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Cellular technology (view source)
Revision as of 00:54, February 16, 2021
, 00:54, February 16, 2021expanding
'''Cellular technology''' is a term used to describe the basic cell tower and radio cells technology behind all [[wireless]] phones regardless of the specific communications protocol they use, such as [[GSM]], [[CDMA]], or [[TDMA]].
'''Cellular technology''' is a term used to describe the basic cell tower and radio cells technology behind all [[wireless]] phones regardless of the specific communications protocol they use, such as [[GSM]], [[CDMA]], or [[TDMA]].
This term derives from cellular base stations that receive and transmit calls. Both cellular and [[Personal communications system|PCS]] phones use cellular technology. [[Category:Telecommunications]]
This term derives from the cell-like design of the system's base stations that receive and transmit calls. Both cellular and [[Personal communications system|PCS]] phones use cellular technology.
==Generations==
Significant advances in cellular technology are generally used to mark "generations" of the system.
===First generation===
First deployed in Tokyo in 1979, what could now be called "1G" cellular technology transmitted analogue audio signals using 150MHz and 900MHz bands. These mobile phones were bulky, and were initially used mostly in cars.
===General Packet Radio Service (2G)===
2G cellular technology made a significant change to this system, by changing over to a fully digital audio stream. A new protocol called General Packet Radio Switching (GPRS) was responsible for these improvements on 2G networks. Among the benefits of this change was the new ability to send text messages, rather than just voice calls. These messages were limited to a size of 1120 bits, which 7 bits being used for each character. This resulted in the well-recognized message limit of 160 characters. When launched, 2G supported transfer speeds of up to 9.2kbps. It used the 1.8GHz and 900MHz bands.<ref name="giffgaff">https://www.giffgaff.com/blog/h-5g-lte-a-g-e-new-cell-network-alphabet/</ref>
===Edge "2.5G"===
Edge offered significant improvements to the original 2G system.<ref name="giffgaff">https://www.giffgaff.com/blog/h-5g-lte-a-g-e-new-cell-network-alphabet/</ref> IT was generally considered to offer downlaod speeds of about 400 kbit/s but in ideal conditions, it could reach 1 Mbit/s.<ref name="techwelkin">https://techwelkin.com/meaning-mobile-symbols-g-e-2g-3g-h-4g-mobile-internet-signal-bar</ref>
===Third Generation (3G)===
3G offered further performance improvements, with transfer speeds of about 384 kbit/s. However, depending on how it was implemented, speeds could go much higher.<ref name="techwelkin">https://techwelkin.com/meaning-mobile-symbols-g-e-2g-3g-h-4g-mobile-internet-signal-bar</ref> This used frequencies between 1.6GHz and 2.0GHz.
===HSDPA ("3.5G")===
HSDPA (typically bearing the flag of "H") offered significant download speed improvements over 3G. It's maximum sppeds differed greatly depening on numerous factors, but reports indicate it ran somewhere between 7.2 Mb/s download,<ref name="giffgaff">https://www.giffgaff.com/blog/h-5g-lte-a-g-e-new-cell-network-alphabet/</ref> and 14 Mbit/s for download and 5.76 Mbit/s for upload.<ref name="techwelkin">https://techwelkin.com/meaning-mobile-symbols-g-e-2g-3g-h-4g-mobile-internet-signal-bar</ref>
===HDSDPA+ ("3.75G")===
HDSDPA+ (typically bearing the flag of "H+") offered another download speed increase over 3G, at 21 Mb/s.<ref name="giffgaff">https://www.giffgaff.com/blog/h-5g-lte-a-g-e-new-cell-network-alphabet/</ref>
===LTE/4G (4G)===
This generation utilizes frequencies between 2GHz and 8GHz, and offers speeds of up to 150 Mb/s.<ref name="giffgaff">https://www.giffgaff.com/blog/h-5g-lte-a-g-e-new-cell-network-alphabet/</ref>
===LTE-A/4G+ (4G+)===
LTE-A/4G+ (typically bearing the flag of "4G+") doubled theoretical download speeds, at a new maximum of 300 Mb/s.<ref name="giffgaff">https://www.giffgaff.com/blog/h-5g-lte-a-g-e-new-cell-network-alphabet/</ref>
===Fifth generation===
''<small>Please see the main article on this topic [[5G|here]]</small>''<br />
5G offers theoretical download speeds of over 1000 Mb/s. This requires a connection to one of the network's small base stations, running in a high-frequency band.<ref name="giffgaff">https://www.giffgaff.com/blog/h-5g-lte-a-g-e-new-cell-network-alphabet/</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Technology]]