General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)
Overview
With the simultaneous gate−opening effects of
technological innovation and industry deregulation,
The demand for communications and available
solutions is exploding. This demand is being fueled by the needs of people and
businesses. The most visible evidence of the boom is within Internet traffic
and e−commerce or m−commerce. However, it is less appreciated that an
unprecedented Demand exists from worldwide telephone subscribers. It took a
century to get 700 million phones lines installed. Another 700 million will be
deployed in the next 15 to 20 years and that could prove to be a conservative
estimate. Although the majority of the new deployments will be wireless phones
700 million of them over the next 10 years demand for wireline communications
is also exploding, driven in part by the need to access the Internet.
GPRS is expected to profoundly change the mobile data
services that GSM, CDMA and TDMA (ANSI-I36) network operation can offer. GPRS
will increase opportunities for higher revenues and enable new, differentiated
services and tariff dimensions to be offered (such as a charge for the number
of kilobytes of data transferred). GPRS combines mobile access with internet
protocol (IP) based services, using packet data transmission that makes highly
efficient use of radio spectrum and enables high data speeds. It gives users
increased bandwidth, making it possible and cost effective to remain constantly
connected, as well as to send and receive data as text, graphics and video.
WHAT IS GPRS?
GPRS (general radio service) is a packet based data
bearer service for wireless communication services that is delivered as a
network overlay for GSM, CDMA and TDMA (ANSI-I36) networks. GPRS applies a
packet radio principle to transfer user data packets in efficient way between
GSM mobile stations and external packet data networks. Packet switching is
where data is split into packets that are transmitted separately and then
reassembled at receiving end. GPRS supports the world’s leading packet based
internet communication protocols, internet protocol (IP) and X.25. GPRS enables
any existing IP or X.25 application to operate over a GSM cellular connection.
Cellular networks with GPRS capabilities are wireless extensions of internet
and X.25 networks.
GPRS gives almost instantaneous connection set-up and
continuous connection to the internet. GPRS users will be able to log on to an
APN (access point name) and have access to many services or an office network
(without the need to dial-up) and remain continuously connected until they log
off, only paying when data is actually transmitted. A physical end to end
connection is not required because network resources and bandwidth are only
used when data is actually transferred. This makes extremely efficient use of
available radio bandwidth. Therefore, GPRS packet based services should cost
users less than circuit switched services since communication channels are
being shared and are on as packets are needed basis rather than dedicated to
only one user at a time. It should also be easier to make applications
available to mobile users because the faster data rate means that middleware
currently needed to adapt applications from fixed lines rates to the slower
speed of wireless systems will no longer be needed.
The
first data service for GSM cellular carriers. GPRS added a packet capability to
GSM, which uses dedicated, circuit-switched channels for voice conversations.
Ø
GPRS
speeds range from 14.4 kbit/s(using radio timeslot) to 115kbit/s (by
amalgamating timeslots).
Ø
Offer
connection to internet for mobile phone and computer users.
Ø
GPRS
data speeds are likely to average at about 56 kbit/s,with between 28 and 40
kbit/s initially.
Ø
The
higher data rates will allow users to take part in video conferences and
interact with multimedia web sites and similar applications using mobile handheld
devices as well as notebook computers.
The key drivers for
operators to evolve to GPRS networks are to:
Ø
Increase
revenues by moving into the mobile data market, especially since the voice
market has had profit margins squeezed with the commodization of voice
services.
Ø
Gain
new subscribers who require mobile data services or do not want to invest in a
PC to gain internet access.
Ø
Retain
current subscribers by offering new services.
Ø
Reduce
cost due to the efficient use of network resources.
Ø
Ease
of adapting applications fro mobile users because high data speeds mean that
middleware is no longer required to convert fixed applications for mobile use.
How is GPRS
different to GSM?
- Higher and therefore data, speeds.
- Seamless,
immediate and continuous connection to the internet always online.
- Packet switching
rather than circuit switching, which means that there is no higher radio
spectrum efficiency because network resources and bandwidth are only used
when data is actually transmitted even though it is always connected.
- Different mediation,
rating and billing requirements such as collecting records from GPRS and
Ip networks, charging for volumes of data transferred rather than connection
time and new and multiple members
of the billing value chain.
- First important
step on the path to 3G.
GPRS works on GPRS
cellphones as well as laptops and portable devices that have GPRS modems. Users
have typically experienced downstream data rates up to 80 Kbps. GPRS is not the
same as GSM's short messaging service (GSM-SMS), which is limited to messages
of 160 bytes in length. GPRS was superseded by EDGE, which changed the
modulation method to increase speed.
Advantages of GPRS
GPRS brought
mobile phone users out from the world of WAP, and into a world where Internet
was finally available on mobiles. This in itself was a monumental feat, and
hence GPRS took off with quite a bang. With GPRS, large amounts of data can be
transferred to and from the mobile device over the Internet.
References:
Broadband Telecommunications Handbook
