A practical

guide to GPRS
advantage of having a few vans, you break up all the stuff in your house into smaller loads, so that it can fit into the vans and you can have more than one van on the move at the same time. This is what GPRS does. It breaks up the data load into packets. It can also get these packets out more than one at a time and they dont all have to leave at the same time. It does this by carefully dividing the signal into timeslots. More timeslots is like more moving vans potentially much faster. Once all the packets arrive, your phone puts them back together, same as before. When you are transmitting data from your phone, the same thing happens, but in reverse. So What? With GPRS, the customer doesnt have to wait so long for a connection. Once they are connected, data potentially comes through a lot faster. The more timeslots they have available, the more potential for speed. The same applies to transmitting data. call, a long data call prevents other users from using that piece of the network that it ties up. Its like that big moving truck hogging the road. This is why WAP has been so expensive up till now. The whole time someone is in a data call, they block access to that part of the network delivering that call. This is why, just like voice calls, WAP over normal GSM networks has been charged by time and why it has been so expensive. By breaking the data up in to packets, GPRS does two things. First, it doesnt tie up network resources. Because packet delivery only uses up the amount of network it needs, other users can also share the resource, just as you could share the road with vans, but not with an enormous truck. Because data doesnt hog network resources, it doesnt matter how long a user is connected, because it doesnt prevent others from using those resources. Therefore, time connected is pretty irrelevant. This means that calls dont have to be charged by time. All that matters is how much data is being used, so thats how GPRS charges are set up. You only pay for the data you use. As well, because they can stay connected more or less as long as they want, users

Classes, bit rates, timeslots GPRS can be confusing. But understanding GPRS is the key to selling it. So after extensive research and testing, Mobility presents a practical guide to GPRS, explaining it in simple language that both retailer and customer can easily understand.

The bottom line is ...

GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) means three things in Australia: faster, cheaper and more convenient.

Faster
GPRS is faster because of the way it transmits data. Normal GSM phones treat data like any other phone call. If you want data, you have to ring up and wait for the computer at the other end to answer and to recognise your phone. This can take a while, and remember, all the time, youre paying. When it starts to transmit the data, its also just like a normal call, which makes it slow. GPRS changes this. It breaks the data up into packets so that they can be transmitted faster. Its like moving house. Over normal GSM, your connection to the Internet is trying to do the equivalent of moving your whole house at once, using one massive truck. It takes forever to load up the truck and when it gets going, the truck is slow and it holds up traffic. It also costs a lot. GPRS on the other hand, is like having a couple of smaller vans. They zip along and dont hold up traffic. To take

Cheaper
Because data transmitted over normal GSM is treated like an ordinary phone

GPRS connections
Voice Data
Data connection can be paused while on voice call

Mobile Network

Data/GPRS enabled SIM card

Operator data feeds GPRS handset

90 Mobility

Internet
HTML WAP

Corporate Intranet
Corporate email Inventory Mainframe data

SMS WAP

A practical guide to GPRS

dont have to keep calling up all the time, paying call and connection costs each time. To put it another way, its like going to the caf. You dont get charged for how long you sit there, only for what you order to eat or drink. You can sit there all day and read the paper, paying only for the coffees that you have. So What? GPRS saves the user money because they dont have to pay for the time they are on air. They only pay for the data they use. They also dont have to keep making new calls every time they want data. Because they are not hogging network resources, the effective charges for data are cheaper. All of this adds up to cheaper data access for the user.

And... its free to look

you want to hook your phone up to your laptop or your PDA and use it as a modem, you can also transmit data more quickly. Faster delivery means the user is more likely to use WAP over GPRS, so it becomes a greater benefit to them. Probably more importantly than anything else, being cheaper makes GPRS more convenient to use. For example, say you want to look at some sports results. Using WAP over GSM, youd hurry through like crazy trying to find the result you were after, because every second that you are connected costs you money. With GPRS, you can take your time. You are only paying for the data you use. Say the result you are looking for is West Coast vs Essendon in the AFL, because you have a bet with everyone at work that West Coast will win. With GPRS, you can look up the result, and finding out that West Coast have won, take your phone around to everyone and show them the result , without having to pay for the time the result is on your screen. As they say, its free to look (especially when you win). So What? GPRS makes data access more convenient because you only pay for the volume that you use, not how long you are connected. Users can take their time with the information they are looking at. If a voice call comes in, the data session just goes on hold. You dont have to dial up again. The data also comes through a lot faster. All of these factors make GPRS more convenient for the user.

Simultaneous voice and data

Most handsets launched this year will be Class B series which can accept incoming calls while in a data session, which is paused but not terminated. This screen shot shows an active GPRS data session.

When a call comes in you are given the option to answer or reject the call.

More Convenient
You dont have to wait to connect like you do with GSM networks. Once you are connected, you dont have to keep redialling to get data. Almost all GPRS phones put a data session on hold when a voice call comes in, or when one is being made. Once the voice call is finished, the data session can take up where it left off. Because its not treated like a normal voice call, the user doesnt get charged for the time that the data session is on hold. In fact, as things stand, they can remain connected all day if they want, paying only for the data they use. This makes using GPRS more convenient, because you dont have to dial up and wait every time you want to connect. Another factor that makes using GPRS more convenient is its speed. You can get more information more quickly. If

When the call is completed hang up.

You are then prompted to resume the GPRS session if you wish, allowing you to go back to the same WAP session you were in.

GPRS favourites for 2001

Micros

Feature Phones

Siemens ME45

Nokia 8310 Philips Fisio 318

Ericsson T39s

Nokia 6310

Ericsson R520m

Motorola P7389i Ericsson T68m Motorola V.66 Samsung SCH-Q100 Mitsubishi Eclipse

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A practical guide to GPRS

GPRS: The Hard Data
Every day examples
A Trip to the Movies 1. Look up the Top 10 movies for the week. Hmm, Moulin Rouge or the Mummy Returns? Take your time deciding, because it doesnt cost to look

Now that we have covered the basics of GPRS, its time to have a look at of some of the details. Our tests use Telstras GPRS network, as it is the only commercially available network at the time of writing.

Handsets
As explained, GPRS handsets support a number of timeslots in e a c h direction. Each timeslot supports a given peak bit rate, which is also affected by the coding schemes used for the data. These coding schemes break up the data into packets and reassemble it again. They support different levels of error correction. Lower levels of error correction have lower overheads per packet and therefore higher amounts of user data per packet. The CS4 standard gives the best bit rate per slot because of its low in-built error correction, but is still just a standard and not yet available from the infrastructure suppliers. Mobiles will have more receive than send timeslots and in most transactions this will be sensible, especially when you are looking at WAP over GPRS, when the request for information is generally smaller in size than the information returned. When GPRS bit rates are quoted, the figures are usually peak figures but these can be misleading. If you are trying to work out approximately how long something will take to send or receive the more appropriate figure to consider is the average throughput rate. This average gives a much truer indication of what bit rate you can expect from a GPRS connection. With a GPRS Class A or B handset, you do not even have to end the session to make or receive calls or SMS messages.

2. Still not sure? Why not read some reviews. Again, take your time

Even buying a newspaper and using Call Connect for the phone number would cost you more than using GPRS.

3. Check the session times. After a little navigation, you can find the session you want. After the one-off connection cost for the session. Cost: Around 30 cents.

Motorola Timeport P7389i, a GPRS version of the long lived L series. The service is available to anybody who wishes to purchase the handset. The usual takeup path for new services is early adopters, developers and technology buffs followed by business customers and then finally a trickle down into the mass consumer market. As with most services, this will probably be the case for GPRS, but our testing shows that there may well be a strong imperative for general consumers to consider a GPRS-capable handset, especially those who could benefit from WAP b a s e d information or are about to upgrade anyway. If you are interested in mobile data services, compared to using WAP over circuit switched data, the savings are substantial. The outright phone cost is not particularly prohibitive, especially when considered against the cost of high-end models on the market today without GPRS capability.

GPRS in Action
Mobility has undertaken some extensive testing and research on GPRS. As explained, GPRS works on the same principle as the PC-based Internet. Data stored on a remote server is broken down into small packets, transmitted along the airwaves and reassembled in the mobile phone. This is a more efficient system than the Circuit Switched Data transmission (CSD) of native GSM networks. The first table on the next page shows the savings that can be made by using GPRS for some typical WAP transactions (these figures do not include the connection fee). For example, starting a GPRS WAP session and reading a news story every couple of hours will cost you about 50c for the day. If you needed to check a number from the White Pages add another 15c. Finding somewhere to eat and a movie to watch could add another 50c. All together, this would cost you a bit over a dollar for the day. You could do this over standard WAP, but you would have to make multiple calls and it would cost in the region of $4.50 in peak time and about half that off peak. Even buying a newspaper and using Call Connect for the phone number would cost you more than using GPRS. Given current WAP usage levels, these transactions would be for a fairly heavy user, but even for the more occasional user who just checks the football previews for the weekend on the way home in the train, you are looking at paying 20c for the transaction using GPRS and 75c for standard WAP. For those who just want to keep track of email, Telstras service offers you free SMS messages to let you know you have new mail. This saves you time and

Dinner at a Restaurant 1. Find a restaurant. Just like looking for a movie, you can take your time and find a restaurant that suits

2. Check out the menu. While restaurant menus will be cut down for WAP, they at least give you some indication. Maybe Level 41 is a bit pricey

Speed
GPRS is often quoted as having a bit rate of 115 Kbit/s. Whilst in theory this might be achieved by taking 8 timeslots at CS-3 (8 x 14.4 = 115 Kbit/s), this particular configuration is unlikely, at least for some time. It creates particular difficulties for handset design that currently make it impractical to produce. CS1 and CS2 are the only coding schemes commercially deployed in Australia. The average throughput is likely to be between 40 and 50 Kbit/s with 4 timeslots.

3. Look at the alternatives. If Level 41 was a bit too dear, maybe Italian is the way to go. After the one-off connection cost for the session. Cost: Around 25c (Plus food).

Telstra GPRS
At the time of publishing, Telstra were the only network operator to have successfully launched their GPRS service to the public. The only handset commercially available was the

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A practical guide to GPRS

fruitless checking of your inbox. Each check doesnt incur much of a data cost, only a couple of Kilobytes at a time, but every little bit helps keeps your total bill down. The way you receive email is going to be device specific. Your mobile phone is not capable of reading attachments, but by hooking up your phone to a laptop or PDA this becomes easy. Palm and WinCE PDAs devices have no problems reading the more common attachments like documents and spreadsheets and even PDF readers are becoming more common. However, more specific file types will usually require a computer to read them. Mb per month usage and has a per Kilobyte penalty for excess use. These types of plans make the number of sessions fairly irrelevant, as the connection fee is removed and connection only requires a very small data transfer (about 2 Kilobytes). GPRS is new and Telstra currently have only one pricing policy. This is designed for those using WAP over GPRS rather than a dial up connection from a laptop or PDA. You must be connected to MobileNet GSM and the service doesnt work on any of their prepaid or CDMA services. Telstra data charges are not additional to the minimum call spend; some of this can be used for data if that suits you. With Telstras initial pricing plan, each time you start a GPRS session you are charged a 22c connection fee. There is currently no forced log off for inactivity, so you can stay connected all day with just the one connection fee. We couldnt make the connection fail while travelling around Sydney, a notoriously difficult RF environment. Both in-building and driving around, reception remained strong, even in the outer metro areas, although we didnt test it in any long tunnels. So at least in Sydney, the connection fee shouldnt prove a burden, especially when you consider you already pay a connection fee for Telstras standard WAP services. The cost per Kilobyte is 2.2c for the first 200 Kilobytes per session. If you download more in any session then the price for additional Kilobytes drops to 1.1c per Kilobyte. Telstra advertise that GPRS can cost less for bursty applications such as WAP browsing and claim a significant time and cost saving over CSD access. This was certainly borne out by our testing. We also found cost savings during peak hours when using the GPRS network for dial up access from a laptop.

GPRS in use
The first thing that strikes you when using the GPRS service on the phone is speed. Not that it is really that fast the data rate on the Motorola supplied for testing was only about 20 Kbit/s but if you look at the amounts transferred in WAP transactions they are very small (see tables on this previous page). Even though the speed is more apparent than actual, you do feel that you are getting an instant response and that definitely improves the WAP experience. In or experience, another benefit of GPRS is the comfort factor. When using a mobile phone anything that requires a text input for a response is fiddly. Because it is charged by time, using WAP over GSM, there has always been the underlying imperative to speed up, to get through it quickly to keep the cost down. Thats not the case with GPRS.

Pricing Models
The first pricing model from Telstra examined here is simple there is no access fee but you pay to connect each session and for the data you send or receive. There is some volume bias built in for heavy users. After the first 200 Kilobytes, the price decreases by half for subsequent transactions in the session. Other pricing models could be introduced when take up becomes more widespread and usage patterns more defined. Looking at overseas examples, BT Cellnet and Vodafone in the UK both offer 2 plans: one with a low access fee and a charge per Kilobyte; and another with a higher access fee which allows up to 1

WAP comparisons - GPRS vs Circuit Switched Data (CSD)

Transaction Cost (cents) Task
Log in Read the news Search for a movie title & read review Pick cinema (line to call) Get session times Football match lists (venue/times) Check no. in white pages Restaurant search & menu

Size

(Kb)

Time

(sec)

GPRS
3.3c 4.3c 8.2c 4.8c 24.4c 11.9c 13.0c 13.8c

Peak CSD
14.9c 50.6c 84.2c 40.2c 60.5c 60.0c 55.0c 69.9c

Off peak CSD

7.7c 26.1c 43.4c 20.7c 31.2c 30.9c 28.3c 36.0c

1.5 2.0 3.7 2.2 11.1 5.4 5.9 6.3

27 92 153 73 110 109 100 127

Attachments/other data apps1 - GPRS vs Circuit Switched Data (CSD) through a laptop
Transaction Cost (cents) Task
Log in Load web page (Internet Explorer- Laptop) Download pdf file (68 Kilobytes) Long text email (9 Kilobytes) receive Fwd the 9 Kb email Receive email with 50 Kb attachment Add a note and forward 50 Kb attachment

Size

(Kb)

Time

(sec)

GPRS
6.3c 14.8c $1.59 26.0c 26.8c $1.67 $1.78

Peak CSD
24.8c 23.1c $2.05 40.6c 40.5c $2.50 $2.72

Off peak CSD

12.8c 11.9c $1.05 20.9c 20.8c $1.29 $1.40

2.9 6.7 72.4 11.8 12.2 76.1 81.0

45 42 372 74 74 455 495

All costs here are for the data or time for each transaction and do not include the connection fee for each service. 1 Telstra GPRS pricing is currently designed for WAP usage. Separate higher throughput pricing is expected as services grow in popularity.

Mobility 93

A practical guide to GPRS

You can take the time to compose your responses and this can make the WAP experience more relaxing, especially with email. Using a laptop and the GPRS network is where the actual rather than the perceived speed starts to show. While noticeably quicker than dialling up through a WAP portal and your standard GSM mobile, the data rate is still noticeably slower than with a 56K modem. The Motorola P7389i is an early GPRS model and has two down slots; this speed differential between the mobile and a standard modem will decrease as models with more slots hit the market. An early version of the Ericsson 520m with three down slots was noticeably quicker when using the laptop (although no significant difference could be seen when just using the handset). Phones with four down slots should give roughly the same speed as a 56k modem (which average out at about 40 Kbit/s transfer speed). Services such as Telstra Speedwise (not used in the testing) which compress and optimise the data to be transmitted will keep the amount transferred and therefore costs down. Connecting to a laptop or PDA with IrDA works well, but unless you are staying in the one place you will lose some of the cost benefits because you will need to start a new session in each location. A serial cable connection will help, but it does restrict your mobility as the phone is always tied to the other device. The solution that shows the most promise is a Bluetooth connection between the phone and the device. This will allow you to stay connected but move the phone away from the connected device.
60 50

Cost / Data
Standard WAP

Cost (cents)

40 30 20 10 0

Two Slot GPRS

Three Slot Four Slot GPRS GPRS

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

Data Transferred (kilobytes)

This chart show the relative performance of WAP over GSM and several classes of GPRS transferring data over a one minute period. The cost of data transfer is also shown. Note how GPRS, in all cases here, outperforms GSM WAP on both price and data volume.

Business Case
So how will the networks make money from GPRS if it is so much cheaper to use? The answer mainly lies in high volume, low cost transactions. By making data cheaper, operators are hoping that subscribers will use it more often. In fact, they are more than hoping. They are positively counting on it. Network operators are relying very heavily on data use to restore ARPU in the face of the relative decline of voice revenues. Have a look at the cost of an email, for example. At 48c to read

3 messages, its not hard to see that there are a lot of users out there that have the potential to rack up a dollar or two per day just on email. Imagine its Friday afternoon and its hot. Why not check the surf report on the way home? Wake up on Saturday morning. Have conditions changed? Why not check again? For only few cents a time, theres no real reason not to. This is the secret. By removing the mental barrier of a high up front cost, operators are opening the way for more frequent use. iMode has used this model successfully in Japan. Most iMode offerings are quite cheap, with DoCoMo and its partners using things like a can of Coke as a guide to pricing services. Locally, think back about the popularity of SMS. At around 22c per time, most users imagine that SMS virtually costs them nothing, resulting in millions of messages per month. So a dollar or two on email, a few cents here and there on surf reports, movie guides and traffic bulletins may not sound like much, but if you multiply a few dollars per week over a couple of million subscribers however, the numbers begin to make more sense. The more compelling and better marketed the data services that operators offer consumers, the faster those cents will start turning into dollars.

Single WAP session comparison - GPRS vs Circuit Switched Data (CSD)

Cost Task
One Off Session Est. or Call connection Fee Per Kb or per minute cost Log in and read 4 News Articles White Pages (Check residential number) Check Flight Departure Time Weather Report (Sydney Metro) Surf Report Movie Guide (Session time & review) Chat (6 min session) Quiz (one game) Horoscope (Check one horoscope) Stock Quote (Delayed) Football Results (Score and stats for a match)
Restaurant Guide (Search and view menu)

GPRS
22c 2.2 c/Kb 30c 10c 22c 11c 7c 22c 42c 16c 7c 9c 13c 13c $2.24

Peak CSD Off peak CSD

22c 33 c/min $2.19 62c 85c 26c 40c $1.02 $1.98 50c 32c 63c 37c 70c $10.06 22c 16.5 c/min $1.09 31c 43c 13c 20c 51c 99c 25c 16c 32c 35c $5.14 19c

The table left is a result of Mobilitys own testing and shows just how much of a cost saving GPRS can provide when compared to WAP over GSM. This is especially the case for data that over GSM involves a relatively long connection. Take the reading the news results for example. At 30 cents over GPRS, reading the news becomes a much more attractive proposition than it does at $2.19 over normal GSM at peak times. It is also still a third the price of GSM, even in off peak. As the table shows, almost right across the board, GPRS proved to be cheaper than WAP over GSM, even in off peak. This is borne out in the totals. For GPRS access all in one session as shown here it would be around five times cheaper than peak GSM rates and more than two and a half times cheaper than off peak.

1000

Usage Predictions
ARC 800M

Millions of users

800

600

Total Cost for session

400

Each WAP page contains only a tiny amount of data. This means that GPRS in most cases provides lower cost WAP browsing. GPRS mobiles will track both time connected and data transferred. This is particularly useful for new users to gain an understanding of the size of data transferred. We advise that users take note of this as GPRS is a new field for everyone. The above is an example of viewing several news items. The cost (after establishing a session) was for 5234 + 1356 bytes which is 6.59Kb - multiplied by 2.2c per Kb (Telstra pricing) the cost totalled 14.5c.

200

Ovum 407M Mobile Lifestreams 400M EMC 165 M

2004

2005

Although estimates vary markedly, major industry analysts predict worldwide mobile data users in the hundreds of millions indicating mainstream usage.

94 Mobility

A practical guide to GPRS

If youre finding all this talk of slots coding schemes and so on a bit hard to get used to, have a look at the diagrams below. Put simply, these diagrams show that the more timeslots you have available to use and the less extra data the coding scheme adds to allow for error correction, the faster data will generally come through. Data throughput basically just refers to the speed at which the data is transmitted, which is usually expressed in Kilobits per second. Weve also tried to simplify things by estimating 10Kb/s per slot 2 to help give a number to use as a rough but easily understood guide, rather than compounding confusion by getting into the different coding schemes.

Download speed explained

Data
Data connection can be paused while on voice call

A figure of 10 Kb/s per slot can be considered reasonable1.

GPRS handset

Mobile Network

Slots 2 3 4

+
Examples
3+1
Software Upgrade able to

Coding Scheme

Throughput

Kb/s 20 30 40

4+2

4+1
Ericsson T39 eg. Download 3 (4) slots
30 Kb/s (40 Kb/s)

Standard GSM handset eg. 1 slot

Under 10 Kb/s combined upload and download

Mitsubishi Eclipse eg. Download 4 slots

40 Kb/s

Looking at the three examples models, it can be easily seen that by having four download slots, the Mitsubishi Trium Eclipse can potentially receive data more than four times as fast as the Nokia 5110. With two upload slots, it can also transmit data faster, potentially twice as fast as the Ericsson T39s. This would be useful in a situation were the GPRS mobile is connected to a PDA or especially a laptop, as larger amounts of data could be sent more easily.

Upload 1 slot
10 Kb/s

Upload 2 slots
20 Kb/s

Coding Schemes
2 + 1 GPRS
Coding Scheme CS-1 CS-2 CS-3 CS-4
Kbit/s (2 slots) (max speed)

4 + 2 GPRS
Coding Scheme CS-1 CS-2 CS-3 CS-4
Kbit/s (4 slots)

(max speed)

Receive
16 24 28.8 40

Send
Kbit/s (1 slots)

Receive
32 48 57.6 80

Send
Kbit/s (2 slots)

8 12 14.4 20

16 24 28.8 40

These tables show that the coding scheme used to break up and reassemble the data being transmitted can have a significant effect on throughput speed. While Coding Scheme 1 (CS-1) only allows a four slot GPRS unit to receive data at 32 Kbit/s, CS-4, yields 80 Kbits/s. It should be noted however that coding schemes like CS-4 are not yet available.
1 2

Mobility estimate. Average - after overheads removed.

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A practical guide to GPRS

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
Anticipated Questions
What is GPRS? GPRS is a quicker way of sending and receiving information through a mobile device. It is packet based technology and works in a similar way to the Internet. Instead of paying for time connected, you pay for information you send and receive. Once connected you stay online removing the need to continually log on when you need to look up some information or read your email. Does GPRS provide Internet on your mobile phone? Not exactly it provides access to the Internet from your mobile. Because of screen size, sound capabilities etc there will be differences between your desktop and mobile access. You have the mobile with you anyway for voice so the access to data anywhere, anytime shifts the emphasis from the rich viewing desktop experience to a time/location critical need for the information. Is GPRS automatically available? This will depend on your network, Telstra currently make the service available to anyone on a post-paid plan with a compatible handset. Some overseas carriers also make it available to prepaid customers. You have to call up and have your SIM card data enabled. Will GPRS have the same coverage as GSM? GPRS will have similar coverage to the existing GSM network. Which handsets can I use? Can my existing handset be upgraded? Only GPRS handsets can be used, your existing handset cannot be upgraded. Do I have to change my SIM card? No, nor do you need a new phone number. Do I need to use my Internet Service Provider (ISP)? No. The network data centre gives you access to the Internet, no separate dial up account is required. Are special settings required? Yes, data profile details need to be added to the phone and many will be pre-configured by the network. If not, the setup is not hard and settings for individual phones will be available from the network for customers or their retail outlet to implement. How much does it cost? Its early days and a greater range of pricing options will appear as demand evolves. Currently there is only one plan available from Telstra where you pay a connection fee for each session and a price per Kilobyte. In the future, you may see additional plans with up-front fees that include a set amount of data with an excess rate if you go over the limit. GPRS charges may or may not be including in your voice plan and is network dependent. What about large emails? How you receive, emails will be device dependent. If you are using your mobile phone you will probably prefer to only receive headers or a limited amount of text, attachments are obviously out of the question as the software to read them is not available. If you are using a PDA or laptop then you will be able to handle larger emails and attachments Can I use GPRS overseas? Roaming is coming, GPRS is still very new and carrier agreements and interoperability issues still need some

Future Prices

Lessons from overseas

Based on overseas experience, there are quite a few different options for GPRS pricing models. Currently there is only one pricing plan available from Telstra, with more being developed as usage patterns become clearer. Many overseas operators have introduced special rates or discounts during trial periods to help educate the customer and drive usage. Unlike Telstra, many overseas operators tariffs see GPRS charged over an above the normal voice bill. For Telstra customers, data costs can be included in the normal call component. Currently Telstra have no sign on fee for GPRS. If you have the handset you can use the service. Foreign operators frequently charge a signon fee for GPRS services. Telstra prepaid customers are currently excluded from access but some overseas carriers have opened it to all their customers. Perhaps in Australia as with WAP this will come later, when GPRS handsets become part of the standard bundle. The up front charge with included data volume model is very popular overseas (especially from the carriers point of view). Cosmote in Greece offer a monthly plan of almost A$50 per month which includes 40 Mb of data. This is a very economical plan for a very heavy user who is replacing their dial up access with a GPRS connection, but would not be economical for a user who is only using WAP. Carriers such as Germanys T-Mobil have multiple plans to better cater for different types of users. One plan is for casual WAP users with a low daily fee and 50c for each 10 Kb. A second plan for heavier WAP or light dial up use has a $15 access fee and includes up to 1 Mb per month. The third plan is for the heavy users who use GPRS to access the Internet or their Intranet from a laptop or PDA, with a flat access fee of $25 and $4 per Mb. These types of pricing plans give good flexibility and much as with voice although you pay for what you use, the more you use the cheaper it is. In some cases Telstra's current plan designed for WAP usage compares extremely favourably with overseas rates. However, if GPRS becomes the norm for laptop users, then a new rate will need to be introduced to keep costs down and more in line with overseas operators.

Bits & bytes

There are differences
The rates quoted for data transfer can be confusing. Although the standard is bit rate, Kilobits and Kilobytes are often used interchangeably. Compounding this problem is that bit measurements dont follow the usual naming standards for measurement. When talking about digital figures Kilo does not mean 1000 but 1024. Each bit is a piece of digital information either a zero (0) or a one (1). A byte is 8 bits of data, a Kilobit is 1024 bits of data made up of 0s and 1s. A Kilobyte is 1024 bytes (or 8192 bits) of data. Equating these numbers to written text to give you an idea of size, a Kilobyte is approximately 200 words (after overheads). In the 4-slot example above, with an average throughput of 40 Kbit/s you would receive about 1000 words per second, after allowing for overheads. Looking at these figures will give you an idea of just how quickly the response to a WAP request would be transmitted with GPRS.

96 Mobility

Class Action
The advent of GPRS services has seen enabled handsets classified into a number of classes. With GPRS handsets finally beginning to appear on the Australian market, now is the time to understand what the various classes of GPRS devices actually mean.
States
At any given time, a GPRS device can be in one of three states: Idle, Ready or Standby. In the idle state, the device is not connected in a current GPRS session. After performing a GPRS attach (the beginning of a GPRS session) the device enters a ready state, where it is ready to send and receive data. The standby state is reached when no packets have been sent for a predetermined period of time (network dependent) and the READY timer started at the GPRS attach expires. With the initiation of a GPRS detach (the ending of a GPRS session), the device will disconnect from the network and resume operation in the idle state. GPRS classes are being defined for mobile stations (MS) rather than simply for mobile phone handsets, thus allowing them to be applied more broadly in the future. However, regardless of whether the device in question is a handset or a GPRS SD/IO card for example, the classes remain the same. Broadly speaking, there are two groups of classes an Alpha class to describe the GPRS/GSM operation as well as a numeric class to describe its multislot capabilities

Simultaneous GSM/GPRS operation

In a combined GSM/GPRS network, conventional services such as voice, data and SMS can be used in parallel with GPRS and the Alpha class defines how the device copes with the simultaneous operation of Packet Switched (GPRS) and Circuit Switched (GSM) services. Within the Alpha category, three classes are defined: A, B and C.

Channels are released after the transmission of data packets, explaining why GPRS is so efficient in utilising radio resources. Theoretically, each timeslot has a data throughput of between 9.05 and 21.4 Kilobits per second, but this varies with the signal quality and the coding scheme used. Generally speaking, the more timeslots the device can use, the faster the transmission of the data transaction will be. Each transaction is broken down into packets that can be sent across multiple channels, so the more channels that are available for use, the faster the data will be transmitted. The table below shows the different class numbers assigned to the various combinations of transmit and receive slots for each device. Note that the figures are for the maximum numbers of timeslots. Thus a Class 4 device can operate as a Class 4, Class 2 or Class 1 device but not as a Class 3 (as the Class 4 device does not have a maximum of 2 receive channels). Similarly, a Class 12 device can operate as any other numerical Class currently defined.

Multislot Capabilities
GPRS-enabled devices are also classified according to their multislot capabilities. The GPRS air interface is made up of frames that can be split into eight different timeslots. These timeslots can then be allocated to individual users. The uplink and downlink (or transmit (Tx) and receive (Rx)) channels are allocated separately and are only allocated when data packets are sent or received. The available radio resources in a cell are dynamically shared between circuit switched (GSM) and packet switched (GPRS) services, depending on demand.

GPRS Classes
Class Capabilities
Class A devices support the simultaneous operation of GPRS and GSM services, allowing users to transmit or receive data on the GPRS network during a voice call. Class B devices are able to register with the network for both GPRS and conventional GSM services simultaneously. However, in contrast to Class A, they can only use one of the two services at a given time. Class B devices move into standby mode (i.e. connected to a GPRS session but not transmitting or receiving) to making or receiving voice calls using a circuit switched connection. The GPRS session can be resumed when the call is complete. Class C devices can only register for either GPRS or GSM services at any one time. Simultaneous registration (and usage) is not possible. Users must therefore terminate a voice call before beginning a GPRS session or close a GPRS session before making a voice call. The only exceptions are SMS messages, which can be sent or received and at any time, in either registration mode.

Multi Slot GPRS Classifications

Multislot

Class

Receive

Transmit

Max Total

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

1 2 2 3 2 3 3 4 3 4 4 4

1 1 2 1 2 2 3 1 2 2 3 4

2 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5

Mobility 97