A Brief History Of Mobile Connectivity
If you've clicked through to this page you're either as geeky as we are, kinda curious (although you'd never admit it), or you want to be able to impress with your superior knowledge of mobile broadband technology. Which ever it is, we applaud you - read on...
First there was 1G. It wasn't actually called 1G back then, as no-one knew that 2G was yet to come. Nevertheless it has now become known as 1G, which refers to the technology used in those ridiculous old mobile phones. No, not the huge ones that wouldn't fit in your jeans pocket - even further back than that! The ones you had to carry around like military communications equipment. Why bother?!
Then way, way back (1991), in a galaxy far, far away (Finland), 2G was born. This was a major breakthrough for mobile technology as it allowed data to be digitally encoded before sending it across the airwaves. As geeky as this whole thing sounds, it actually had some major benefits for users of mobile phones:
Less power and smaller mobile phones
Now that the data was digitised, it could be compressed, taking less power to send, and using less battery. Remember when mobile phones went from briefcase size to hand-held size? No? Well, they did and it was largely thanks to reduced battery sizes.
Better sound quality
Digitising your voice when making a call allowed for other digital technologies to help clean up the sound and take out some of the background noise, improving the overall quality of your call.
Less battery on the brain
There have always been concerns about the effects of holding a power source right up to your ear when using a mobile phone and these were greatly (although not entirely) alleviated by the huge reduction in power usage and battery size.
SMS texts and emails
Because the sound was now sent as digital data, it didn't actually matter whether it was sound or, well, anything digital (up to a reasonable size, of course). This fact brought us the advent of SMS text messaging and email on your mobile phone. Imagine life before texts!
Geek Fact: Although there are several 2G technologies, the one used by the vast majority (about 80%) of networks worldwide is GSM, which was the first commercially launched 2G network - launched in Finland, in 1991.
As always tends to happen, our uses for and expectations of 2G have surpassed it's capabilities. Digitising voice calls, text messages and plain text emails is one thing, but when it comes to transferring the volumes of data required to download video, media rich HTML emails and image laden web pages, 2G falls short. This is where we reach 2.5G...
A series of technologies were used to enhance the existing 2G networks and enable them to perform services such as advanced web browsing, and larger uploads and downloads. This enhanced version of the 2G networks became known as 2.5G.
There are 3 main technologies used for this: GPRS, HSCSD and EDGE. In a nutshell, EDGE is the fastest and most efficient, HSCSD ties up lots of network resources, so isn't all that useful, and GPRS is the next best option after EDGE.
GPRS was first on the scene and gets special kudos for being the breakthrough technology. It's responsible for the ability to send multimedia messages and the advent of WAP technology - you remember, the old fashioned way of browsing special mobile phone websites on your phone.
EDGE is a later development and (if we want to get really technical) is actually known as a 2.75G technology! It has the potential to achieve data rates 3 times the speed of GPRS and it's the main stepping stone from 2G to 3G.
One of the major shortcomings of 2G technologies and GSM is that they have to make a connection to the network before sending and receiving any data. Dial-up internet is a good example of this - remember having to dial up your internet service provider to make a connection before surfing the web? That endless screeching noise? The interminable wait, with baited breath, as you pondered whether or not the internet gods would grant you access to their sacred network?
The new enhancements to the 2G networks put a stop to this infuriating situation by enabling the existing 2G technologies to use an "always on" system (just like your broadband connection) - No more dialling and waiting, you're already connected. This also allowed for simultaneous voice calls and data transfer, which is why modern mobile phones can upload a large email attachment while you chat away to a friend.
3G refers to a collection of standards set out by the International Telecommunication Union, rather than a specific technology. The first 3G network was launched in Japan, in 2001 - you may remeber all the talk of Japanese video phones, way before we had them here: that was the launch of 3G.
Geek Fact: The very first 3G network in Europe was on the Isle of Man.
From this point on, things are largely reliant on increasing spectral efficiency, which means the data rate that can be achieved for any given bandwidth. So, rather than boosting the actual bandwidth, they're now working on improving the amount of data that can be squeezed through the bandwidth we already have.
Since 3G networks have become widespread in many countries, there have been more developments and the technology has become even faster and more efficient. The HSPA familiy of data transfer protocols is probably the most notable and is becoming widely used, although there in an even more recent and, of course, faster version now available: the imaginatively titled HSPA+ (or Evolved HSPA).
The interesting thing about HSPA+ is that it uses systems which allow for extra capacity the closer you are the the nearest network mast (or base station). This means that as the mobile broadband providers increase their mast coverage, your connection speeds will benefit more and more.
As you read this, somewhere in the world, someone is working towards 4G. It's not here yet but we're getting pretty close. The latest developments, known as Long Term Evolution and Ultra Mobile Broadband, have almost cracked the specifications set by the International Telecommunications Union for 4G and are currently regarded as 3.9G.
Geek Fact: The first country to have two competing 3G networks was South Korea.
1G
First there was 1G. It wasn't actually called 1G back then, as no-one knew that 2G was yet to come. Nevertheless it has now become known as 1G, which refers to the technology used in those ridiculous old mobile phones. No, not the huge ones that wouldn't fit in your jeans pocket - even further back than that! The ones you had to carry around like military communications equipment. Why bother?!
2G
Then way, way back (1991), in a galaxy far, far away (Finland), 2G was born. This was a major breakthrough for mobile technology as it allowed data to be digitally encoded before sending it across the airwaves. As geeky as this whole thing sounds, it actually had some major benefits for users of mobile phones:
Less power and smaller mobile phones
Now that the data was digitised, it could be compressed, taking less power to send, and using less battery. Remember when mobile phones went from briefcase size to hand-held size? No? Well, they did and it was largely thanks to reduced battery sizes.
Better sound quality
Digitising your voice when making a call allowed for other digital technologies to help clean up the sound and take out some of the background noise, improving the overall quality of your call.
Less battery on the brain
There have always been concerns about the effects of holding a power source right up to your ear when using a mobile phone and these were greatly (although not entirely) alleviated by the huge reduction in power usage and battery size.
SMS texts and emails
Because the sound was now sent as digital data, it didn't actually matter whether it was sound or, well, anything digital (up to a reasonable size, of course). This fact brought us the advent of SMS text messaging and email on your mobile phone. Imagine life before texts!
Geek Fact: Although there are several 2G technologies, the one used by the vast majority (about 80%) of networks worldwide is GSM, which was the first commercially launched 2G network - launched in Finland, in 1991.
As always tends to happen, our uses for and expectations of 2G have surpassed it's capabilities. Digitising voice calls, text messages and plain text emails is one thing, but when it comes to transferring the volumes of data required to download video, media rich HTML emails and image laden web pages, 2G falls short. This is where we reach 2.5G...
2.5G
A series of technologies were used to enhance the existing 2G networks and enable them to perform services such as advanced web browsing, and larger uploads and downloads. This enhanced version of the 2G networks became known as 2.5G.
There are 3 main technologies used for this: GPRS, HSCSD and EDGE. In a nutshell, EDGE is the fastest and most efficient, HSCSD ties up lots of network resources, so isn't all that useful, and GPRS is the next best option after EDGE.
GPRS was first on the scene and gets special kudos for being the breakthrough technology. It's responsible for the ability to send multimedia messages and the advent of WAP technology - you remember, the old fashioned way of browsing special mobile phone websites on your phone.
EDGE is a later development and (if we want to get really technical) is actually known as a 2.75G technology! It has the potential to achieve data rates 3 times the speed of GPRS and it's the main stepping stone from 2G to 3G.
One of the major shortcomings of 2G technologies and GSM is that they have to make a connection to the network before sending and receiving any data. Dial-up internet is a good example of this - remember having to dial up your internet service provider to make a connection before surfing the web? That endless screeching noise? The interminable wait, with baited breath, as you pondered whether or not the internet gods would grant you access to their sacred network?
The new enhancements to the 2G networks put a stop to this infuriating situation by enabling the existing 2G technologies to use an "always on" system (just like your broadband connection) - No more dialling and waiting, you're already connected. This also allowed for simultaneous voice calls and data transfer, which is why modern mobile phones can upload a large email attachment while you chat away to a friend.
3G
3G refers to a collection of standards set out by the International Telecommunication Union, rather than a specific technology. The first 3G network was launched in Japan, in 2001 - you may remeber all the talk of Japanese video phones, way before we had them here: that was the launch of 3G.
Geek Fact: The very first 3G network in Europe was on the Isle of Man.
From this point on, things are largely reliant on increasing spectral efficiency, which means the data rate that can be achieved for any given bandwidth. So, rather than boosting the actual bandwidth, they're now working on improving the amount of data that can be squeezed through the bandwidth we already have.
3G+ Or 3.5G
Since 3G networks have become widespread in many countries, there have been more developments and the technology has become even faster and more efficient. The HSPA familiy of data transfer protocols is probably the most notable and is becoming widely used, although there in an even more recent and, of course, faster version now available: the imaginatively titled HSPA+ (or Evolved HSPA).
The interesting thing about HSPA+ is that it uses systems which allow for extra capacity the closer you are the the nearest network mast (or base station). This means that as the mobile broadband providers increase their mast coverage, your connection speeds will benefit more and more.
4G?
As you read this, somewhere in the world, someone is working towards 4G. It's not here yet but we're getting pretty close. The latest developments, known as Long Term Evolution and Ultra Mobile Broadband, have almost cracked the specifications set by the International Telecommunications Union for 4G and are currently regarded as 3.9G.
Geek Fact: The first country to have two competing 3G networks was South Korea.
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