What is 3G?

3G is a wireless data standard that has been developed and agreed upon by wireless infrastructure and equipment manufacturers. Developing a standard like 3G is no easy task. There are many wireless data technologies out there and there are big dollars chasing these technologies around….not making the task any easier. The 3G specs have also been modified over the years and currently we are looking at 3G release 6.

Ok, this is all great, but what IS 3G? 3G encompasses a group of technologies that are all aimed at bringing high speed data transfers to mobile electronic devices. Many of the original 3G technologies have been built on W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) and TD-CDMA (Time Division Code Division Multiple Access) radio technologies. But, there has been great success using the European Telecommunications Standards Insititue (ETSI) stardardized, GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication). GSM is used by companies like Cingular and AT&T Wireless. Today, HSDPA is promising to bring broadband speeds to GSM wireless networks with downstream speeds of up to 3.6Mbps and upstream of 384Kbps.

Wireless Broadband

Right now, wireless broadband is just becoming a reality here in the United States. Verizon Wireless was the first to roll out their wireless broadband service using the EV-DO (Evolution Data Only) technology. Sprint Nextel also offers an EV-DO system of broadband wireless. Finally, Cingular has announced that they will be hurrying to upgrade their network via HSDPA to provide broadband data speeds to their wireless customers.