In The Beginning..

There was Analog, and it was easy

AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System) FCC designated industry standard 2 licensed carriers in each market (A and B side) All carriers operate in the 800 Mhz band Consistent technology Seamless roaming (although costly) Limited data applications (slow and unreliable)

First Commercially deployed in The U.S. in 1983

Then Came Digital..

1G

AMPS

CDPD

CDPD Cellular Digit Packet Data

Digital overlay to the analog cellular network Designed specifically for data transmission Dedicated channel capacity Industry standard, TCP/IP based technology Reliable and connectionless Cost effective-billed only for data passed, not length of connection Secure-private connection solutions available Most commonly used in public safety

Then Came Digital..

1G 2G

CDMA

AMPS

CDPD

CDMA (IS-95A)
Optional information for those that need to know CDMA Qualcomm based spread spectrum technology A digital Cellular technology that uses spreadspectrum techniques. Unlike competing systems, such as GSM, that use a form of TDMA, CDMA does not assign a specific frequency to each user. Instead, every channel uses the full available spectrum. Individual conversations are encoded with a pseudo-random digital sequence. Most common digital technology in the U.S. Capacity increases of 8 - 10 times that of an AMPS analog system Enhanced privacy Clear path to next generation technology(3G)

Then Came Digital..

1G 2G

CDMA

TDMA AMPS

CDPD

TDMA (IS-54)
Optional information for those that need to know TDMA First digital technology deployed in the U.S. Operates in the 800 Mhz and 1900 Mhz bands digital systems get their name, Time Division Multiple Access, by dividing a single channel into a number of timeslots. Each user gets to use only one out of every few slots. First, a small amount of the voice conversation of one user is transmitted, and then the second, and so on until all users on one channel have transmitted when the cycle repeats. Obviously, it is necessary to compress voice conversations with TDMA systems. Consider a TDMA system with 5 users in each frequency band, alternating every 10 milliseconds. Each user only gets 2 milliseconds (less, considering overhead) for each 10 milliseconds of conversation. No wireless data capabilities (except analog) No path to next generation technology(3G) Technology will be phased out in the U.S

Then Came Digital..

1G 2G

CDMA

TDMA AMPS

GSM

CDPD

GSM Global System for Mobile Communications

Although a form of TDMA, incompatible with IS-54 used in the U.S. Operates at 1900Mhz in the U.S. (T-Mobile) Uses smart card technology The only all GSM carrier in the U.S. is TMobile (Voice Stream) Wireless data rate is only 9.6 kbps

Then Came Digital..

1G 2G

CDMA

TDMA AMPS

GSM

IDEN

CDPD

IDEN Integrated Digital Enhanced Network

Technology designed by Motorola Nextel and Southern LINC use this technology in the U.S. Limited to Motorola hardware only Also a TDMA technology derivative Commonly known for push to talk feature Coverage often a limitation

Then Came Digital..

1G 2G 2.5G

CDMA

TDMA AMPS

GSM GPRS

IDEN

CDPD

GPRS
General Packet Radio Service Theoretical maximum speeds of up to 171.2 kilobits per second (kbps) Download speeds of approximately 40 kbps Upload speeds of approximately 9.6 kbps Average recognized speed 20-30 kbps Availability limited due to carrier technology changes T-Mobile offers this service in the local market-limited coverage

Then Came Digital..

1G 2G 2.5G

CDMA

1XRTT

TDMA AMPS

GSM GPRS

IDEN

CDPD

1XRTT
Single Carrier Radio Transmission Technology Technology currently available from Verizon Wireless (Express Network) and Sprint PCS (Vision) Theoretical maximum speeds of up to 153 kilobits per second (kbps) Average recognizable data rates between 40 and 70 kbps Strong and growing coverage-easy overlay to existing technology

Then Came Digital..

1G 2G 2.5G 3G

CDMA

1XRTT

1X-EVDO

TDMA AMPS

GSM GPRS EDGE

IDEN

CDPD

1XEV-DO 1X Evolution, Data Optimized

Also referred to as HDR, High Data Rate Peak data rates of up to 2.4 Mbps Recognizable throughput between 300-600 Kbps Currently being tested by Verizon Wireless in the Washington/Baltimore, San Diego markets National Deployment just announced!
Already commercially available in Korea

EDGE
Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution

Can increase the capacity and data throughput typically to 3-4-fold over GPRS Theoretical maximum speeds of up to 473 kilobits per second (kbps) Average recognizable data rates between 80 and 130 kbps TDMA carriers must still convert to GSM, then add GPRS before deploying EDGE technology

Then Came Digital..

1G 2G 2.5G 3G

CDMA

1XRTT

1X-EVDO

802.11

TDMA AMPS

GSM GPRS EDGE

IDEN

CDPD

WAN

LAN

802.11

802.11 specifies an over-the-air interface between a wireless client and a base station or between two wireless clients.

802.11
Optional information for those that need to know
802.11 -- applies to wireless LANs and provides 1 or 2 Mbps transmission in the 2.4 GHz band using either frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) or direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS). 802.11a -- an extension to 802.11 that applies to wireless LANs and provides up to 54 Mbps in the 5GHz band. 802.11a uses an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing encoding scheme rather than FHSS or DSSS. 802.11b (also referred to as 802.11 High Rate or Wi-Fi) -- an extension to 802.11 that applies to wireless LANS and provides 11 Mbps transmission (with a fallback to 5.5, 2 and 1 Mbps) in the 2.4 GHz band. 802.11b uses only DSSS. 802.11b was a 1999 ratification to the original 802.11 standard, allowing wireless functionality comparable to Ethernet. 802.11g -- applies to wireless LANs and provides 20+ Mbps in the 2.4 GHz band