My Opera
Wednesday, March 14, 2012 1:08:04 PM
GSM is an abbreviation of Global System for Mobile communication, originally it is
known as Group Special Mobile.
It is mobile telephony system that sets
the standards on how mobile
telecommunications work.
It encompasses everything in reference to mobile communications. However, in this context of comparing
GSM and UMTS, we will refer to GSM as a
service or technology.
GSM is a second generation (2G)
telecommunications technology which is
launched early in the 90s. Eventually, it increased its speed and
added more functionality like General
Packet Radio System (GPRS) to the
system which enhanced it to 2.5G status.
2.5G has data rates up to about 144kbit/
s. It typically uses a variation of Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA). Today, in a global scale, GSM is still
widely used mobile service.
There are about 700 mobile networks
that provide GSM services across more
than 200 countries.
Statistically, more than 80 percent of all global mobile connections are GSM.
With GSM, subscribers can still continue
using their mobile phones when
traveling to other countries because GSM
network operators have expansive
roaming agreements with foreign operators. UMTS is the third generation (3G) of mobile telecommunications technology.
It is the latest commercially available
technology that mobile phones, PDAs,
and smart phones are using today.
With this development, internet access
(email and web browsing), video calling and messaging,
and text messaging (SMS) are now
possible along with traditional phone
tasks. People can now do the activities they
normally do with an internet-connected
home computer while on the trot.
Imagine yourself traveling the world and
still able to email, video conference, and
watch streaming videos using your smartphone.
Currently, it can offer transfer speeds of
about 3.6 Mbits per second and even
more,
which can make data transfer seamless
and downloads relatively fast. Unlike GSM, UMTS is mainly based on
CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access)
scheme and now combines it with TDMA.
However, UMTS is still new as there are
only a few areas and networks that
support the technology. Even with countries that support it may
have set different spectrum,
thus interoperability does not work fully
when moving from one nation to another
nation with drastically different
spectrum. There are also problems regarding the
compatibility between UMTS and GSM,
which frequently led to connections
being dropped. But this is being
remedied by UMTS/GSM dual-mode
devices. With that feature, UMTS phones that go
out of UMTS network boundaries will be
transferred to GSM coverage.
Transfer of network can happen mid-call. Summary: 1. UMTS has faster data transfer rates
than GSM.
2. GSM is 2G and 2.5G while UMTS is
already 3G.
3. GSM is a rather old technology while
UMTS is newer. 4. GSM is typically based on TDMA while
UMTS is mainly CDMA-based.
5. Currently, GSM is still the most widely
used technology today while UMTS is still
in its infancy, slowly creeping forward.
known as Group Special Mobile.
It is mobile telephony system that sets
the standards on how mobile
telecommunications work.
It encompasses everything in reference to mobile communications. However, in this context of comparing
GSM and UMTS, we will refer to GSM as a
service or technology.
GSM is a second generation (2G)
telecommunications technology which is
launched early in the 90s. Eventually, it increased its speed and
added more functionality like General
Packet Radio System (GPRS) to the
system which enhanced it to 2.5G status.
2.5G has data rates up to about 144kbit/
s. It typically uses a variation of Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA). Today, in a global scale, GSM is still
widely used mobile service.
There are about 700 mobile networks
that provide GSM services across more
than 200 countries.
Statistically, more than 80 percent of all global mobile connections are GSM.
With GSM, subscribers can still continue
using their mobile phones when
traveling to other countries because GSM
network operators have expansive
roaming agreements with foreign operators. UMTS is the third generation (3G) of mobile telecommunications technology.
It is the latest commercially available
technology that mobile phones, PDAs,
and smart phones are using today.
With this development, internet access
(email and web browsing), video calling and messaging,
and text messaging (SMS) are now
possible along with traditional phone
tasks. People can now do the activities they
normally do with an internet-connected
home computer while on the trot.
Imagine yourself traveling the world and
still able to email, video conference, and
watch streaming videos using your smartphone.
Currently, it can offer transfer speeds of
about 3.6 Mbits per second and even
more,
which can make data transfer seamless
and downloads relatively fast. Unlike GSM, UMTS is mainly based on
CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access)
scheme and now combines it with TDMA.
However, UMTS is still new as there are
only a few areas and networks that
support the technology. Even with countries that support it may
have set different spectrum,
thus interoperability does not work fully
when moving from one nation to another
nation with drastically different
spectrum. There are also problems regarding the
compatibility between UMTS and GSM,
which frequently led to connections
being dropped. But this is being
remedied by UMTS/GSM dual-mode
devices. With that feature, UMTS phones that go
out of UMTS network boundaries will be
transferred to GSM coverage.
Transfer of network can happen mid-call. Summary: 1. UMTS has faster data transfer rates
than GSM.
2. GSM is 2G and 2.5G while UMTS is
already 3G.
3. GSM is a rather old technology while
UMTS is newer. 4. GSM is typically based on TDMA while
UMTS is mainly CDMA-based.
5. Currently, GSM is still the most widely
used technology today while UMTS is still
in its infancy, slowly creeping forward.
