What Is 3g And How Is It Better?

By Author: Tony Previte
Total Articles: 5
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What exactly is 3G? Well first of all, let's start off with the G. G stands for ‘Generation' in terms of cell phone technology. 3G is the third generation of standards pertaining to accessibility and speed for mobile devices. These technological standards are set by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). 3G technology enables wireless telephone usage, broadband internet access and video calls over a very wide area and is only accessible by 3G capable phones. 3G capability not only enables these services over a wide area, but it does so with increased speed and bandwidth. 3G capable phones can be used in most worldwide locations thanks to intentionally engineered compatibility in the system.

To understand where 3G comes from, we must first explore 1G and 2G technology which were used by the first widely available mobile phones. Remember the brick phones? These cellular networks were analog and were called AMPS or advanced mobile phone service networks. When technology capabilities and popularity of mobile phone service increased, innovations were needed to upgrade service networks. Second generation technology ...
... began in the 1990's and used digital voice transmission for the first time. This allowed multiple calls per channel and the use of more than one band of frequencies.

Compared to 2G, 3G is extremely advanced because it includes much more than just phone calls. The 3rd Generation technology will be able to access large amounts of digital data for uses like GPS, broadband internet access, and multimedia. The implementation of the 3G networks has been relatively slow but it is advancing and hundreds of networks are now in operation worldwide. The only disadvantage to 3G is its sometimes spotty service when traveling through areas where 3G networks are not available. There may be loss of data service and possibly dropped calls in these areas although they should be few and far between.

The most well-known 3G capable device is the iPhone, however, hundreds of cell phones are available that utilize this technology. The most widely used 3G capable devices for business users are the Blackberry and Palm devices. The HTC Touch, HTC Hero and Samsung Instinct are other popular 3G capable devices. The HTC Hero is the latest and greatest 3G capable phone and takes advantage of all that 3G technology has to offer. It is highly customizable with thousands of applications available for download and use. Outlook email and calendar, contact synchronization, games and productivity suites are all available on most 3G capable phones.

Rate plans for 3G phones are relatively inexpensive and enable anyone to take advantage of this technology. So jump on the 3G bandwagon and stream, download and text your heart out.

Tony Previte is the IT Director of the online Sprint wireless phone retailer, Teltonic. His company offers cell phone plans for family, business or personal use. Teltonic also offers options for cell phone upgrades and free cell phones.