Mobile technologies. Cellular technologies. I2R library. All about cellular technologies: communication methods, standards, WAP, etc.

Mobile technology has been creating buzz around the world for a long time now. We use so many features these days that most of us never dreamed of. What makes all these amazing features so good? We use SMS - deliver messages in seconds across the world with a small click of a Send button, MMS - send pictures and video files in amazingly fast time, find location, access high speed internet on your mobile phones are features that were not possible just a few years ago and there are some technologies that are actually responsible for such things on our mobile phones and we will talk about all these technologies.
Every person knows about mobile phones, this portable devices of different sizes, capable of communicating over longer distances through high-tech processes known as mobile computing and communications.

Today's mobile networks support features such as SMS, GPRS, MMS, email service on mobile devices, Bluetooth, WAP and much more depending on how well known and large the mobile network company is. Most networks around the world provide these features as they have become standard features in mobile communications between their customers, and of course, one cannot neglect how modern mobile phones are now affordable, these mobile phones have many features that are supported by mobile networks. Mobile phones of today are now equal to laptop computers. These mobile phones are connected to their cellular networks, and these cellular networks are connected to dial-up telephone network public service network (PSTN).

Mobile network technology

Mobile Technology has changed a lot over the past few years, the main reasons for the rapid development of mobile communication technologies are mobility or connectivity requirements. The latest mobile phones offer features that no one has ever thought of, ultimately forcing mobile network companies to put these features into practice to exploit their commercial benefits.

Cellular companies use AMPS, D-AMPS, CMMA2000, UMTS, GSM, EVDO, etc. AMPS. Network system AMPS was based on analog communication technologies, the latter features were not supported by AMPS, so all cellular networks around the world adopted the above methodologies digital communications to meet consumer needs. GSM is still a widely used mobile communication methodology throughout the world. Cellular networks and mobile phones vary from geographical locations and from providers to suppliers, but still standard methods communications are more or less the same. Basic communication carried out using electromagnetic microwaves with cellular base stations. Cellular networks have huge antennas, usually located in the middle of a certain area to ensure optimal signal broadcast. These antennas are known as base transceiver station (BTS). Mobile phones have low power transceivers that transmit voice data to a closed BTS, which can typically be located within a 5 to 8 mile radius.

Transceivers: Transceivers are devices that have the ability to simultaneously transmit and receive data. The mobile phone, once it starts transmitting, registers itself with the mobile network switch, usually this means that when the phone is switched on, it tries to register the network of the inserted SIM card. Mobile networks uniquely identify each registered mobile phone in a given BTS and send notifications to those mobile phones that have incoming calls. The handsets will always be registered to the closest BTS for communication, if the network user is on the move, the mobile phones in this case will transfer services to other nearby BTSs during a call and maintain a connection with nearby base stations. If BTS is unavailable, the phone will be disconnected from the network, which will result in the incoming call being dropped.

BTS also operates at lower RF transmission power; they indicate their presence by transmitting signals to receivers mobile phones. Communication between BTS and mobiles occurs in a digital data stream, which is digitized audio. Each mobile network operates on a unique radio frequency.

This is how it is now commonly interpreted development of wired and wireless telephony (http://1234g.ru/1g/1-1g) :

Always had a connection great value for humanity. When two people meet, their voice is enough to communicate, but as the distance between them increases, the need for special tools arises.

When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876, a significant step was taken in allowing two people to communicate, but they only had to be near a fixed telephone set to do so!

For more than a hundred years, wire lines were the only way to organize telephone communications for most people.

Radio communication systems that did not rely on wires for network access were developed for specific purposes (e.g., military, police, navy, and closed-circuit car radio networks), and eventually systems emerged that allowed people to communicate by telephone using radio communication

These systems were intended primarily for people to drive cars and became known as telephone systems mobile communications.

Official birthday cellular communications is considered to be April 3, 1973, when the head of the mobile communications division Motorola Martin Cooper called AT&T Bell Labs research chief Joel Engel while on a busy New York street.

It was these two companies that stood at the origins of mobile telephony. This technology received commercial implementation 11 years later, in 1984, in the form of first generation mobile networks (1G), which were based on the analog method of information transmission.

In fact, Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin should be considered the forefather of cellular communications, because during the 2nd World War he realized the importance of good and trouble-free communications, and after the war he ordered that the entire leadership of the USSR be provided with constant telephone communications. Mobile devices were developed that were carried in cars and provided telephone communication with the passenger of a moving car.

Kazan...

2 Jews...

The development of cellular networks is ongoing. Engineers from large companies are constantly developing new solutions that can increase the speed and reliability of data transfer.

Each new generation of mobile technology is associated with a significant increase in capabilities and the emergence of qualitatively new services.

First generation (from English Generation) 1G was completely analog and only allowed voice transmission. For a modern person, analog cellular communication sounds somewhat unusual. However, when development began in the 1970s, few people thought about the mobile Internet either.

The most common communication standards of this generation are American AMPS, Nordic NMT, EuropeanTACS. Their launch dates back to the late 70s and early 80s. Now they are outdated and of no interest.

Second generation of mobile communications 2G has become completely digital. This includes GSM, CDMA One, D-AMPS standards. In Russia and Europe, the GSM standard has gained popularity (adopted in 1988). And today, networks of this standard, together with its add-ons, have the largest coverage area in the world. For data transmission, the GSM standard was added GPRS add-on with data transfer rates up to 171.2 kbit/s. This technology is distinguished in for 2.5G standard. Later in 2003 the second one was implemented add-on 2.75G - EDGE at speeds up to 474 kbit/s. Gained popularity in America and Asia CDMA standard One. Its evolution led to the emergence of CDMA2000 1X technology with speeds up to 153 kbit/s.

Generation 3G marked by a significant increase in data transfer speed. Mobile devices make it possible not only to voice calls, but also make full use of Internet resources. European standards GSM/GPRS/EDGE are evolving into UMTS (or WCDMA). The basic version of the standard provides data transfer rates from 384 Kbit/s to 2 Mbit/s. By analogy with 2G, add-ons also appear here that increase the speed of operation. The HSDPA/HSUPA add-on is allocated to the 3.5G substandard. The transfer speed increases to 14.4 Mbit/s. The emergence of HSPA+ 3.75G, using MIMO technology, allowed to achieve speeds of 42.2 Mbit/s. The American CDMA standard will also be developed to CDMA EVDO Rev. A with transmission capabilities up to 3.1 Mbit/s and EVDO Rev. B with speeds up to 73.5 Mbit/s.

Generation 4G many, thanks to the marketing policies of companies, date back to 2008, when the 3GGP (Third Generation Partnership Project) organization approved the LTE (Long Term Evolution) standard. However, officially in 2012. an extended version of this was included in 4G networks LTE standard Advanced, as well as WiMax 2 networks. Networks of the new standard can be implemented at frequencies from 700 MHz to 2.7 GHz. The new standard provides maximum data transfer rates of 326.4 Mbit/s in the direction of the subscriber and up to 172.8 Mbit/s in the direction from the user to base station. Currently subscribers cellular networks receive opportunities that previously could only be provided wire operators. At the same time, high competition among operators did not lead to an increase in prices for Internet services during the transition from 3G to 4G.

5G is a breakthrough technology of the future. As noted earlier, progress does not stand still today in different countries The development of fifth generation networks 5G is actively underway. According to the developers, the start of testing is planned for 2017, and the first networks can be expected to appear by 2020. International standardization organizations aim not only to significantly increase transmission speeds to 10 Gbit/s, but also to radically increase the reliability of new generation networks. Now we will talk not only about mobile communications, but also about the introduction of technology into such important tasks as medicine, energy, and the automotive industry. Agree that it is unacceptable to interrupt the connection while performing remote surgery on a patient.

5G generation concept

Services include real-time transmission of Ultra HD video with a resolution of 3840×2160 to subscriber devices, transmission of three-dimensional images, use of services social networks, which have yet to appear. With the advent of 5G networks, developers plan to literally change the world order by connecting absolutely everything to the Internet. All household appliances will be connected to the network. You will be able to control them remotely and receive information about the current status. This is a huge number of new devices (more than 50 billion) for the network and ensuring data transmission for all of them is not an easy task. Technically, in 5G networks, to increase the speed and reliability of the connection, MIMO technology will be used for subscriber devices, when several antennas are used for reception/transmission. It is also planned to merge existing networks cellular LTE communications with Wi-Fi networks in common system. Today, full-scale work is underway to create a new standard and we will look forward to the implementation of the most incredible ideas in the new generation of 5G mobile communications.

It is worth noting that for some subscribers the problem of accessing the network, regardless of its generation, has always been acute and pressing. Strengthening cellular communications has always been a task that repeater manufacturers and equipment installers are working on. And with the advent of new generation networks, repeaters of the corresponding standard immediately appear on the market. Using a cellular signal booster, everyone can access the operator’s services at their site.

I invite everyone to speak out in

Mobile phones have burst into the lives of modern people rapidly and have taken over all spheres. Now it’s hard to imagine how we managed without these gadgets before they became widespread. Cellular communication today provides not only a telephone connection, it expands its functions almost constantly. New technologies are presented by the largest developers, after whom they are picked up and implemented everywhere.

All innovative developments are aimed at improving the quality and speed of the connection. Specialists place special emphasis on technologies that allow increasing the coverage area and ensuring ideal operation of the device itself.

WiFi

The transmission principle is based on the fact that the signal uses different protocols that fill different ranges. By operating on different frequencies, the distance and transmission speed can vary depending on the amount of data being transmitted. This method allows you to get various information up to 300 Mbit per second. and more.

WiMAX

This mobile standard based on the interaction of base and client stations. Communication between them is carried out via the Internet using frequencies of 2-11 GHz.

This transmission format is characterized by very high level reliability, the risk of ruptures is practically eliminated. But for the price this option belongs to the premium class because it is technically difficult to implement. But information using it arrives at a frequency of 120 Mbit per second.

2G

At the moment, this particular GSM and CDMA format is the most supported in the world. Data comes to subscribers from bases that are located in the corners of the so-called hexagonal structures (it is these “cells” that give the name to the cellular communication format). One hexagon provides communications for an area within a radius of 50 km.

This format appeared not so long ago, but has low speed indicators, so it may soon become a thing of the past.

3G

UMTS technology made it possible to introduce another mobile communication format that made possible transfer data packets containing much more information than was available using 2G.

3G has already started in almost all countries where they are present mobile operators, which made it possible to bring mobile devices almost to the level of personal computers that are always at hand.

4G

The second name of this technology is LTE. This format represents the next stage, which mobile operators were able to provide for the convenience of their users. The main advantages of 3G are speed and huge coverage area. Using this method, data is transmitted at rates of no less than 320 Mbit per second.

Antennas that transmit LTE come in two types: low-power ones can be spaced up to 30 km apart, while more powerful ones can be 100 km apart. High power antennas must be located at a sufficient height, they are usually used where the population density is lower. Low-power antennas are most often used in cities and metropolitan areas with high density users.

5G

At the moment, this technology has been tested, but has not yet been brought to the consumer. It is planned that it will be implemented en masse in 2020. Some mobile phone manufacturers (for example, Samsung) have already developed special models that are completely customized for this format in order to provide maximum convenience subscribers. Transfer speeds using 5G can allow information to be sent at 4 GB per second.

The coverage area with 5G will be much wider. Experts suggest that this step will lead to a sharp leap in the development of cellular technologies and will hasten the era of innovative devices that combine more more functions.

Many modern proposals concern not only cellular communication formats, but also new application options and services used. Large corporations developing software for mobile devices, demonstrating their latest developments. This year, the virtualized RAN platform became such a revolutionary discovery on the market.

It was able to combine the standards of two formats at once: 4G and 5G, which expanded the possibilities in terms of efficiency and scalability. These two parameters have long been considered the main priorities of all leading mobile operators. In addition, such products are supplemented with the function artificial intelligence and high-quality video analysis. All the integrations of the virtualized cellular format make the possibilities for new services and applications almost endless.

The technology has made it possible to efficiently and quickly recognize individual objects using special application. In addition, thanks to access to a huge database, the device can be used to analyze and recognize the scanned object.

Such an invention will find active use for making diagnoses in medicine, for personal identification, or simply for routine photography.

This approach is already used to scan QR codes, barcodes and other combinations that require rapid processing of large amounts of data.

This innovation shocked experts in this field, despite the fact that it had long been expected. The technology is a self-learning artificial intelligence.

The cellular network connects an abundance of artificial neurons. Through these fibers, information is exchanged with subsequent processing and reaction. The main advantage of the system is that to get a reaction, the user does not have to know the parameters for choosing solutions: the network learns itself according to the algorithm specified by the developer.

Scientists compare this pattern to the functioning of the brain. Just as a person acts thoughtlessly, storing in memory an algorithm of actions after a burn (blow, place the affected area under cool water), so the artificial neural system reacts to the received data in accordance with the algorithm received from the author.

This invention will help create special applications on the device that are necessary specifically for its user.

Cellular technology continues to evolve rapidly. Prepares every year new transition to previously unused standards, bringing its users ever closer to the era faithful assistants endowed with intelligence, instead of automated communication devices.

According to recent studies, mobility has become an integral part of our everyday lives, and is also considered by many companies as an effective business tool. To what extent can this be justified and what disadvantages may it have? this decision?

Among the drivers of growing interest in mobile technologies on the part of business, several main motives can be identified: first of all, this is the desire to reduce costs, make business processes more efficient, and therefore ultimately increase the competitiveness of their services and products.

Of course, interest in mobility is fueled by the powerful momentum that the field of mobile B2C services and products has experienced over the past ten years. Mobile communications infrastructure is developing at a rapid pace, accessible mobile internet not only expands the area of ​​its presence, but also radically increases the speed of its work. This is accompanied by the accelerating development of the mobile device market. Solutions are becoming more and more cross-platform and are acquiring functionality that until recently was characteristic only of office versions and analogues.

What are the specific benefits of mobile technology in business? In almost any field of activity today, the speed of decision-making based on certain data is of particular importance. Mobile devices allow you to be in touch anytime, anywhere and make decisions as quickly as possible. Mobile technologies also help companies establish effective work freelancers or employees in different regions. This is especially true for those areas of business that use multiple geographic regions. Mobile gadgets can almost completely replace a workplace, as a result the company will save on renting office space and organizing classic workplaces. Gartner estimates that about 90% of companies are willing to support business applications on devices owned by end users, as this will reduce equipment costs by 40%.

In addition, mobile devices make full-fledged unified communications possible: communication and interaction between employees around the world, regardless of location, including instant messages and video. Don’t discount the integrated social space, as well as the ability to access all the information necessary for work from an employee’s mobile device.

The movement known today as BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), which involves the use of personal devices for work purposes, is becoming increasingly popular. According to a study by Mail.ru Group, about 60% of office workers use mobile devices not only for personal purposes, but also to perform certain work tasks.

How did this happen? Upon learning of his impending dismissal, Mitchell turned off the cooling of the corporation's systems and data replication, and also reset the server settings. The company's work was paralyzed for 30 days. Is this the only incident? Not at all, more and more companies are convinced that building a cloud infrastructure, using a cloud platform and other services is much more reliable and economical.

Of course, the question arises about how well your data will be protected on the provider's side. Let's be realistic: no solution will provide an absolute guarantee of protection, so we will operate with probability.

The chance that a specialized provider company operating for more than 10 years in the market will make a series of mistakes that will lead to an incident similar to what happened at EnerVest is significantly lower than the chance of the same incident on the client side. Indeed, in this regard, there is a need for careful selection of a provider, but today in Russia this problem is completely solvable.

However, on the other hand, there are also limiting factors.

First of all, these are all the potential inconveniences and risks that the BYOD movement brings to the company’s IT perimeter. Problems with the quality and availability of mobile operator services have not yet been fully resolved. Finally, let's not forget about one of the main threats to IT security - the human factor.

With growing interest in mobile technologies, IT departments are faced with the challenge of ensuring secure remote work all employees in accordance with regulatory requirements and in a convenient environment. This can be achieved through virtualization of desktop terminals and applications: desktops are converted into virtual machines and centrally located in the data center. The cost of managing each desktop computer is then significantly reduced, and the user experience is improved: they can access their desktops with the same personal settings and data from any device, anywhere in the world.

Information security and mobile communications management systems are actively developing, mobile operators are creating comprehensive service packages on an “all-inclusive” basis, and increasingly functional corporate data centers are being formed.

We must admit that mobile technologies have entered our lives and their integration into everything larger number areas of activity is only a matter of time. Those who are able to master them to a greater extent, with less risk and in less time, will not only achieve an increase in short- and medium-term indicators, but will also create a significant foundation for the future. It would be a mistake to view mobile technology in the service of business as a purely tactical application; in a global sense, this is the direction of development information services and products that will dominate in the next decade.

However, there are also positive aspects to be noted. The level of qualifications of IT specialists is growing not only locally - in general Russian market IT consulting and integration services are growing.

QUESTIONS FOR EXPERTS

What are the potential benefits of the increasing popularity of mobile devices in business? How to most fully implement them in Russian conditions?

Mikhail Pribochiy comments, general manager Axoft company:

Mobility brings serious benefits to business. However, with its increasing penetration into business processes, the issue of ensuring security arises, which means that in the near future we should expect the development of a direction known as enterprise mobility management, or management of corporate mobile devices. We see that this topic is of increasing interest both among customers and among manufacturers and service providers.

What are the advantages of mobility? I would highlight seven main advantages.

1. High productivity indicators. A mobile employee has constant access to information resources, corporate and external. He independently chooses his working conditions: he can work at a time when it is convenient for him, and where it is convenient - at home, outside the city or even by the sea. Accordingly, he has every opportunity to work more productively.

2. Speed ​​of decision making. Our 2014 Partner Satisfaction Survey found that the most important indicator work is the deadline for the manager’s response to the partner’s request. Therefore, all company employees who go to meetings or on business trips (about 40%) have an additional mobile device in constant use. Others can use corporate laptops during trips.

3. Geographically distributed project teams. Mobile platforms make it possible to organize the work of project teams in different cities. This is especially important for us, since the company has a wide network of representative offices in Russia and the CIS.

4. Competition for talents. HR departments different companies constantly compete in search of best employees. In some cases, we do not limit ourselves to territorial criteria and are ready to accept the most talented people into our team, regardless of the region in which the person lives - in Siberia, the Urals or Crimea.

5. Saving resources under the motto BYOD. Over time, the BYOD movement will certainly gain momentum in Russia. Especially where the number of mobile business users is growing. These are regions with a high standard of living and broadband internet. Already, almost all employees of our company’s Moscow office use their personal mobile device - primarily a smartphone - for work purposes: to search for information, access mail or communicate with partners. I can imagine that this trend will only intensify.

6. Fast social media marketing (SMM). The presence of mobile communications allows you to speed up the company’s interaction with the audience through social media. One short message in a matter of seconds, it hits the news feed of hundreds of thousands of subscribers and can spread with incredible speed.

7. Understand consumer needs and behavior. The model of interaction with the client is changing, since he is also becoming “mobile”. As a supplier, it is important for us to be in the same environment with the consumer and speak the same language with him.

What is your forecast for the share of office workers who will use BYOD in the near future (1-3 years)?

I would not limit myself only to office workers, since there are already enough examples of industrial employees using their mobile phones. For example, in order to receive information about your payslip or mark your location. Although special devices are more often used for this type of worker.

The concept of “share of office workers” seems a little general to me without specifying which applications office workers have access to on their mobile devices (i.e. BYOD). If it's only postal services, then about 80% of mobile workers have access to corporate mail from your personal devices. The situation is similar with corporate ports, intranets, and corporate social networks. However, when it comes to business-critical applications, companies are less likely to provide access to them from personal devices. For example, CRM systems that contain customer information are often accessed by field staff through corporate devices. In general, no more than 30% of Russian companies supported BYOD a year ago. I think that now their number has increased, but not significantly. Among those who actively use BYOD in Russia are divisions global companies, where the practice is much more common.

What role do analysts assign to the use of mobile technologies by Russian businesses? How will the scenario for their use differ from Western European and American experience?

Elena Semenovskaya, IDC Research Director in Russia, answers:

Mobility is a very important trend today; it is one of those development technologies that change the activities of companies and make it possible to increase the efficiency of employees. Russian business is a little behind, but the use cases are not much different. For us, scenarios for using mobile maintenance and repair (equipment maintenance and repair) are very promising, since the country is large and there are many infrastructure facilities whose work needs to be inspected. All types of repairs and customer service are very promising areas for the development of mobility in the corporate segment, as they provide obvious results. In B2C and G2C, we are also actively developing mobile solutions, large number applications can be downloaded and purchased from the AppStore or Google Play. We have a slightly different order of implementation by industry, for example, in the healthcare sector this is happening at a slow pace, but in general we are moving in the same direction.

Drawing on the theme “Mobile communication technologies”

Let's figure it out together modern technologies mobile communications, focusing on the development of the most widespread GSM standard in Russia and the world. It should be noted that various versions of CDMA are also popular (in addition, third-generation GSM networks are very close to CDMA), but we will focus specifically on GSM network technologies.

Collage on the theme “Mobile communication technologies”.

1G: NMT, AMPS

The first generation standards (they are also called 1G, that is, 1 Generation) appeared almost thirty years ago - these are NMT-450 (Nordic Mobile Telephone) and AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone Service). These standards were analog and were intended exclusively for organizing voice communications.

Ericsson's first NMT phone

GSM (Global Systems for Mobile Communication) is a second generation standard. Unlike first-generation standards, GSM transmits voice not in analogue, but in digital form. This opened up the possibility of using it for data transmission.

Ericsson's first GSM phone

In particular, GSM can provide speeds of 9600 Bit/s. As it turned out later, data transfer using mobile phones is very important. In addition, the implementation of this process in the GSM standard was far from perfect - for example, tariffs were based on connection time, and such use of expensive mobile communication channels is irrational. This has led to the development of technologies to increase data transfer speeds and improve charging schemes.

2.5G: GPRS

Today's popular GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) technology is classified as the second and a half (2.5G) generation of cellular communications, meaning that GPRS is sort of halfway between 2G and 3G.

GPRS allows you to transfer data at speeds up to 171.2 Kbps. Real speed data exchange in GPRS networks is at the level of 30-60 Kbps and very much depends on the network load, since voice data in GPRS networks takes priority over GPRS traffic.

Modern device with GPRS support

That is, we can say that GPRS traffic is transmitted as long as the network has resources free from subscriber conversations. However, in this case, it becomes possible to charge not for the connection time, but for the traffic, that is, if you download, for example, a game for cell size 200 KB - then you will pay the same amount for it, regardless of whether it downloaded in a few minutes or half an hour.

2.75G: EDGE

Another technology, which is the next step from 2G to 3G, is called EDGE (Enhanced Data for Global Evolution). EDGE can exist in several forms, in particular, we are interested in the variety that acts as an extension of the GPRS standard - that is, EDGE in this version will be called EGPRS (Enchanged GPRS).

Theoretically, EGPRS is capable of providing throughput more than 380 Kbps. EGPRS support does not require major modification of the operator's equipment, however, it can significantly increase the data transfer speed.

Further development of EDGE is to improve data processing with different requirements to the quality of data transmission (QoS – Quality of Service). Support different levels QoS will make it possible to bring new EDGE implementations as close as possible to third-generation networks, in particular to the UMTS standard.

The main requirement for third-generation networks put forward by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) sounds simple: they must provide video communication with a minimum resolution of 320x240 (that is, QVGA). To do this, the network must support a throughput of at least 384 Kbps. Support for video communication requires that the network provide the subscriber with a guaranteed quality of service - that is, when starting a video communication session, the subscriber must be sure that the connection will be reliable, that he will not have to listen to fragments of phrases of his interlocutor and look at a twitching image.

UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) is a third generation cellular communication standard that is based on an improved GSM network using a radio interface. WCDMA allows you to transmit data at speeds of up to 2 Mbit/s over short distances and provides up to 384 Mbit/s (which meets the minimum requirements for 3G networks) at a great distance from the base station, including if the subscriber is on the move.

Modern UMTS phone

Interestingly, the development of third generation networks is currently progressing quite slowly. The point, apparently, is that modification of GSM networks to support GPRS and EDGE does not require huge capital investments (but brings data transfer speeds closer to 3G), and also that the most expected service of third generation networks - video communication - turned out to be not very in demand by consumers. Of course, 3G networks are developing, but 2.5G networks are still ahead of them. Third generation networks are also being implemented in Russia - more on this a little later, but for now let’s consider the further development of mobile communications.

HSDPA (High Speed ​​Downlink Packet Access) - this standard is an add-on to UMTS networks. Theoretically, HSDPA is capable of providing a throughput of 14.4 Mbit/s. So far, in practice, a speed of 3.6 Mbit/s has been achieved, which, given today's realities, is not so low. This technology is called transitional between third-generation networks and fourth-generation networks, calling it the third and a half (3.5G) generation of mobile communications.

Modern HSDPA phone

The advantage of HSDPA is that it is capable of providing high communication speeds even at maximum possible removal from the base station. The disadvantage of technology is that high speed is available only for receiving data, and sending information from a device that supports HSDPA is carried out at a speed not exceeding 384 Kbps. HSUPA technology is designed to eliminate the problems of HSDPA - the next step from 3G to 4G.

Fourth generation networks, according to ITU standards, must support a data transfer rate of at least 100 Mbit/s. And this is for mobile devices. Fixed 4G devices must communicate with the outside world at a speed of 1 Gbit/s. This is a lot, but the developers of the standards proceed from the fact that in the future the volume of information circulating over mobile networks will increase sharply.

In particular, one of the standards that supports the initial requirements for 4G networks (UMTS systems will be upgraded to it) is called HSOPA (High Speed ​​OFDM Packet Access). HSOPA will use a completely new radio interface that is not compatible with WCDMA. The standard will support 100 Mbit/s for downloading information (downlink) and 50 Mbit/s for uploading (uplink). Trial testing of HSOPA is planned for 2007.

Fourth generation networks are a thing of the future. Now I propose to look at the current state of mobile communication technologies in Russia.

Mobile technologies in Russia

Today in Russia, mainly 2.5G networks are deployed - that is, GPRS networks. GPRS is a real alternative to other types of Internet access. For example, if you use regular modem access with a fee for the connection time and at the same time want without special costs be always OnLine (for example, in or another messaging system) - GPRS will help you with this. And if you need the Internet, as they say, always and everywhere, you can’t do without GPRS.

Currently, we can see the introduction of EDGE - this technology has every chance of becoming as widespread and popular as GPRS.

On October 23, 2006, at a meeting of the State Commission on Radio Frequencies, a decision was made to allocate frequency ranges for the creation of UMTS standard networks in the Russian Federation. As a result, we can only wait for mobile operators to offer us new services for 3G networks, and mobile phone sellers to put 3G phones on the shelves.