Do we miss the days before 3G?

I don't think that Verizon ever used the word '3G', until AT&T correctly used it for UTMS (WCDMA). Verizon's PR department didn't want to make their technology seem out of date.

Most of EDGE, etc is call 2.x

From wikipedia - "While EDGE is part of the 3G standard, most GSM/UMTS phones report EDGE (“2.75G”) and UMTS (“3G”) network availability as separate functionality."

and

"Compared to 2G and 2.5G services, 3G allows simultaneous use of speech and data services and higher data rates (up to 14.4 Mbit/s on the downlink and 5.8 Mbit/s on the uplink with HSPA+). " (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3G#Evolution_from_2G) -Viewfly

Below is from
SearchTelecom.com Definitions (http://searchtelecom.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid103_gci214486,00.html)

Gives the progression to '3G' and the in between 2.x.x upgrades.


"3G refers to the third generation of mobile telephony (that is, cellular) technology. The third generation, as the name suggests, follows two earlier generations.
The first generation (1G) began in the early 80's with commercial deployment of Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS) cellular networks. Early AMPS networks used Frequency Division Multiplexing Access (FDMA) to carry analog voice over channels in the 800 MHz frequency band.

The second generation (2G) emerged in the 90's when mobile operators deployed two competing digital voice standards. In North America, some operators adopted IS-95, which used Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) to multiplex up to 64 calls per channel in the 800 MHz band. Across the world, many operators adopted the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) standard, which used Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) to multiplex up to 8 calls per channel in the 900 and 1800 MHz bands.

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) defined the third generation (3G) of mobile telephony standards – IMT-2000 – to facilitate growth, increase bandwidth, and support more diverse applications. For example, GSM could deliver not only voice, but also circuit-switched data at speeds up to 14.4 Kbps. But to support mobile multimedia applications, 3G had to deliver packet-switched data with better spectral efficiency, at far greater speeds.

However, to get from 2G to 3G, mobile operators had make "evolutionary" upgrades to existing networks while simultaneously planning their "revolutionary" new mobile broadband networks. This lead to the establishment of two distinct 3G families: 3GPP and 3GPP2.

The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) was formed in 1998 to foster deployment of 3G networks that descended from GSM. 3GPP technologies evolved as follows.

• General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) offered speeds up to 114 Kbps.
• Enhanced Data Rates for Global Evolution (EDGE) reached up to 384 Kbps.
• UMTS Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) offered downlink speeds up to 1.92 Mbps.
• High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) boosted the downlink to 14Mbps.
• LTE Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) is aiming for 100 Mbps.

GPRS deployments began in 2000, followed by EDGE in 2003. While these technologies are defined by IMT-2000, they are sometimes called "2.5G" because they did not offer multi-megabit data rates. EDGE has now been superceded by HSDPA (and its uplink partner HSUPA). According to the 3GPP, there were 166 HSDPA networks in 75 countries at the end of 2007. The next step for GSM operators: LTE E-UTRA, based on specifications completed in late 2008.

A second organization – the 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2) -- was formed to help North American and Asian operators using CDMA2000 transition to 3G. 3GPP2 technologies evolved as follows.

• One Times Radio Transmission Technology (1xRTT) offered speeds up to 144 Kbps.
• Evolution – Data Optimized (EV-DO) increased downlink speeds up to 2.4 Mbps.
• EV-DO Rev. A boosted downlink peak speed to 3.1 Mbps and reduced latency.
• EV-DO Rev. B can use 2 to 15 channels, with each downlink peaking at 4.9 Mbps.
• Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB) was slated to reach 288 Mbps on the downlink.

1xRTT became available in 2002, followed by commercial EV-DO Rev. 0 in 2004. Here again, 1xRTT is referred to as "2.5G" because it served as a transitional step to EV-DO. EV-DO standards were extended twice – Revision A services emerged in 2006 and are now being succeeded by products that use Revision B to increase data rates by transmitting over multiple channels. The 3GPP2's next-generation technology, UMB, may not catch on, as many CDMA operators are now planning to evolve to LTE instead.

In fact, LTE and UMB are often called 4G (fourth generation) technologies because they increase downlink speeds an order of magnitude. This label is a bit premature because what constitutes "4G" has not yet been standardized. The ITU is currently considering candidate technologies for inclusion in the 4G IMT-Advanced standard, including LTE, UMB, and WiMAX II. Goals for 4G include data rates of least 100 Mbps, use of OFDMA transmission, and packet-switched delivery of IP-based voice, data, and streaming multimedia."

 

Since I started this thread, I'll give my answer too. No I wouldn't go back, but I like currently having the option of using 2G (for better battery life) on my phones. As long as ATT (or whoever) still supports a good build out for 2G it is a nice to have feature, for phone only usage during extended emergencies.

But for routine daily use, 3G is working out pretty well. Yesterday, was a low data day. I pretty much was at my laptop all day, and knowing that, turned off all push and fetch email (GPS on only when an appl uses it). There is really no need to get double email while I'm at my desk, and it's actually annoying hearing the double beeps from the laptop and the phone.

Spending the whole day from 7am to 5:30pm on 3G, I did a few short phone calls, several SMS's, checked the weather and stocks or calendar. At the end of the work day, my phone was still at 96% of battery charge. Can' t complain about that, and it more a matter of understanding how one uses the phone on a daily basis. Of course, on a more data usage day, I still get through the entire day with battery to spare.

My humble input!

-vf

 

Then this news item may be of use to you: From phonescoop.com

AT&T Fires Up 850MHz 3G In Atlanta

Aug 11th, Yesterday, 9:06 AM by Eric M. Zeman

Today AT&T made good on its promise to bring improvements to its 3G network in select U.S. cities. It has added 850MHz spectrum support to some 540 cell sites that are already providing 1900MHz coverage. By adding this spectrum, AT&T customers should see an improvement in 3G service, as it boosts capacity and improves in-building coverage. The areas included are downtown Atlanta and parts of Fulton, DeKalb, North Fulton, Cobb, Gwinnett, and Fayette Counties. AT&T plans to do the same thing to a handful of other U.S. cities by the end of 2009, including New York and San Francisco.

 

Thanks! And congrats on your new 3G S too! Yep, the battery life is improved on the 3G S and I really like the new camera and video. When you look at the video uncompressed on your pc/mac it really is great quality.