User talk:Mardus/Mobile phone telecommunications generations

Sources and material

http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/tech/events/2010/RDF_ARB/Presentations/Session1/RDF10_ARB_Presentation_Session1_NKirkaldy.pdf:4, 12/20/2010

GPRS 2.5G
EDGE 2.75G (with GPRS)
Evolved Edge 2.9G
UMTS 3G
HSxPA 3.5G
HSPA+ 3.75G
LTE 1st 3.9G
LTE Advanced 4G

http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/arb/COE/2010/4G/Documents/Doc2-LTE%20Workshop_TUN_Session1_Evolution%20path%20towards%204G.pdf:10, 11

Page 12 has throughput table

http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/arb/COE/2009/RuralCommunications/Documents/Doc6-TypesofRegulatoryReform.pdf:2 (27-29 July, 2009) 2.75G has HSPA MIMO, which I think has evolved to HSPA+

http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/arb/COE/2009/FSM/Documents/FSM2009-Session%201-Normalisation-BELKHADIR.pdf:9 (04.10.2009)

Has it that 3.75G is HSOPA; 4G was LTE and WiMAX

But, page 13 describes the parallels of evolution between 2G and 3G on comparable, but different networks (CDMA/TDMA vs GSM)

This explains 3.9G/4G http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2012/01/mobile-telephony

http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/tech/MobileCommunications/IMT_INTRODUCING/IMT_Introducing.html says that fractional G's (generations) are not formal standards, but used for marketing.

http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/techwatch/Documents/1010-B_Jamoussi_IoT.pdf:13 Defines some 3.9 standards

3.9G is defined as Ultra Mobile Broadband

Source template: Template:Wireless systems

This also Relates to 2.9G: http://wireless.arcada.fi/MOBWI/material/CN_5.html
-Mardus (talk) 09:27, 17 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

3G, 3.5G, 3.75G, 3.9G

The correct breakdown into fractional 3G generations as they correlate to their respective standards is also required, because the lack of any breakdown introduces lots of confusion, especially to non-technical people who can't yet, but really want to correlate marketing terms and standards themselves. (At first I was also confused, but then I got the bright idea of consulting ITU's own literature on the subject.)

If there is any breakdown to be had, it has to be based on official documents, because general-purpose publications (newspapers, journals, et al.) can have plenty of confusion themselves over the differences in terms. Reputable sources confirming the breakdown are welcome.

A little breakdown of what these generations stand for:

Generation	Corresponding standard	Notes
1G	Pre-GSM era, includes NMT
2G	Plain GSM
2.5G	GSM, GPRS
2.75G	GPRS+EDGE.	A.k.a. EDGE GPRS. Up to here, the clearest explanation on Wikipedia is in 2G#Evolution
2.9G	Enhanced GPRS?	There is a possibility that this could be the result of only a network upgrade to allow faster throughput, etc., and not a hardware upgrade for mobile phones, but I don't know for certain. Or is it Evolved EDGE?
3G	UMTS	Introduced in 2002 in Japan. This seems to be 3GPP Release '99 (2000 Q1) and onward until but not including 3.5G.
3.5G	UMTS with HSDPA and HSUPA	UMTS#Features also confirms that a UMTS network upgraded to HSDPA is 3.5G. HSUPA adds to upload speeds comparable with HSDPA, which should allow video calls, for example.
3.75G	HSPA+	An evolution over HSPA. (Some say 3.75 is "now" HSUPA, possibly following the logic of 2.75G (GPRS+EDGE vis-a-vis HSDPA+HSUPA).
3.9G	Early LTE or LTE first release	3GPP Release 8 (2004 Q4).[1]
4G	LTE Advanced	LTE Release 10 and not earlier. 4G is still used as a marketing term by North American operators who use different technologies with comparable or much evolved speeds over 3G using 3G or adjacent technologies, but not reaching the level of LTE Advanced.