3G Mobile Phone Networks: History and Background

3G has dominated the modern world in just a few years. Although the technology is relatively new, there are already so many devices taking advantage of the functions. You can use it regardless of location, so work and leisure becomes more efficient. You have to know a little about 3G history to know how unique it is compared to other updates in the past. Here are some details and applications of the technology.

Defining 3G

3G is also called third generation. It is named as such because it is the third generation of the standards of telecommunication hardware. It is also the general technology for mobile networking, passing the recent 2.5G. The technology is founded on the ITU or International Telecommunication Union group of standards which belongs to the IMT-2000.

3G networks allow network operators to provide users a bigger range of the latest services, as it gets bigger network capacity via heightened spectral efficiency. The included services are video calls, wide-area wireless voice telephone and broadband wireless information, all included within the mobile environment. More features included are HSPA data transmission capacities that can send data rates reaching 14.4 Mbit/s on the downlink and the uplink at 5.8 Mbit/s.

Networks

Different to the IEEE 802.11 networks, that are usually known as WLAN or Wi-Fi networks, the 3G networks cover a very wide area of cellular telephone networks that turn into incorporate high-speed internet connection and video telephony. IEEE 802.11 networks have a short range, with high-bandwidth networks mainly created and improved for data and information.

History and Start

The first 3G network offered for commercial use was launched in Japan by NTT DoCoMo. The network had the brand name FOMA and was introduced in May 2001 on a W-CDMA technology pre-release. The initial commercial launch of 3G was also done by NTT DoCoMo in Japan. This happened on October 1, 2001, although the technology was still very limited in terms of scope at the beginning. The broad availability, due to inadequate reliability had to be delayed.

SK Telecom from South Korea was the second network that was released commercially live. This was on the 1xEV-DO technology dated January 2002. In May 2002, the second 3G network from South Korea was on EV-DO by KTF, posing Koreans as the first to view the competition of all 3G operators.

Isle of Man by Manx Telcom was the first pre-commercial network released from Europe. At that time, the operator went by the name British Telecom. Telenor opened the first commercial network in Europe for business in December 2001. There were no commercial handsets, however, so there was also zero clients. These were on the W-CDMA technology.

The United States

The first 3G network in the United States that was released commercially was by Monet Mobile Networks. This was on CDMA2000 1x EV-DO technology. Later on, the network provider had to shut down operations. Verizon Wireless released the second 3G network operator in the United States in October 2003.

This was on CDMA2000 EV-DO, with a strongly growing network since. More and more countries adopted the changing technology and incorporated the use of 3G with mobile phones and handsets. Today, 3G is a very common feature among modern models and designs, with more innovations and heightened efficiency being introduced every year.