We are sure you must have heard about 2G, 3G, GPRS, EDGE and mobile Internet.  However, while they are pretty commonly used, most people really don’t have a clue about what they are, and how they are different from each other. Quite simply, you walk into a store to buy a phone. The salesperson will go on and on about why you should buy phone X simply because it has 3G and not phone Y, because it is only 2G. Further questioning will only reveal that 3G will offer faster Internet than 2G, and not much else.

However, there is a lot more to all these terms, than just fast and slow web browsing speeds.  We try to demystify these terms, and help you understand what these technologies are all about, how they have evolved, what were the changes along the way and maybe you will reminisce about the good old days when a phone was just a phone!

1G
This was the earliest mobile network type to grace the airwaves. Launched first in the 1980s, 1G networks were meant mainly for voice (analog only). The maximum data speed the networks were capable of was a meager 9.6kbps! Needless to say, when compared to what we are used to today, the sound quality was terrible. It wasn’t very widely available, there wasn’t enough hardware for the masses, and the insane price was a prohibiting factor.

2G
The 90s saw the 1G networks get upgraded to 2G, and new networks launching with this technology itself. The biggest change introduced with this was the change from analog voice communication to the digital type. The two-pronged benefit of this was better voice quality, and enhanced communication security. The arrival of 2G also saw the introduction of Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) cards. These SIM cards exist even today, despite the networks going through multiple generations of technology. Initially, Asia, Europe and the rest of the world (except U.S.A.) used the GSM 900 and GSM 1800 bands, while U.S.A. used the GSM 850 and the GSM 1900 bands.

2.5G
Data services got an upgrade as well, with the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS). The maximum data transfer rates available were 114kbps, which may seem very slow by today’s standards. However, let us not forget that this was very quick when compared to the dial-up connections available those days. This is when we first saw wap sites evolve, for the mobile Internet experience.

2.75G
This was an incremental upgrade over the 2.5G networks, with the data services receiving a boost yet again. GPRS became EDGE- Enhanced data for global evolution. The maximum available data transfer rate went up from what the GPRS offered, to 576kbps. However, realistically, the transfer rates hovered between 100kbps and 250kbps. However, contrary to some perceptions, EDGE isn’t a 3G technology.
If you have a smartphone that is EGDE capable, GPRS will wok perfectly fine on it, since it is a backward compatible technology. However, a phone with just EDGE will not work as a 3G device too.

3G
While this is now ‘previous gen’ in some parts of the world, 3G is still very new to India. Third generation networks introduced the Mbps data transfer rates to the mobile devices- 3.1 Mbps, 7.2 Mbps 14.4 Mbps and 21 Mbps. The arrival of 3G globally saw the smartphone becoming a viable device for accessing the web on the move.
With the available bandwidth, services like HD video streaming, online gaming, a smoother web browsing experience, social network become more multimedia rich. Not only that, the smartphone can now do a lot more beyond just the voice calls. Video calls and video conferencing are now a reality, thanks to the bandwidth 3G offers.
Also, if you have a smartphone that is capable of tethering, you can use the 3G connection to connect multiple devices by creating a hotspot from the phone. Also, 3G capable data cards have flooded the market. Reliance, with the Netconnect Broadband+ and Tata with the Photon+ have been around for quite a while now, thanks to their CDMA roots. GSM operators like Vodafone and Airtel have also launched 3G data cards, which users can use for connecting their laptops to the WWW on the move, or as an alternative for home broadband.

The spread of 3G in India
3G services have started off in a lot of Indian cities, with the rollout happening very rapidly across all circles. The private telecom biggies like Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance, Tata, Idea and Aircel are looking at a pan-India 3G footprint, thanks to the 3G roaming pact they are looking at inking.

However, for the consumer, the situation still isn’t very good. Even in cities where the service has officially been launched, have some dark spots i.e. no 3G signals. Even in Delhi, certain regions of the city and the National Capital Region do not have 3G signals. We believe that it will still take quite some time for 3G to cover each and every part of all cities.

The cost implication
It is a well-known fact that mobile service providers paid a lot of money as spectrum fees. The immediate repercussion of that is simple- cellcos will want to earn this money back as quickly as possible. This translates into higher tariffs for 3G users, making the entire experience a pretty expensive proposition.

At a first glance, the tariffs do not look expensive. However, a deeper look, and some calculations later, you realize how much more expensive 3G will be. Let us take the example of the Rs 99 pack Airtel offers for pre-pid users. The pack includes 100MB free data usage. At 3G speeds (assuming that it’ll hover between 1Mbps and 2Mbps, will be exhausted in a jiffy. The data charges beyond the 100MB free usage is 30p/20MB. This translates to just over Re 1 per MB. With such high speeds, we are sure you will end up using a lot of MB, partly due to the experience of such fast speeds, and secondly because most users wont realize how much more data they have downloaded as against their estimates!

The future
3G services, which are here to stay, will need to become less expensive with time. And they will. However, those who want 3G have subscribed to it already, or will, anytime they wish to. The more cost conscious, or those who don’t need 3G urgently should wait and stick it out for the time being. We expect a change in the 3G rates around this year-end, with a downward revision of the pack rates.