Wireless Networking Technologies

# General Packet Radio Services (GPRS)

GPRS is an enhancement to GSM technology that integrates GSM and IP technology.
GPRS offers an always-on, high speed connectivity to the Internet.
So you can check your email on the move and surf the Web at high speeds.


# Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)

WAP provides Internet access to cell phones.
It is an open standard for wireless protocols that is independent of the service providers.
To display Web content, the cell phone must have a WAP browser.

Nowadays, cell phones often come with WAP and GPRS technology.


# Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE)
The new EDGE interface has been developed specifically to meet the bandwidth needs of 3G. Promoted by Ericsson, it offers high-speed data transfers over GSM networks with just a software upgrade to the handset. EDGE allows speeds up to 384 kbps.

Top Ten Mobiles

According to a recent survey by Toptenlist.org ,
The worlds most popular Top Ten mobiles are as follows..

1) I-Phone 3-G (Apple)

Special Features : Fastest 3-G,Widescreec I-pad,International browsing,Wi-Fi wireless connection,E-mail,GPS.

Price : 29000 INR

2) Nokia Music Express

Special Features : Similar to I-Phone,Touch screen,Small keyboard,3.2 MP Camera,Handwriting
recognition,GPS.

Price : 13700 INR

3) Nokia E-71

Special Features : Sleek Professional mobile version with word,excel and powerpoint quick office
software,PDF supported and 3.2 MP Camera.

Price : 16200 INR

4) Blackberry Bold

Special Features : Wide screen,Wi-Fi,GPS,Supports DVX,XVD formats,enabled with Blackberry maps.

Price : 26700 INR

5) Sony Ericson Experia

Special Features : High end Phone ofSony with Side Sliding and loaded with windows 6.1 Operating System.

Price : 28000 INR

6) HTC-Touch HD

Special Features : Hign speed Browsing,High quality Music and video streaming,5 MP Camera with Auto Focus.

Price : 42990 INR

7) Nokia N-97
Special Features : 3.5 " Large Touch Screen,Handwriting recognition,MMS,E-mail.

Price : 37000 INR

8) Nokia 6300

Special Features : Specially designed for Rough handling.Built-in MP3 Player,Expandable Memory,2 MP Camera with Zoom .

Price : 6700 INR

9) Nokia E-51

Special Features : Highspeed Browsing,E-mail,VOIP.

Price : 9500 INR

10) Blackberry Smart

Special Features : Blackberry smart phones enable you to browse the Web, make or receive phone calls, organize your day and much more.

Price : Varies with Model

Latest Mobile Phones - Android

Motorola Android is the latest mobile development that comes with the state of the art web access facilities.
Android is a flexible operating system platform for your mobile phone.It supports advanced web services, e-mail, social networking, and entertainment.

The Smart Features of Motorola Android are ...


DISPLAY

320 x 480 pixels, 187 PPI; 3.1 inch HVGA screen

SLIDER

Side slider

3G

GSM, 3G, WiFi, EDGE Class 12, GPRS Class 12

OPERATING SYSTEM

Android 1.5 (Cupcake)

CAMERA

5.0 Megapixel Auto Focus Camera with Picture editing, Geo Tagging Tools.

PHOTO SHARING

MySpace, Photobucket, Picasa, Facebook

CUSTOMIZABLE HOME SCREEN

MOTOBLUR's Happenings, Status and Messaging widgets deliver status posts and more. Customizable RSS news widgets keeps you up to date.

MESSAGING

Facebook, MySpace and Twitter Direct Messaging

MUSIC PLAYER

AAC, AAC+, AAC+ Enhanced, AMR NB, MIDI, MP3, WAV

VIDEO CAPABLE

Playback - H.264, H.263, MPEG 4, YouTube; Video Streaming: MPEG 4, 3GP


T-MOBILE

MyAccount, Audio Postcard, Visual Voice Mail, MyFaves, Telenav

WEB BROWSER

Full HTML browser, Android Webkit

OPERATING SYSTEM

Android 1.5 (Cupcake)
QWERTY KEYBOARD
TOUCH SCREEN
VIRTUAL KEYBOARD

PHYSICAL

* DISPLAY TYPE
187 DPI
* COLORS
Titanium and Winter White
* WEIGHT
5.6 oz; 163 grams
* SIZE (H X W X D)
2.28 x 4.49 x 0.62 inches; 114x58x15.6
* DISPLAY SIZE
320 x 480 pixels
* FORM FACTOR
Slider

Latest Mobile Phones - Personal Digital Assistants

PDA s( personal digital assistant ) are the advanced form of mobile phones which are nothing but a handheld computer, also known as a palmtop computer.

They have color screens and audio capabilities which enable them to be used as mobile phones (smartphones), web browsers or even as portable media players.

Most of the PDAs have the Internet access.
They employ Touchscreen Technology which make them easy and interesting.

Latest Mobile Phones - Smart Phones

Smart Phones are the latest trend in mobile communication.A Smart Phone is nothing less than a boon which can perform multiple roles as music player, digital camera, computer, calendar, TV and so on.

It is smart not only in outlook but also in efficiency.

It is designed as a business friendly unit, you can use it as your office assistant.

All the capabilities have been embedded within a little package which is stylishly known as Smart Phone.

Mobile Phone Technologies

The various Mobile access methods are discussed briefly here

# Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA)

FDMA is the first-generation analog mobile access method that uses separate frequencies for each call.
For example if there are four stations, each will receive their own frequency.
So there is no interference between them.
This reduces interference but limits the number of users.

# Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)

TDMA allocates unique Time Slots to each user within each channel.
Therefore it allows many users to access the radio frequency without anyone's interference.
Each mobile conversation uses only a particular frequency slot of the time.


# Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)

In CDMA system, your encoded voice is digitized and divided into packets. These packets are tagged with "codes." The packets then mix with all of the other packets of traffic in the local CDMA network as they are routed towards their destination. The receiving system only accepts the packets with the codes destined for it.

CDMA quickly became one of the world's fastest-growing wireless technologies.
3G CDMA networks provide more capacity for voice traffic, along with high-speed data capabilities, hence many cellular service providers are now building or upgrading to it.

CDMA is used in both 2G and 3G wireless technologies.

# Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM)

GSM is now the worldwide standard technology for mobile communications. The advantage of GSM is that it provides a

High level of security,
Globally accepted technology standards and
Superior sound quality.

For any GSM phone to work, it requires a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM), a card that contains your telephone account information.

So an Indian GSM phone can be used in USA and other countries too.

Mobile Generation

The First generation (1G) of Mobile Communications started in the late 1970s.
It was primarily used for voice transfer.

In the early 1990s, Second Generation (2G) systems came into existence and was further developed to 2.5G, which includes GSM, TDMA and CDMA.
These were used for voice and data.

The Latest Generation of Mobile Communications is 3G which can deliver data speeds from 384 kbps to 2 Mbps and that too over wireless interfaces such as GSM, TDMA and CDMA.

Cellular Phone Technology has undergone a tremendous change over the Generations.

Virtual Private Network Connection

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a computer network where some of the links between nodes are carried by open connections or virtual circuits in some larger networks ,unlike as in a single private network.

A virtual connection and virtual channel, is a connection oriented communication service that is delivered by means of packet mode communication.

VPNs are solution to establishing long-distance and/or secured network connections.

VPNs are normally implemented (deployed) by Businesses or Organizations rather than by individuals

VPNs offers several advantages, particularly benefits for wireless local area networ

Broadband Services - Dial-up Service

Dial-up access uses a device called a modem (Modulation-Demodulation) that makes use of the telephone wires to transmit the information data. The fastest speed that a dial-up modem can receive and transmit data is about 56Kbps (Kilo bits per second) - that's 56,000 bps.

As the Web slowly grew to what it is now, by supporting animation, video and voice,Dialup service was not efficient ,then came Broadband service which allowed 10x the speed of dial-up access over the same telephone line.

The most common technology the telephone companies used to deliver broadband service to the home is called DSL (Digital Subscriber Line), which comes in different forms like ADSL or SDSL. In either case, it's still based on the DSL technology.

GPRS and GSM Cellular Networks

GSM stands for Global System for Mobile Communication and is the most popular standard for mobile phones in the world.85% of all the global mobile networks in the world runs on GSM Technology.

In Case of CDMA Technology,where the mobile phones can be used only on those networks, they may find if they go to other parts of the world, such as Europe, their cellular phones will not work.Whereas GSM works almost throughout world.

Another distinctive feature of the GSM system is the use of SIM cards. This card will store all personal data and contacts on it which can be easily portable when shifting to a new one.

GPRS ( General packet radio service ) is a mobile data service available to users of the 2G cellular communication systems global system for mobile communications (GSM), as well as in the 3G systems.

Almost all the networks are being converted to use the GSM standard, so that GSM is the only kind of network where GPRS data service is in use.

Wireless Technology - Bluetooth development

The Bluetooth development has been a great advancement in Wireless Technology.Bluetooth is a cable-replacement Technology which uses radio frequencies to transmit information over short distances.(Generally 10 meters or less).

By embedding a Bluetooth chip and receiver into products, cables that would normally carry the signal can be eliminated.

A Bluetooth chip is designed to replace cables by taking the information normally carried by the cable, and transmitting it at a special frequency to a receiver Bluetooth chip, which will then give the information received to the computer, phone or whatever.

The devices wherein Bluetooth can be used are Phones and pagers, Modems, LAN access devices, Headsets, Notebook computers,Desktop and handheld computers, Printers, Fax machines, Keyboards, Joysticks etc.

WiFi Networks

WiFi (Wireless Fidelity) Technology has brought a new dimension in the field of wireless networking.

In this ,the transmission of data is carried through the radio waves in Free space.

It cuts down the cost of laying down the cables for network connections as in the case of traditional wired networking technology.

The systems which are WiFi enabled are mobile and can be used anywhere in the range of the network.

Mobile Technology

Mobile technology is exactly what the name implies - Technology that is portable. Some examples of Mobile IT devices include:

• Laptop computers
• Palmtop computers or personal digital assistants
• Mobile phones and 'smart phones' - high-end phones with more advanced capabilities
• Global Positioning System (GPS) devices
• Wireless debit/Credit card payment Terminals

Mobile devices can be enabled by using a variety of communications Technologies such as:

• Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) - a type of wireless local area network technology
• Bluetooth - connects mobile devices wirelessly
• (3G) 'third generation' ,(GSM) global system for mobile communications and (GPRS) general packet radio service data services - data networking services for mobile phones
• Dial-up services - data networking services using modems and telephone lines
• Virtual Private Networks - secure access to a private network

It is therefore possible to network the mobile device to a home office or the internet while traveling.

Benefits

Mobile computing can improve the service you offer your customers. For example, you could use your laptop computer to give a presentation. You could then transfer PDFs of your product literature to your client's computer. Or you could connect remotely to your diary to arrange a follow-up appointment. Alternatively, you can enable customers to pay for services or goods without having to go to the till. For example, by using a wireless payment terminal diners can pay for their meal without leaving their table.

More powerful solutions can link you directly into the office network while working off site, for instance to access your company's database or accounting systems. For example, you could:

• set up a new customer's account
• check prices and stock availability
• place an order online

This leads to great flexibility in working - for example, enabling home working, or working while traveling. Increasingly, networking 'hot spots' are being provided in public areas that allow connection back to the office network or the internet.