Monday, 22 February 2010 16:35

IIEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers): This global organization sets the standards for technological specifications, such as the 802.11 family of woreless technologies.

GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications): This cellular network offers the best global coverage and provides coverage for T-Mobile and AT&T users. GSM phones use a SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card, which users can swap in and out of different phones. Your GSM-based cellular plan (including minutes and data rates) is tied to the SIM card rather than a single mobile phone.

3G: Representing third generation mobile telephony technology, 3G offers increased data rates and better security than 1G and 2G technology. It also provides the technology for multimedia applications (such as mobile TV and videoconferencing), and the concurrent use of speech and data services. The maximum download speed for a 3G network is approximately 2.4 M bits per second (bps). The newer 3.5G technology, which is slightly better than 3G, can reach download speeds up to 14.4Mbps.

4G: As the next step in mobile technology, 4G will deliver quicker data transfer speeds than its predecessors (up to 100Mbps download speeds), as well as tighter security features. Users can expect 4G mobile devices to stream and access Web content seamlessly from anywhere.

Bandwidth: This represents the capacity of a network, or how much data a network can transfer. Bandwidth is often measured in bits per second.

EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution): EDGE was created to increase the speed and performance of the GSM network for mobile devices. EDGE can stream multimedia content to mobile devices at a maximum speed of approximately 364Kbps.

Data Rate: This represents how quickly data can pass through a wireless network when the data is transferred at its maximum pace. The data rate is different than the throughput rate and is almost always higher.

Throughput: This refers to the actual pace that data is transferred to or from a device. Throughput rate is generally lower than the data rate, which represents the maximum transfer rate, but not the actual transfer rate.

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