Cellular Technology 101 - part 1

cell_tech-101-part1.jpgAs I go through my day, I am often asked questions about how cellular networks operate, how calls or mobile data connections are made.

The answers to these and other questions can be very simple or deeply complex. Google or Yahoo! may help some, but I’ve found it difficult to find a good primer on cellular technology.

Enter Mobility 101

To help answer some of these questions, I’ve started a section on FreshlyMobile.com called Mobility 101.

Mobility 101 articles will eventually cover a wide range of topics designed to provide some perspective on the technology and business of mobile communication, to explain common terms or to generally help take the mystery in how things work.

As with many things in life, all things mobile can involve some very complex concepts and technology. In Mobility 101, (and indeed much of FreshlyMobile) we will often tend towards easier to understand generalizations rather than the often impenetrable (but technically accurate) technical minutia. If we miss the mark, miss the point or are just plain mistaken, please let us know.

Cellular Tech 101

Today I would like to introduce the first in a four-part series that will take a brief look at the history, terminology, technology, and the general anatomy of cellular networks, which I call Cellular Tech 101.

You can download the slides for part one here.

Ever wonder 1G, 2G or 3G means? Well, the “G” in 1G, 2G, 3G, etc refers to a generation of technology in the cellular industry. The first mobile phones (you remember or have seen pictures of the big brick phone or a phone in a bag) are now generally called 1G phones. Service in this period was limited and very expensive. While few people had these phones, the technology was changing rapidly and in the 1990’s we began to move into the 2nd Generation or 2G era.

With 2G, the phones moved from analog to digital. This allowed quality and capacity to improve, eventually driving down prices (most phones used in the US today are 2G phones). With the move to digital and 2G, we found cellular companies divided into two technology camps, CDMA and GSM. We will look at these camps a bit more closely next time. In practical terms it meant that phones would not interoperate across networks with a different type of technology.

Here in the US, we have been slowly moving towards the 3rd Generation technologies. With 3G comes faster speeds for data. It makes browsing the Internet or watching videos much easier. Three of the 4 major carriers in the US (AT&T, Sprint and Verizon) have been operating 3G networks for some time. T-Mobile is currently in the process of upgrading their network to 3G and is currently offering something that is often called 2.5G.

2.5G is a marketing term and it is an interim step between the 2G and 3G worlds. All the carriers took this 2.5G step as it offered faster data service than 2G, without the pain and expense of upgrading the network to support 3G. Speaking of 2.5G and 3G, you may have heard some people say that the Apple iPhone only supports EDGE and not 3G (yet). EDGE is considered a 2.5G technology and is widely deployed by AT&T and T-Mobile in the US.

Please feel free to download the slides to see a bit more about what distinguishes the various generations of cellular technology. Also let me know if you have any questions, comments or corrections by leaving a comment or sending me an email.

Until next time….

Real World 3G Speeds - freshlymobile.com

Just a quick note to share some recent 3G speed tests during my recent trip to Las Vegas, Cupertino (CA) and back to Seattle. All tests were performed on an Apple MacBook (2.2 GHz, Core 2 Duo, 4 GB ram), an AT&T 881U HSDPA/HSUPA USB modem card and Speakeasy’s test servers (http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/).

Just Before CTIA Wireless Show

I assume that AT&T engineers had been hard at work to tune the network just prior to this year’s CTIA show as my speeds were the fastest I’ve tested.

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Download speeds clocked in at just under 2 mbps while uploads were a very strong 1.4 mbps.

Near the Apple Campus

While Las Vegas was very strong Cupertino, CA wasn’t too shabby either. The results below were taken near Apple HQ.

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Again a strong showing with 1.9 mbps down and 1.4 mbps up.

Home again

I re-ran the tests in my office at the University of Washington in Seattle. These are pretty typical of the rates I have seen in other parts of the country.

My office HSPA speeds 7-april-08.png

Looks like my HSUPA train ride is over, but things are still a very usable 1.5 mbps down and .5 mbps up.

iPhone 1.1.4 in prep for the SDK?

I’ve been hoping for an early announcement from Apple about the release of the iPhone SDK (Software Development Kit). But so far today, we have only seen a refresh of the MacBook and MacBook Pro.

iPhone Software 1.1.4

While updating my iPhone, I found that I was offered version 1.1.4 rather than the old (current) 1.1.3. See the screenshot below.

Maybe there is some hope after all.

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Google’s Gaggle of Mobility Apps

Google Mobile.pngIt is no secret that Google is betting big on the mobile space. What started as a timid foot in the water has quickly turned into the technical equivalent of a double gainer off the high dive. Take a stroll over to Google Mobile and you will find mobile enhanced versions of a dozen Google offerings.

While the applications themselves are good (some are very good), the truly interesting part is what these applications and other Google moves represent.

On the conservative side, they represent a smart and serious investment by Google in the future of mobility. They are already the 800 8,000 lb gorilla in the PC based Internet space. It only makes sense for Google to start moving their products to a market that dwarfs the PC, the mobile phone market. On the other side you could read into the wild rumors that Google is going to build and operate their own cellular network and drive the traditional players out of business.

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