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Description |
| General Packet Radio Service |
General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is a Mobile Data Service available to users of GSM and IS-136 mobile phones. GPRS data transfer is typically charged per megabyte of transferred data, while data communication via traditional circuit switching is billed per minute of connection time, independent of whether the user has actually transferred data or has been in an idle state. GPRS can be utilized for services such as WAP access, SMS and MMS, but also for Internet communication services such as email and web access.
2G cellular systems combined with GPRS 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 for example the GSM system. Originally there was some thought to extend GPRS to cover other standards, but instead those networks are being converted to use the GSM standard, so that GSM is the only kind of network where GPRS is in use. GPRS is integrated into GSM standards releases starting with Release 97 and onwards. First it was standardized by ETSI but now that effort has been handed onto the 3GPP. |
| Global Positioning System |
The Global Positioning System (GPS) is currently the only fully functional Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). Utilizing a constellation of at least 24 medium Earth orbit satellites that transmit precise radio signals, the system enables a GPS receiver to determine its location, speed and direction.
Developed by the United States Department of Defense, it is officially named NAVSTAR GPS (Contrary to popular belief, NAVSTAR is not an acronym for NAVigation Satellite Timing And Ranging, but simply a name given by Mr. John Walsh (no relation to John Walsh of America's Most Wanted), a key decision maker when it came to the budget for the GPS program[1]). The satellite constellation is managed by the United States Air Force 50th Space Wing. The cost of maintaining the system is approximately US$750 million per year,[2] including the replacement of aging satellites, and research and development. Despite this fact, GPS is free for civilian use as a public good.
GPS has become a widely used aid to navigation worldwide, and a useful tool for map-making, land surveying, commerce, and scientific uses. GPS also provides a precise time reference used in many applications including scientific study of earthquakes, and synchronization of telecommunications networks. |
| GPRS |
General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is a Mobile Data Service available to users of GSM and IS-136 mobile phones. GPRS data transfer is typically charged per megabyte of transferred data, while data communication via traditional circuit switching is billed per minute of connection time, independent of whether the user has actually transferred data or has been in an idle state. GPRS can be utilized for services such as WAP access, SMS and MMS, but also for Internet communication services such as email and web access.
2G cellular systems combined with GPRS 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 for example the GSM system. Originally there was some thought to extend GPRS to cover other standards, but instead those networks are being converted to use the GSM standard, so that GSM is the only kind of network where GPRS is in use. GPRS is integrated into GSM standards releases starting with Release 97 and onwards. First it was standardized by ETSI but now that effort has been handed onto the 3GPP. |
| GPS |
The Global Positioning System (GPS) is currently the only fully functional Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). Utilizing a constellation of at least 24 medium Earth orbit satellites that transmit precise radio signals, the system enables a GPS receiver to determine its location, speed and direction.
Developed by the United States Department of Defense, it is officially named NAVSTAR GPS (Contrary to popular belief, NAVSTAR is not an acronym for NAVigation Satellite Timing And Ranging, but simply a name given by Mr. John Walsh (no relation to John Walsh of America's Most Wanted), a key decision maker when it came to the budget for the GPS program[1]). The satellite constellation is managed by the United States Air Force 50th Space Wing. The cost of maintaining the system is approximately US$750 million per year,[2] including the replacement of aging satellites, and research and development. Despite this fact, GPS is free for civilian use as a public good.
GPS has become a widely used aid to navigation worldwide, and a useful tool for map-making, land surveying, commerce, and scientific uses. GPS also provides a precise time reference used in many applications including scientific study of earthquakes, and synchronization of telecommunications networks. |
| GSM |
The Global System for Mobile communications (GSM: originally from Groupe Spécial Mobile) is the most popular standard for mobile phones in the world. GSM service is used by over 2 billion people across more than 212 countries and territories.[1][2] The ubiquity of the GSM standard makes international roaming very common between mobile phone operators, enabling subscribers to use their phones in many parts of the world. GSM differs significantly from its predecessors in that both signaling and speech channels are Digital call quality, which means that it is considered a second generation (2G) mobile phone system. This fact has also meant that data communication was built into the system from the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).
From the point of view of the consumers, the key advantage of GSM systems has been higher digital voice quality and low cost alternatives to making calls such as the Short Message Service (SMS). The advantage for network operators has been the ability to deploy equipment from different vendors because the open standard allows easy inter-operability.[3] Like other cellular standards GSM allows network operators to offer roaming services which mean subscribers can use their phones all over the world.
As the GSM standard continued to develop, it retained backward compatibility with the original GSM phones; for example, packet data capabilities were added in the Release '97 version of the standard, by means of GPRS. Higher speed data transmission has also been introduced with EDGE in the Release '99 version of the standard. |
| GSM Services |
GSM services are a standard collection of applications and features available to mobile phone subscribers all over the world. The GSM standards are defined by the 3GPP collaboration and implemented in hardware and software by equipment manufacturers and mobile phone operators.
The common standard makes it possible to use the same phones with different companies' services, or even roam into different countries. GSM is the world's most dominant mobile phone standard.
The design of the service is moderately complex because it must be able to locate a moving phone anywhere in the world, and accommodate the relatively small battery capacity, limited input/output capabilities, and weak radio transmitters on mobile devices. |
| GTE |
General Telephone and Electronics (GTE) was the largest of the "independent" US telephone companies during the days of the Bell System. It acquired the second largest independent, Continental Telephone (ConTel) in 1991[1]. They also owned Automatic Electric, a telephone equipment supplier similar in many ways to Western Electric, and Sylvania Lighting, the only non-communications-oriented company under GTE ownership. GTE provided local telephone service to a large number of areas of the U.S. through operating companies, much like how AT&T provided local telephone service through its 22 Bell Operating Companies.
The company also acquired BBN Planet, one of the earliest Internet service providers, in the late 1990s. That division became known as GTE Internetworking, and was later spun off into the independent company Genuity (a name recycled from a company BBN Planet had acquired before the merger with GTE) as part of the GTE-Bell Atlantic merger that created Verizon. |
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