2G networks because Europe and most of Asia standardised on one
single technology - GSM (Global System for Mobile communications). The downside
is that America and Japan have incompatible systems. In effect there are at
least four different types of 2G
digital cellular network currently installed in the United States. One major aim
with 3G, therefore, is to create a
truly global mobile telephone system. After all your home telephone is
‘compatible’ with ‘fixed line’ phones all around the globe, so why
shouldn’t the same compatibility apply to mobiles? A more important feature of
3G, however, is its support for high speed data. As a standard for voice
communications GSM is pretty good but support for data was added as something of
an afterthought. The basic data throughput rate is 9.6 Kbit/s. That’s around
five times slower than a high speed V.90 modem (which general manage 40-50
Kbit/s).
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