GSM History and Evolution

The European system was called GSM and deployed in the early 1990’s.

Network Generations:

0G:  Briefcase-size mobile radio telephones.
1G:  Analog cellular telephony.
2G:  Digital cellular telephony.
3G:  High-speed digital cellular telephony (including video telephony).
4G:  IP-based “anytime, anywhere” voice, data, and multimedia telephony at faster data rates than 3G.

Objectives of GSM:

Unique standard for European digital cellular networks 
International roaming 
Signal quality 
Voice and data services 
Standardization of the air and the network interfaces 
Security
 
Data Reates:

GSM	9.6 kbps
GPRS	172 kbps
EDGE	473.6 kbps
WCDMA	2 Mbps
HSDPA	22 Mbps
HSUPA	7.2 Mbps
LTE	173 Mbps-Downlink/58 Mbps Uplink
LTE Advnced	300 Mbps plus

GSM Services:

•Voice, 3.1 kHz

•Short Message Service (SMS)

      1985 GSM standard that allows messages of at most 160 chars. (incl. spaces) to be sent between handsets and other stations

•General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)

–GSM upgrade that provides IP-based packet data transmission up to 172 kbps

–Users can “simultaneously” make calls and send data

–GPRS provides “always on” Internet access and the Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) whereby users can send rich text, audio, video messages to each other

–Performance degrades as number of users increase

–GPRS is an example of 2.5G telephony – 2G service similar to 3G

 

GSM Frequencies:

•Originally designed on 900MHz range, now also available on 800MHz, 1800MHz and 1900MHz ranges.
GSM 900:
    Mobile to BTS (uplink):    890-915 Mhz
    BTS to Mobile(downlink):935-960 Mhz
    Bandwidth : 2* 25 Mhz  
GSM 1800:
    Mobile to BTS (uplink):   1710-1785 Mhz
    BTS to Mobile(downlink) 1805-1880 Mhz
    Bandwidth : 2* 75 Mhz