Being a newbie and only having an XDA1 I keep hearing the words GPRS and GSM banded about. Can someone plse tell me the differences between the two>???
Thanks john
GPRS is short for General Packet Radio Service, a standard for wireless communications which runs at speeds up to 115 kilobits per second,
GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) 9.6 kilobits. so 11 times slower
GSM is mostly used for voice calls and SMS
GPRS for DATA-transfer ie MMS,surfing,email,...
GSM is usually charged by time ie minutes/second
GPRS by amount of data ie KiloBytes,Megabytes
You can surf or check email with GSM but then you'll have to use your GSM as a modem with a dial-in connection.
That's what i think, maybe I'm wrong but I'm sure the experts will correct me.
M4io said:
GPRS is short for General Packet Radio Service, a standard for wireless communications which runs at speeds up to 115 kilobits per second,
GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) 9.6 kilobits. so 11 times slower
GSM is mostly used for voice calls and SMS
GPRS for DATA-transfer ie MMS,surfing,email,...
GSM is usually charged by time ie minutes/second
GPRS by amount of data ie KiloBytes,Megabytes
You can surf or check email with GSM but then you'll have to use your GSM as a modem with a dial-in connection.
That's what i think, maybe I'm wrong but I'm sure the experts will correct me.
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You are right.
GPRS is a data transfer protocol which runs OVER the GSM network. GPRS is a digital based protocol which is why high speeds can be achieved compared to GSM.
GPRS & GSM
Yep. generally speaking.........
Both can be used to surf the net (WWW) but generally GPRS is cheaper and faster.
GSM will dial up a server for your email and surfing. Your calls over GSM to a server generally cost 10 pence per minute, although it can be free depending on your personal tariff with your network (O2, Orange, Vodaphone, T Mobile, 3....)
GPRS is connected by your service provider, and you pay for what you download, by the KB, prices range fron £1 a megabyte to £7 depending on the supplier.
Coverage varies from mobile to mobile and area to area and of course network to network, for both GPRS & GSM.
Hi
For the networks, supporting GPRS meant a relatively simple firmware update to all but the oldest base stations. GPRS is pretty crude, if offers higher data rates at the expense of network capacity and makes poor use of the available spectrum (compared to W-CDMA G3 modulation schemes).
A basestation will have available to it a number of standard frequencies for GSM comms, say 50 channels, these channels will be different to the channels used on the neighboring base stations.
Each of these channels is split up into 8 time slots. In a GSM config, a mobile gets 1 timeslot, so 8 calls can take place 'at the same time' on the same channel. The base station and mobiles decide who is gonna transmit and when. This happens so fast that as far as the user is concerned they have a comms channel to themselves. This is TDMA Time Domain, Multiple Access.
Interestingly the time slots are so narrow that if you have phone A on located 20KM from the base station on timeslot 8, and phone B next to the base station on timeslot 2, then phone A will transmit its data before phone B, with the data arriving at the base station in correct time-slot order!
Mobile networks also support time-slot and channel hopping to get around network interference problems, and more importantly to counteract the issues of dopler shift when the mobile is moving at speed.
GPRS works simply by making more of these timeslots available to a single mobile. The fact that data is bursty means that the base station can hand out timeslots fairly efficiently. The 2 current systems for GPRS are class 8 and class 10
Class 8 offers 4 download timeslots and 1 upload timeslot
Class 10 offers 3 download timeslot and 2 upload timeslots
Each slot offers from 9.6K to 21.4K depending on network configuration (basically thats the width the RF channel, perhaps also the no of slots that the channel is split into - cant remember). In the UK I beleieve that each timeslot runs at 14.4K. You will however not see that since some of it is used for error correction.
O2 defaults to class 10. I dont know whether this is locked at the network level and I never tried changing it.
Class 10 will hence give max 43.2K down / 28800 up and
class 8 is 57.6K down, 14.4K up
You can knock 20% of those figures for error correction duties.
It would be possible for GPRS to run in 7/1 mode to give 7x14K4 = 100.8K down / 14.4K up. I dont think any networks or devices support such a configuration though!
Its been a while since I worked in this field so this info may be out of date by now. GPRS is not that much faster than HSCSD (high speed circuit switched data), but its much more efficient in its use of the bandwidth.
Ever been up a mountain miles from nowhere, had a screen full of signal bars but never managed to make a call?? Its a limitation of GSM (or rather the config of the network). A phone must be able to respond within the correct timeslot, if the phone is too far away then it can miss its slot altogether, hence full bars, but no calling! In the UK, the network setup means that the limit is around 25KM, in australia, they have extended this to around 100KM in rural locations.
Roll on EDGE - 2.5G++ its a new modulation scheme for GSM that makes *much much* better use of the spectrum. Should give us 256K on the move - i.e it will be pushing into 3G terratory bandwidth wise. Trouble is, GPRS was a firmware update for most base stations, EDGE is gonna require hardware. I would not be surprised though if we did not see networks giving up on taking 3G coverage beyond 70-80% of population, and rely on EDGE/GPRS to cover the dregs.
Nigel
Is there a way I can still get my GSM calls when I am connected to GPRS ?
As a matter of fact I do when the GPRS is Idle. But when there is some data transfer happening and a call comes in, It goes off to my voice mail !!!
Isn't it supposed to put the GPRS on hold and take the call ?
Any settings or any ideas ?
regards,
Arun
General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is a mobile data service available to users of GSM mobile phones. It is often described as "2.5G", that is, a technology between the second (2G) and third (3G) generations of mobile telephony. It provides moderate speed data transfer, by using unused TDMA channels in the GSM network. The theoretical limit for packet switched data is approx. 171.2 kbit/s. A realistic bit rate is 30–70 kbit/s. A change to the radio part of GPRS called EDGE allows higher bit rates of between 20 and 200 kbit/s. (from Wikipedia)
hi,
i am looking for the correct registry keys to see what data connection type the phone is currently logged in (i.e. active) or available.
i am talking about the different types of data connection referred to as E, H, G, U, ...
furthermore, if anybody could help me out with the values.
what i have found are the following two registry keys, but i want to check with you if these are really the correct ones.
HKLM\System\State\Phone\Cellular System Available
9 = Edge
40, 41 hex = HSDPA
HKLM\System\State\Phone\Cellular System Connected
8 = Edge
thanx
update:
so far we have got:
Code:
HKLM\System\State\Phone\Cellular System Available
8 and 9 = Edge
16 and 17 = 3G
64 and 65 = HSDPA
HKLM\System\State\Phone\Cellular System Connected
8 = Edge
16 = 3G
64 = HSDPA
still missing:
GPRS
Umts
some more?
please, have a look into your registry. i'll keep this post updated.
thanks
Cellular System Registry
Actually its:
64 - HSDPA
32 - EVDV
16 - UMTS (ie. 3G)
8 - EDGE
4 - 1xEVDO
2 - 1xRTT
1 - GPRS
2147483648 (80000000h) - CSD
This info is a little late, but hopefully this info would help us writing applications to detect the data connection state and even use the State and Notifications Broker.
Found the info here:
http://www.pluralsight.com/community/blogs/jimw/archive/2007/04/20/46866.aspx
http://www.pluralsight.com/community/blogs/jimw/archive/2007/04/16/46804.aspx
Hallo I have problem with my wifi. My wifi doesn´t see channel 12 and 13 (2467, 2472). I have my HTC Touch2 from O2 provider in Prague. How I can enable channel 12, 13 or change wifi region? Thanks for any information.
So my phone lately has been bouncing between Band 26 and Band 25 over and over, anywhere from every 1 second up to a few minutes. I am running G930U PL2.
Band 26 has a signal of -104 or better. Band 25 has a signal of -120 or worse always. It is completely unusable on Band 25. I've contacted Sprint and they said it might be my phone and that there are no known issues in the area, but others phones are doing it too (though not all of them) and it doesn't seem to do it at other places. I've also set Band 25 as the lowest priority and still switches.
Any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated!
Edit: I found a spot that has good Band 25 signal... using the hotspot, consoles can connect to it just fine but my PC can't... It tries and fails and sometimes it will connect, attempt to load something then say no internet...