Types of computer networks

A computer network is a cluster of computers over a shared communication path that works to share
resources from one computer to another, provided by or located on the network nodes.

Uses of Computer Networks

Communicating using email, video, instant messaging, etc.

Sharing devices such as printers, scanners, etc.

Sharing files.

Sharing software and operating programs on remote systems.

Allowing network users to easily access and maintain information.

Types of Computer Networks

There are mainly five types of Computer Networks

Personal Area Network (PAN)
Local Area Network (LAN)
Campus Area Network (CAN)
Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)
Wide Area Network (WAN)

Personal Area Network (PAN)-

PAN is a personal area network having an interconnection of personal technology devices to
communicate over a short distance. It covers only less than 10 meters or 33 feet of area. PAN has
fewer users as compared to other networks such as LAN, WAN, etc. PAN typically uses some
form of wireless technology. PAN involves the transmission of data between information devices
such as smartphones, personal computers, tablet computers, etc.

Advantages:
Allows for easy communication between personal devices in close proximity.
Can be set up easily and quickly.
Uses wireless technology, which eliminates the need for wires and cables.
PANs are designed to be energy efficient, which means that devices can communicate with each
other without draining their batteries quickly.
PANs are typically secured using encryption and authentication protocols, which helps to
prevent unauthorized access to data and resources.
Disntages:
Limited coverage area.
May not be suitable for large-scale data transfer or communication.PANs typically have limited
bandwidth, which means that they may not be able to handle large amounts of data or high-speed
communication.
May experience interference from other wireless devices.

Local Area Network (LAN) –

LAN or Local Area Network connects network devices in such a way that personal computers
and workstations can share data, tools, and programs. The group of computers and devices are
connected together by a switch, or stack of switches, using a private addressing scheme as
defined by the TCP/IP protocol. Private addresses are unique in relation to other computers on
the local network. Routers are found at the boundary of a LAN, connecting them to the larger
WAN.

Data transmits at a very fast rate as the number of computers linked is limited. By definition, the
connections must be high-speed and relatively inexpensive hardware (Such as hubs, network
adapters, and Ethernet cables). LANs cover a smaller geographical area (Size is limited to a few
kilometres) and are privately owned. One can use it for an office building, home, hospital, school,
etc. LAN is easy to design and maintain. A Communication medium used for LAN has twisted-
pair cables and coaxial cables. It covers a short distance, and so the error and noise are
minimized.
Early LANs had data rates in the 4 to 16 Mbps range. Today, speeds are normally 100 or 1000
Mbps. Propagation delay is very short in a LAN. The smallest LAN may only use two computers,
while larger LANs can accommodate thousands of computers. LAN has a range up to 2km. A
LAN typically relies mostly on wired connections for increased speed and security, but wireless
connections can also be part of a LAN. The fault tolerance of a LAN is more and there is less
congestion in this network. For example A bunch of students playing Counter-Strike in the same
room (without internet)

Advantages:
Provides fast data transfer rates and high-speed communication.
Easy to set up and manage.
Can be used to share peripheral devices such as printers and scanners.
Provides increased security and fault tolerance compared to WANs.
Limited geographical coverage.
Limited scalability and may require significant infrastructure upgrades to accommodate growth.
May experience congestion and network performance issues with increased usage.

3. Campus Area Network (CAN)

CAN is bigger than a LAN but smaller than a MAN. This is a type of computer
network that is usually used in places like a school or colleges. This network
covers a limited geographical area that is, it spreads across several buildings
within the campus. CAN mainly use Ethernet technology with a range from 1km
to 5km.
Its transmission speed is very high with a moderate maintenance cost and
moderate cost.
Examples of CAN are networks that cover schools, colleges, buildings, etc.
Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) –
MAN or Metropolitan area Network covers a larger area than that covered by a LAN and a
smaller area as compared to WAN. MAN has a range of 5-50km. It connects two or more
computers that are apart but reside in the same or different cities. It covers a large geographical
area and may serve as an ISP (Internet Service Provider). MAN is designed for customers who
need high-speed connectivity. Speeds of MAN range in terms of Mbps. It’s hard to design and
maintain a Metropolitan Area Network.

The fault tolerance of a MAN is less and also there is more congestion in the network. It is costly
and may or may not be owned by a single organization. The data transfer rate and the
propagation delay of MAN are moderate. Devices used for transmission of data through MAN
are Modem and Wire/Cable. Examples of a MAN are part of the telephone company network
that can provide a high-speed DSL line to the customer or the cable TV network in a city.
Advantages:ntages:
Provides high-speed connectivity over a larger geographical area than LAN.
Can be used as an ISP for multiple customers.
Offers higher data transfer rates than WAN in some cases.
Disadvantages:isadvantages:
Can be expensive to set up and maintain.
May experience congestion and network performance issues with increased usage.
May have limited fault tolerance and security compared to LANs.

Wide Area Network (WAN) –

WAN or Wide Area Network is a computer network that extends over a large geographical area,
although it might be confined within the bounds of a state or country. WAN has a range of above
50 km. A WAN could be a connection of LAN connecting to other LANs via telephone lines and
radio waves and may be limited to an enterprise (a corporation or an organization) or accessible
to the public. The technology is high-speed and relatively expensive.
There are two types of WAN: Switched WAN and Point-to-Point WAN. WAN is difficult to
design and maintain. Similar to a MAN, the fault tolerance of a WAN is less and there is more
congestion in the network. A Communication medium used for WAN is PSTN or Satellite Link.
Due to long-distance transmission, the noise and error tend to be more in WAN.
WAN’s data rate is slow about a 10th LAN’s speed since it involves increased distance and
increased number of servers and terminals etc. The speed of WAN ranges from a few kilobits per
second (Kbps) to megabits per second (Mbps). Propagation delay is one of the biggest problems
faced here. Devices used for the transmission of data through WAN are Optic wires, Microwaves,
and Satellites. An example of a Switched WAN is the asynchronous transfer mode (ATM)
network and Point-to-Point WAN is a dial-up line that connects a home computer to the Internet.
Advantages:
Covers large geographical areas and can connect remote locations.
Provides connectivity to the internet.
Offers remote access to resources and applications.
Can be used to support multiple users and applications simultaneously.
Disadvantages:
Can be expensive to set up and maintain.
Offers slower data transfer rates than LAN or MAN.
May experience higher latency and longer propagation delays due to longer distances and
multiple network hops.
May have lower fault tolerance and security compared to LANs.

Introduction to Wireless LAN

Wireless LAN stands for Wireless Local Area Network. It is also called LAWN (Local Area
Wireless Network). WLAN is one in which a mobile user can connect to a Local Area Network
(LAN) through a wireless connection.
The IEEE 802.11 group of standards defines the technologies for wireless LANs. For path
sharing, 802.11 standard uses the Ethernet protocol and CSMA/CA (carrier sense multiple access
with collision avoidance). It also uses an encryption method i.e. wired equivalent privacy
algorithm.
Wireless LANs provide high speed data communication in small areas such as building or an
office. WLANs allow users to move around in a confined area while they are still connected to
the network.
In some instance wireless LAN technology is used to save costs and avoid laying cable, while in
other cases, it is the only option for providing high-speed internet access to the public. Whatever
the reason, wireless solutions are popping up everywhere.
Examples of WLANs that are available today are NCR's waveLAN and Motorola's ALTAIR.
Advantages of WLANs
Flexibility: Within radio coverage, nodes can communicate without further restriction. Radio
waves can penetrate walls, senders and receivers can be placed anywhere (also non-visible, e.g.,
within devices, in walls etc.).
Planning: Only wireless ad-hoc networks allow for communication without previous planning,
any wired network needs wiring plans.
Design: Wireless networks allow for the design of independent, small devices which can for
example be put into a pocket. Cables not only restrict users but also designers of small notepads,
PDAs, etc.
Robustness: Wireless networks can handle disasters, e.g., earthquakes, flood etc. whereas,
networks requiring a wired infrastructure will usually break down completely in disasters.
Cost: The cost of installing and maintaining a wireless LAN is on average lower than the cost of
installing and maintaining a traditional wired LAN, for two reasons. First, after providing
wireless access to the wireless network via an access point for the first user, adding additional
users to a network will not increase the cost. And second, wireless LAN eliminates the direct
costs of cabling and the labor associated with installing and repairing it.
Ease of Use: Wireless LAN is easy to use and the users need very little new information to take
advantage of WLANs.
Disadvantages of WLANs
Quality of Services: Quality of wireless LAN is typically lower than wired networks. The main
reason for this is the lower bandwidth due to limitations is radio transmission, higher error rates
due to interference and higher delay/delay variation due to extensive error correction and
detection mechanisms.
Proprietary Solutions: Due to slow standardization procedures, many companies have come up
with proprietary solutions offering standardization functionality plus many enhanced features.
Most components today adhere to the basic standards IEEE 802.11a or 802.11b.
Restrictions: Several govt. and non-govt. institutions world-wide regulate the operation and
restrict frequencies to minimize interference.
Global operation: Wireless LAN products are sold in all countries so, national and international
frequency regulations have to be considered.
Low Power: Devices communicating via a wireless LAN are typically power consuming, also
wireless devices running on battery power. Whereas the LAN design should take this into
account and implement special power saving modes and power management functions.
License free operation: LAN operators don't want to apply for a special license to be able to use
the product. The equipment must operate in a license free band, such as the 2.4 GHz ISM band.
Robust transmission technology: If wireless LAN uses radio transmission, many other
electrical devices can interfere with them (such as vacuum cleaner, train engines, hair dryers,
etc.).Wireless LAN transceivers cannot be adjusted for perfect transmission is a standard office
or production environment.

Bluetooth
Bluetooth is one of the major wireless technologies developed to achieve WPAN (wireless
personal area network). It is used to connect devices of different functions such as telephones,
computers (laptop or desktop), notebooks, cameras, printers, and so on.
Architecture of Bluetooth
Bluetooth devices can interact with other Bluetooth devices in several ways in the figure. In the
simplest scheme, one of the devices acts as the master and (up to) seven other slaves.
A network with a master and one or more slaves associated with it is known as a piconet. A
single channel (and bandwidth) is shared among all devices in the

piconet.
Each of the active slaves has an assigned 3-bit active member address. many other slaves can
remain synchronized to the master though remaining inactive slaves, referred to as parked nodes.
The master regulates channel access for all active nodes and parked nodes. Of two piconets are
close to each other, they have overlapping coverage areas.
This scenario, in which nodes of two piconets intermingle, is called a scatternet. Slaves in one
piconet can participate in another piconet as either a master or slave through time division
multiplexing.
In a scatternet, the two (or more) piconets are not synchronized in either time or frequency. Each
of the piconets operates in its own frequency hopping channel, and any devices in multiple
piconets participate at the appropriate time via time division multiplexing.
The Bluetooth baseband technology supports two link types. Synchronous connection oriented
(SCO) types, used primarily for voice, and asynchronous connectionless (ACL) type, essentially
for packet data.

Hidden Station Problem (HSP) in Wireless LAN

Wireless LAN is used to transmit data from one device to another without using connected
medium. There are normally several problems in wireless LAN. One of them is Hidden Station
Problem (HSP).
Hidden Station Problem (HSP) :
When two stations hidden from each other i.e., not in range of each other send signals to third
station at the same considering third station is free. It causes collision at third station and is
known as Hidden Station Problem. It reduces capacity of network due to possibility of
collision. Following is diagrammatically representation of Hidden Station Problem (HSP) in
wireless LAN.

How HSP is created?

In the above shown diagram, station B and C both covers station A in their own
range. Each station B and C can send data to station A separately. Both
stations B and C are outside of range of each other. Suppose station B is
sending data to station A and in middle of transmission station C also has to
send data to station A. Since station B and station C are out of each other
range therefore station C thinks that station A is free. Station C send data to
station A and collision occurs at station A.
How to prevent HSP?
Hidden Station Problem (HSP) can be prevented by using handshake frames.
In the below shown diagram, RTS message from B reaches A but not C.
However, both B and C are within range of A. CTS message containing duration
of data transmission from B to A, reaches C. Thus C knows some hidden
station is using channel and does not transmit until that duration is over.

Note –
CTS frame of handshake prevents collision from hidden station.

RTS : Request To Send

CTS : Clear To Send

Bluetooth: Architecture and Devices

Bluetooth is a wireless LAN technology designed to connect devices of different functions such as
telephones, notebooks, computers (desktop and laptop), cameras, printers, coffee makers, and so
on.
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a wireless LAN technology designed to connect devices of different
functions such as telephones, notebooks, computers (desktop and laptop), cameras,
printers, coffee makers, and so on. A Bluetooth LAN is an ad hoc network, which
means that the network is formed spontaneously; the devices, sometimes called
gadgets, find each other and make a network called a piconet.
Bluetooth technology is the implementation of a protocol defined by the IEEE
802.15 standard. The standard defines a wireless personal-area network (PAN)
operable in an area the size of a room or a hall.
1. Architecture
Bluetooth defines two types of networks: piconet and scatternet.

Piconets
A Bluetooth network is called a piconet, or a small net. A piconet can have up to
eight stations, one of which is called the primary, the rest are called secondaries.
All the secondary stations synchronize their clocks and hopping sequence with the
primary. Note that a piconet can have only one primary station. The
communication between the primary and the secondary can be one-to-one or one-
to-many.

Scatternet
Piconets can be combined to form what is called a scatternet. A secondary station
in one piconet can be the primary in another piconet. This station can receive
messages from the primary in the first piconet (as a secondary) and, acting as a
primary, deliver them to secondaries in the second piconet. A station can be a
member of two piconets.

2. Bluetooth Devices
A Bluetooth device has a built-in short-range radio transmitter. The current data
rate is 1 Mbps with a 2.4-GHz bandwidth. This means that there is a possibility of
interference between the IEEE 802.11b wireless LANs and Bluetooth LANs.
Bluetooth Layers
Bluetooth uses several layers that do not exactly match those of the Internet model
Radio Layer
The radio layer is roughly equivalent to the physical layer of the Internet model.
Bluetooth devices are low-power and have a range of 10 m.

Band
Bluetooth uses a 2.4-GHz ISM band divided into 79 channels of 1 MHz each.
FHSS
Bluetooth uses the frequency-hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) method in the
physical layer to avoid interference from other devices or other networks.
Bluetooth hops 1600 times per second, which means that each device changes its
modulation frequency 1600 times per second. A device uses a frequency for only
625µ s (1/1600 s) before it hops to another frequency; the dwell time is 625µ s
Modulation
To transform bits to a signal, Bluetooth uses a sophisticated version of FSK, called
GFSK. GFSK has a carrier frequency. Bit 1 is represented by a frequency deviation
above the carrier; bit 0 is represented by a frequency deviation below the carrier.
The frequencies, in megahertz, are defined according to the following formula for
each channel:
fc=2402+n, n =0, 1,2,3, ..., 78

Baseband Layer
The baseband layer is roughly equivalent to the MAC sublayer in LANs. The
access method is TDMA. The primary and secondary communicate with each
other using time slots. The length of a time slot is exactly the same as the dwell
time, 625 µ s. This means that during the time that one frequency is used, a sender
sends a frame to a secondary, or a secondary sends a frame to the primary. Note
that the communication is only between the primary and a secondary; secondaries
cannot communicate directly with one another.
TDMA
Bluetooth uses a form of TDMA that is called TDD-TDMA (time division duplex
TDMA). TDD-TDMA is a kind of half-duplex communication in which the
secondary and receiver send and receive data, but not at the same time (half
duplex); however, the communication for each direction uses different hops. This
is similar to walkie-talkies using different carrier frequencies.

L2CAP
The Logical Link Control and Adaptation Protocol, or L2CAP (L2 here means LL),
is roughly equivalent to the LLC sublayer in LANs. It is used for data exchange on
an ACL link; SCQ channels do not use L2CAP. The I6-bit length field defines the
size of the data, in bytes, coming from the upper layers. Data can be up to 65,535
bytes. The channel ID (CID) defines a unique identifier for the virtual channel
created at this level.
CELLULAR TECHNOLOGY

Although they do the same job, land lines and cellphones work in a
completely different way. Land lines carry calls along electrical cables.
Cut out all the satellites, fiber-optic cables, switching offices, and other
razzmatazz, and land lines are not that much different to the toy phones
you might have made out of a piece of string and a couple of baked
bean cans. The words you speak ultimately travel down a direct, wired
connection between two handsets. What's different about a cellphone is
that it can send and receive calls without wire connections of any kind.
How does it do this? By using electromagnetic radio waves to send and
receive the sounds that would normally travel down wires.

Whether you're sitting at home, walking down the street, driving a car, or
riding in a train, you're bathing in a sea of electromagnetic
waves. TV and radio programs, signals from radio-controlled cars,
cordless phone calls, and even wireless doorbells—all these things work
using electromagnetic energy: undulating patterns
of electricity and magnetism that zip and zap invisibly through space at
the speed of light (300,000 km or 186,000 miles per second). Cellphone
networks are by far the fastest growing source of electromagnetic energy
in the world around us.
Photo: Cellphones as they used to be. This Nokia dates from the early 2000s and has a
slide-out keypad. Although it has a camera and a few other basic functions, it doesn't
have anything like the computing power of a modern smartphone. Phones like this are
sometimes called "handhelds" or "feature phones" to distinguish them from iPhones and
other smartphones.

Sponsored links
How cellphone calls travel

When you speak into a cellphone, a tiny microphone in the handset

converts the up-and-down sounds of your voice into a corresponding up-
and-down pattern of electrical signals. A microchip inside the phone
turns these signals into strings of numbers. The numbers are packed up
into a radio wave and beamed out from the phone's antenna (in some
countries, the antenna is called an aerial). The radio wave races through
the air at the speed of light until it reaches the nearest cellphone mast.

The mast receives the signals and passes them on to its base station,
which effectively coordinates what happens inside each local part of the
cellphone network, which is called a cell. From the base station, the
calls are routed onward to their destination. Calls made from a cellphone
to another cellphone on the same network travel to their destination by
being routed to the base station nearest to the destination phone, and
finally to that phone itself. Calls made to a cellphone on a different
network or a land line follow a more lengthy path. They may have to be
routed into the main telephone network before they can reach their
ultimate destination.
Cellular telephones, or simply cell phones, are portable devices that may be used in
motor vehicles or by pedestrians. Communicating by radio waves, they permit a
significant degree of mobility within a defined serving region that may range in area
from a few city blocks to hundreds of square kilometres. The first mobile and portable
subscriber units for cellular systems were large and heavy. With significant advances in
component technology, though, the weight and size of portable transceivers have been
significantly reduced. In this section, the concept of cell phones and the development of
cellular systems are discussed.
Cellular communication

Operation of a cellular telephone systemFrom a specific location within a geographic area, or cell, a
subscriber places a call using a mobile telephone. The call is relayed by the base station serving that cell
to the mobile telephone switching office (MTSO). The MTSO in turn relays the call to another base
station within the cellular system or to a central office in the public switched telephone network. When
telephone traffic within a cell exceeds capacity, the cell is split into a number of smaller cells, each with
its own base station.

All cellular telephone systems exhibit several fundamental characteristics, as

summarized in the following:

1. The geographic area served by a cellular system is broken up into smaller geographic areas, or
cells. Uniform hexagons most frequently are employed to represent these cells on maps and
diagrams; in practice, though, radio waves do not confine themselves to hexagonal areas, so the
actual cells have irregular shapes.
2. All communication with a mobile or portable instrument within a given cell is made to a base
station that serves the cell.
3. Because of the low transmitting power of battery-operated portable instruments, specific sending
and receiving frequencies assigned to a cell may be reused in other cells within the larger
geographic area. Thus, the spectral efficiency of a cellular system (that is, the uses to which it can
put its portion of the radio spectrum) is increased by a factor equal to the number of times a
frequency may be reused within its service area.
4. As a mobile instrument proceeds from one cell to another during the course of a call, a central
controller automatically reroutes the call from the old cell to the new cell without a noticeable
interruption in the signal reception. This process is known as handoff. The central controller, or
mobile telephone switching office (MTSO), thus acts as an intelligent central office switch that
keeps track of the movement of the mobile subscriber.
5. As demand for the radio channels within a given cell increases beyond the capacity of that cell (as
measured by the number of calls that may be supported simultaneously), the overloaded cell is
“split” into smaller cells, each with its own base station and central controller. The radio-
frequency allocations of the original cellular system are then rearranged to account for the
greater number of smaller cells.
Frequency reuse between discontiguous cells and the splitting of cells as demand
increases are the concepts that distinguish cellular systems from other wireless
telephone systems. They allow cellular providers to serve large metropolitan areas that
may contain hundreds of thousands of customers.

1G, 2G, 3G, 4G - The Evolution of Wireless

Generations
Posted by - NA - on 23 08 2008 02:37 AM
In this knowledgebase article we will focus on the evolution and development of various generations of mobile
wireless technology along with their significance and advantages of one over the other. In the past few decades,
mobile wireless technologies have experience 4 or 5 generations of technology revolution and evolution, namely from
0G to 4G. Current research in mobile wireless technology concentrates on advance implementation of 4G technology
and 5G technology. Currently 5G termis not officially used.

0G Wireless technology
0G refers to pre-cell phone mobile telephony technology, such as radio telephones that some had in cars before the
advent of cell phones. Mobile radio telephone systems preceded moderncellular mobile telephony technology. Since
they were the predecessors of the first generation ofcellulartelephones, these systems are called 0G (zero
generation) systems.
1G: Analog Cellular Networks
The main technological development that distinguished the First Generation mobile phones from the previous
generation was the use of multiple cell sites, and the ability to transfer calls from one site to the next as the user
travelled between cells during a conversation. The first commercially automated cellular network (the 1G
generations) was launched in Japan by NTT in 1979.

In 1984, Bell Labs developed modern commercial cellular technology, which employed multiple, centrally controlled
base stations (cell sites), each providing service to a small area (a cell). The cell sites would be set up such that cells
partially overlapped. In a cellular system, a signal between a base station (cell site) and a terminal (phone) only need
be strong enough to reach between the two, so the same channel can be used simultaneously for separate
conversations in different cells.

As the system expanded and neared capacity, the ability to reduce transmission power allowed new cells to be
added, resulting in more, smaller cells and thus more capacity.

2G: Digital Networks

In the 1990s, the 'second generation' (2G) mobile phone systems emerged, primarily using theGSM standard. These
2G phone systems differed from the previous generation in their use of digital transmission instead of analog
transmission, and also by the introduction of advanced and fast phone-to-network signaling. The rise in mobile phone
usage as a result of 2G was explosive and this era also saw the advent of prepaid mobile phones.

The second generation introduced a new variant to communication, as SMS text messaging became possible, initially
on GSM networks and eventually on all digital networks. Soon SMS became the communication method of preference
for the youth. Today in many advanced markets the general public prefers sending text messages to placing voice
calls.

Some benefits of 2G were Digital signals require consume less battery power, so it helps mobile batteries to last long.
Digital coding improves the voice clarity and reduces noise in the line. Digital signals are considered environment
friendly. Digital encryption has provided secrecy and safety to the data and voice calls. The use of 2G technology
requires strong digital signals to help mobile phones work properly.

“2.5G” using GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) technology is a cellular wireless technology developed in
between its predecessor, 2G, and its successor, 3G. GPRS could provide data rates from 56 kbit/s up to 115 kbit/s. It
can be used for services such as Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) access, Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS),
and for Internet communication services such as email and World Wide Web access.

2.75 – EDGE is an abbreviation for Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution. EDGE technology is an extended version
of GSM. It allows the clear and fast transmission of data and information up to 384kbit/s speed.

3G : High speed IP data networks

As the use of 2G phones became more widespread and people began to use mobile phones in their daily lives, it
became clear that demand for data services (such as access to the internet) was growing. Furthermore, if the
experience from fixed broadband services was anything to go by, there would also be a demand for ever greater
data speeds. The 2G technology was nowhere near up to the job, so the industry began to work on the next
generation of technology known as 3G. The main technological difference that distinguishes 3G technology from 2G
technology is the use of packet switching rather than circuit switching for data transmission.

[cellphones.org]
The high connection speeds of 3G technology enabled a transformation in the industry: for the first time, media
streaming of radio and even televisioncontent to 3G handsets became possible.

In the mid 2000s an evolution of 3G technology begun to be implemented, namely High-Speed Downlink Packet
Access (HSDPA). It is an enhanced 3Gmobile telephony communications protocol in the High-Speed Packet Access
(HSPA) family, also coined 3.5G, 3G+ or turbo 3G, which allows networks based on Universal Mobile
Telecommunications System (UMTS) to have higher data transfer speeds and capacity. Current HSDPA deployments
support down-link speeds of 1.8, 3.6, 7.2 and 14.0 Mbit/s. Further speed increases are available with HSPA+, which
provides speeds of up to 42 Mbit/s downlink and 84 Mbit/s with Release 9 of the 3GPP standards.

4G: Growth of mobile broadband

Consequently, the industry began looking to data-optimized 4th-generation technologies, with the promise of speed
improvements up to 10-fold over existing 3G technologies. It is basically the extension in the 3G technology with
more bandwidth and services offers in the 3G. The expectation for the 4G technology is basically the high quality
audio/video streaming over end to end Internet Protocol.The first two commercially available technologies billed as
4G were the WiMAX standard and the LTE standard, first offered in Scandinavia by TeliaSonera.

One of the main ways in which 4G differed technologically from 3G was in its elimination of circuit switching, instead
employing an all-IP network. Thus, 4G ushered in a treatment of voice calls just like any other type of streaming
audio media, utilizing packet switching overinternet, LAN or WAN networks via VoIP.

4G LTE data transfer speed can reach peak download 100 Mbit/s, peak upload 50 Mbit/s, WiMAX offers peak data
rates of 128 Mbit/s downlink and 56 Mbit/s uplink.

3G technology provides an information transfer rate of at least 144 kbit/s. Later 3G releases, often
denoted 3.5G and 3.75G, also provide mobile broadband access of
several Mbit/s to smartphones and mobile modems in laptop computers. This ensures it can be
applied to wireless voice telephony, mobile Internet access, fixed wireless Internet access, video
calls and mobile TV technologies.
CDMA2000 is a family of 3G mobile technology standards for sending voice, data, and signaling
data between mobile phones and cell sites. It is a backwards-compatible successor to second-
generation cdmaOne (IS-95) set of standards and used especially in North America and South
Korea, China, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. It was standardized in the international 3GPP2
standards body, The name CDMA2000 denotes a family of standards that represent the successive,
evolutionary stages of the underlying technology. These are:

 Voice: CDMA2000 1xRTT, 1X Advanced

 Data: CDMA2000 1xEV-DO (Evolution-Data Optimized): Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB)
A new generation of cellular standards has appeared approximately every tenth year
since 1G systems were introduced in 1981/1982. Each generation is characterized by new
frequency bands, higher data rates and non–backward-compatible transmission technology. The first
3G networks were introduced in 1998.

3.5G
3.5G is a grouping of disparate mobile telephony and data technologies designed to provide better
performance than 3G systems, as an interim step towards the deployment of full 4G capability. The
technology includes:

 High-Speed Downlink Packet Access

 Evolved HSPA
3.75G
Evolved High Speed Packet Access, or HSPA+, or HSPA(Plus), or HSPAP is a technical standard
for wireless broadband telecommunication. It is the second phase of High Speed Packet
Access (HSPA).

4G
4G provides, in addition to the usual voice and other services of 3G, mobile broadband Internet
access, for example to laptops with wireless modems, to smartphones, and to other mobile devices.
Potential and current applications include amended mobile web access, IP telephony, gaming
services, high-definition mobile TV, video conferencing, 3D television, and cloud computing.
LTE (Long Term Evolution) is commonly marketed as 4G LTE, but it did not initially meet the
technical criteria of a 4G wireless service, as specified in the 3GPP Release 8 and 9 document
series for LTE Advanced. Given the competitive pressures of WiMax and its evolution with Advanced
new releases, it has become synonymous with 4G. It was first commercially deployed in Norway and
Stockholm in 2009 and in the United States by Verizon in 2011 in their newly acquired 700 MHz
band.

4.5G
4.5G provides better performance than 4G systems, as a process step towards deployment of
full 5G capability.
The technology includes:

 LTE Advanced Pro

 MIMO
4.5G is marketed by AT&T as 5GE.

5G
5G is the next major phase of mobile telecommunications standards beyond the 4G/IMT
Advanced standards.
NGMN Alliance or Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance define 5G network requirements as:

 Data rates of several tens of megabits per second (Mbit/s) should be supported for tens of
thousands of users.
 1 Gbit/s to be offered, simultaneously to tens of workers on the same office floor.
 Several hundreds of thousands of simultaneous connections to be supported for massive sensor
deployments.
 Spectral efficiency should be significantly enhanced compared to 4G.
 Coverage should be improved.
 Signalling efficiency enhanced.
 Latency should be significantly reduced compared to LTE.[2]
Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance feel that 5G should be rolled out by 2020 to meet
business and consumer demands.[3] In addition to simply providing faster speeds, they predict that
5G networks will also need to meet the needs of new use-cases such as the Internet of things (IoT)
as well as broadcast-like services and lifeline communications in times of disaster.
3GPP has set an early revision, non-standalone release of 5G called New Radio (5G NR).[4] It will be
deployed in two ways, Mobile and Fixed Wireless. The specification is subdivided into two frequency
bands, FR1 (<6 GHz) and FR2 (mmWave) respectively.