Mobile Communications

Simply, the "G" stands for "GENERATION". While you

connected to internet, the speed of your internet is depending upon the
signal strength that has been shown in alphabets like 2G, 3G, 4G etc. right
next to the signal bar on your home screen. Each Generation is defined as
a set of telephone network standards, which detail the technological
implementation of a particular mobile phone system. The speed increases
and the technology used to achieve that speed also changes. For e.g, 1G
offers 2.4 kbps, 2G offers 64 kbps and is based on GSM, 3G offers 144
kbps-2 Mbps whereas 4G offers 100 Mbps - 1 Gbps and is based on LTE
technology (Long Term Evolution).

The aim of wireless communication is to provide high quality,

reliable communication just like wired communication (optical fiber) and
each new generation of services represents a big step (a leap rather) in
that direction. This evolution journey was started in 1979 from 1G and it
is still continuing to 5G. Each of the Generations has standards that must
be met to officially use the G terminology. There are institutions in charge
of standardizing each generation of mobile technology. Each generation
has requirements that specify things like throughput, delay, etc. that need
to be met to be considered part of that generation. Each generation built
upon the research and development which happened since the last
generation. 1G was not used to identify wireless technology until 2G, or
the second generation, was released. That was a major jump in the
technology when the wireless networks went from analog to digital.
1G - First Generation
This was the first generation of cell phone technology. The very
first generation of commercial cellular network was introduced in the late
70's with fully implemented standards being established throughout the
80's. It was introduced in 1987 by Telecom (known today as Telstra),
Australia received its first cellular mobile phone network utilizing a 1G
analog system. 1G is an analog technology and the phones generally had
poor battery life and voice quality was large without much security, and
would sometimes experience dropped calls. These are the analog
telecommunications standards that were introduced in the 1980s and
continued until being replaced by 2G digital telecommunications. The
maximum speed of 1G is 2.4 Kbps.
2G - Second Generation
Cell phones received their first major upgrade when they went from
1G to 2G. The main difference between the two mobile telephone systems
(1G and 2G), is that the radio signals used by 1G network are analog,
while 2G networks are digital. Main motive of this generation was to
provide secure and reliable communication channel. It implemented the
concept of CDMA and GSM. Provided small data service like SMS and
MMS. Second generation 2G cellular telecom networks were
commercially launched on the GSM standard in Finland by Radiolinja
(now part of Elisa Oyj) in 1991. 2G capabilities are achieved by allowing
multiple users on a single channel via multiplexing. During 2G Cellular
phones are used for data also along with voice. The advance in technology
from 1G to 2G introduced many of the fundamental services that we still
use today, such as SMS, internal roaming, conference calls, call hold and
billing based on services e.g. charges based on long distance calls and real
time billing. The max speed of 2G with General Packet Radio Service
(GPRS) is 50 Kbps or 1 Mbps with Enhanced Data Rates for GSM
Evolution (EDGE). Before making the major leap from 2G to 3G wireless
networks, the lesser-known 2.5G and 2.75G was an interim standard that
bridged the gap.
3G - Third Generation
This generation set the standards for most of the wireless technology
we have come to know and love. Web browsing, email, video
downloading, picture sharing and other Smartphone technology were
introduced in the third generation. Introduced commercially in 2001, the
goals set out for third generation mobile communication were to facilitate
greater voice and data capacity, support a wider range of applications, and
increase data transmission at a lower cost.
 The 3G standard utilizes a new technology called UMTS as its core
network architecture - Universal Mobile Telecommunications System.
This network combines aspects of the 2G network with some new
technology and protocols to deliver a significantly faster data rate. Based
on a set of standards used for mobile devices and mobile
telecommunications use services and networks that comply with the
International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 (IMT-2000)
specifications by the International Telecommunication Union. One of
requirements set by IMT-2000 was that speed should be at least 200Kbps
to call it as 3G service.
3G has Multimedia services support along with streaming are more
popular. In 3G, Universal access and portability across different device
types are made possible (Telephones, PDA's, etc.). 3G increased the
efficiency of frequency spectrum by improving how audio
is compressed during a call, so more simultaneous calls can happen in the
same frequency range. The UN's International Telecommunications
Union IMT-2000 standard requires stationary speeds of 2Mbps and
mobile speeds of 384kbps for a "true" 3G. The theoretical max speed
for HSPA+ is 21.6 Mbps.
Like 2G, 3G evolved into 3.5G and 3.75G as more features were
introduced in order to bring about 4G. A 3G phone cannot communicate
through a 4G network, but newer generations of phones are practically
always designed to be backward compatible, so a 4G phone can
communicate through a 3G or even 2G network .
4G - Fourth Generation
4G is a very different technology as compared to 3G and was made
possible practically only because of the advancements in the technology
in the last 10 years. Its purpose is to provide high speed, high quality and
high capacity to users while improving security and lower the cost of
voice and data services, multimedia and internet over IP. Potential and
current applications include amended mobile web access, IP telephony,
gaming services, high-definition mobile TV, video conferencing, 3D
television, and cloud computing.
The key technologies that have made this possible
are MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) and OFDM (Orthogonal
Frequency Division Multiplexing). The two important 4G standards
are WiMAX (has now fizzled out) and LTE (has seen widespread
deployment). LTE (Long Term Evolution) is a series of upgrades to
existing UMTS technology and will be rolled out on Telstra's existing
1800MHz frequency band. The max speed of a 4G network when the
device is moving is 100 Mbps or 1 Gbps for low mobility communication
like when stationary or walking, latency reduced from around 300ms to
less than 100ms, and significantly lower congestion. When 4G first
became available, it was simply a little faster than 3G. 4G is not the same
as 4G LTE which is very close to meeting the criteria of the standards.
To download a new game or stream a TV show in HD, you can do
it without buffering.
Newer generations of phones are usually designed to be backward-
compatible, so a 4G phone can communicate through a 3G or even 2G
network. All carriers seem to agree that OFDM is one of the chief
indicators that a service can be legitimately marketed as being 4G. OFDM
is a type of digital modulation in which a signal is split into several
narrowband channels at different frequencies. There are a significant
amount of infrastructure changes needed to be implemented by service
providers in order to supply because voice calls
in GSM, UMTS and CDMA2000 are circuit switched, so with the
adoption of LTE, carriers will have to re-engineer their voice call network.
And again, we have the fractional parts: 4.5G and 4.9G marking the
transition of LTE (in the stage called LTE-Advanced Pro) getting us more
MIMO, more D2D on the way to IMT-2020 and the requirements of 5G.
5G - Fifth Generation
5G is a generation currently under development, that's intended to
improve on 4G. 5G promises significantly faster data rates, higher
connection density, much lower latency, among other improvements.
Some of the plans for 5G include device-to-device communication, better
battery consumption, and improved overall wireless coverage. The max
speed of 5G is aimed at being as fast as 35.46 Gbps, which is over 35
times faster than 4G.
 Key technologies to look out for: Massive MIMO, Millimeter
Wave Mobile Communications etc. Massive MIMO, millimeter wave,
small cells, Li-Fi all the new technologies from the previous decade could
be used to give 10Gb/s to a user, with an unseen low latency, and allow
connections for at least 100 billion devices. Different estimations have
been made for the date of commercial introduction of 5G networks. Next
Generation Mobile Networks Alliance feel that 5G should be rolled out
by 2020 to meet business and consumer demands.