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3G Networks - The Need for Speed

The 3G networks that are available today are providing users with a faster connection and transfer speeds than ever seen before. 3G is a term which refers to cell phone technology. It actually stands for "third generation." As the name implies, it was preceded by two earlier versions. The first generation was developed at the start of the 1980s when the commercial cellular networks were created. Since cell phones did not even exist at this point in time, not many people have ever heard about 1G.

The second generation came about in the 1990s when cell phones became available. At this point, a North American mobile operator adopted a system called Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). Many operators in other parts of the world decided upon a different approach with something called Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM). This system is still around today and is the main reason European and Asian phones are so differently designed than North American ones. They use different algorithms to achieve the same effect: multiple cell phone calls can be made on the same radio frequency without disrupting one another.

As data transfer rates continued to increase, 2G morphed into 2.5G. Older service standards converged and improved, higher standards continued to be released. Network evolutions and improvements in data transmission rates led to what today is known as 3G. What that means to you as a consumer is superior voice quality, higher data transfer speeds, video and multimedia capabilities and improved roaming. The fastest 2G phones had the capacity to download a three-minute song in about eight minutes. The 3G phones which are available and on demand now can download that same three-minute song in 15 seconds. 3G phones are so advanced in speed they are practically little laptops that can support video conferencing or streaming from the web, faxing messages and quickly open e-mail attachments.

The fourth generation is in development for a decade or more and is almost coming about now, but it is not yet a standard item. Each upgrade in technology has required advancements that allowed new features to become available on cell phones. Phones from just a few years ago can simply not be compared with the newest phones right now. As technology continues to progress, we can be sure we will be getting more advanced abilities out of our cell phones. To view more extensive information about 3G phones and networks that are available, please visit http://www.mobilitypass.com/ to get more details. Your new phone is waiting for you!