Mobile Video and the Relationship between Short Message System (SMS) and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), and the Progress Toward Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)
Sending SMS messages, technically defined as Short Message System (SMS), but also known as “texting”, is a straightforward, easy, and handy means to communicate to and from mobile devices. Not just a very good method for people to communicate, text messages can be a handy way for software applications to exchange simple messages, and even settings commands, between mobile phones. text messages does not need a direct connection between mobile devices; the communications infrastructure for the system is already prepared, and it functions across most cellular networks. One characteristic of SMS messaging that makes it particularly useful for mobile software programs is that it uses mobile device fixed identity, the phone number. This functionality gives a distinct benefit over other technologies that rely on IP addresses because a cell phone IP address will vary depending on current network.
Short Message Service (SMS) is a communication service component of the GSM mobile communication system. It uses standardized communications protocols that allow the exchange of short text messages between smartphones. SMS text messaging is the most widely used data application around the globe, boasting almost two and a half billion active users, or three quarters of all mobile phone subscribers.
SMS texting as used on modern cell phones was at first defined as part of the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) series of standards in 1985 as a system of exchanging messages of up to 160 characters, to and from GSM mobile handsets. Since then service support has expanded to include other mobile technologies such as ANSI CDMA networks and Digital AMPS, as well as satellite and landline networks. Most SMS messages are mobile-to-mobile text messages, though the standard supports other kinds of broadcast messaging as well. Computer to cell phone SMS texting capabilities are also growing rapidly.
Global System for Mobile Communications was originally referred to Groupe Spécial Mobile. It is the most popular standard for mobile telephone systems on the planet. The GSM Association, the promoting industry association of mobile phone network providers and manufacturers, estimates that approximately 80% of the global mobile market uses the standard. GSM is utilized by over 3 billion people across more than 212 countries and territories. Its pervasiveness enables international roaming agreements between mobile phone operators, offering subscribers the use of their mobile devices all over the world. GSM has evolved from its forerunner technologies in that both signaling and speech channels are digital. Thus GSM is considered a second generation (2G) mobile phone system. This also facilitates the extensive implementation of data communication applications.
The ubiquity of GSM implementation can be seen as a benefit for consumers that are given the option to roam and switch carriers without having to replace their mobiles, and also to carriers, who can choose equipment from a variety of equipment suppliers. GSM is credited with pioneering affordable deployment of SMS text messaging, which is now supported on other mobile phone standards.
General packet radio service (GPRS) is a packet oriented mobile data service available to users of the 2G and 3G GSM. In 2G systems. GPRS data communication is usually billed per megabyte of datatransferred, while data transfer using traditional circuit switching is charged per minute of connection time, without regard to whether or not the user actually is using the capacity or if it is in an idle state. GPRS is a best-effort packet switched service, as opposed to circuit switching, that has assured quality of service during the connection for non-mobile users.
2G cellular systems combined with GPRS are regularly called 2.5G. 2.5G is a technology bridge between the second (2G) and third (3G) generations of mobile telephony. It provides moderate-speed data transfer, by using unused time division multiple access (TDMA) channels. Initially there was some thought to extend GPRS to cover other standards, but these networks are converting to the GSM standard. GPRS is integrated into GSM Release 97 and newer releases.
GPRS was created as a GSM reaction to the earlier CDPD and i-mode packet switched cellular technology. Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) was a wide-area mobile data service which used unused bandwidth normally used by AMPS mobile phones. The service was discontinued along with with the discontinuation of the parent AMPS service.
CDPD was developed in the early 1990’s, and was seen as a future technology. However, it had competition from then current slower but cheaper Mobitex and DataTac systems. CDPD never earned common acceptance and in time newer, faster standards such as GPRS earned common acceptance and started dominating.
For consumer markets CDPD had very limited appeal. AT&T Wireless first offered the technology in the United States under the brandname PocketNet, one of the very first consumer wireless web service offers. Cingular Wireless later offered CDPD under the Wireless Internet brand (as opposed to Wireless Internet Express, Cingular Wireless GPRS/EDGE data). AT&T Wireless PocketNet failed as a product launch. However, CDPD was adopted into a number of enterprise and government networks. It was particularly successful as a first-generation wireless data solution for telemetry devices (machine to machine communications) and for public safety mobile data terminals.
Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) (also called Enhanced GPRS (EGPRS), or IMT Single Carrier (IMT-SC), and Enhanced Data Rates for Global Evolution) is a backward-compatible digital smartphone technology that provides superior data transmission rates on top of standard GSM. EDGE is referred to as a 3G radio technology. EDGE allows more than three-fold increase in both the capacity and performance of GSM/GPRS networks by utilizing advanced techniques of coding and transmitting data, that produce higher bit-rates per radio channel. EDGE delivers broadband performance and supports high bandwidth data applications such as Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS).
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