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WIRELESS PRIMER
AIR INTERFACE DATA RATE (MAX | RANGE) CURRENT USERS OR EARLY ADOPTERS TECHNICAL NOTES
ARDIS 19.2Kbps Motient Proprietary high-speed packet
data network
CDMA 2000 144Kbps–2Mbps Sprint PCS, KDDI, Nextel, China Unicom Hybrid voice/packet architecture
CDMA ONE (IS-95A) 8–10Kbps Verizon, Sprint PCS, KDDI, Ameritech 2G CDMA wireless technology
CDMA HSPD (IS-95B) 64–Kbps KDDI 2.5G CDMA enhanced for wireless data
CDPD 19.2–Kbps AT&T Wireless Based on AMPS technology
EDGE 19.2–Kbps to 384Kbps — 2.5G technology that can cover
GSM, TMDA, or CDMA
Flex/ReFlex — Skytel Widely used in paging networks
1xEV-DO (formerly HDR) 600Kbps to 2.59Mbps Sprint PCS The Evolution Data-Only technology
path for CDMA2000
GPRS 43Kbps–170Kbps AT&T Wireless, Vodafone (Europe) Extends GPRS technology, offers faster
data rates and enhanced interoperability
GSM 9.6Kbps VoiceStream, Vodafone, British Telecom 2G technology popular
in Europe and Asia
iDen 9.6Kbps Nextel 2G TDMA wireless technology
Mobitex 8Kbps BellSouth Widely available 1G wireless
packet technology
PDC-D 64Kbps NTT DoCoMo 2.5G 64K data air interface
used by i-mode
TDMA — AT&T Wireless 2G technology popular in North America
UMTS Up to 2Mbps NTT DoCoMo, J-Phone, France Telecom Couples GSM's established
network infrastructure with a
wideband CDMA air interface
3 Wireless air interfaces, interface specifications, and current or planned adopters
Country
Trial/Launch Quarter
Australia 3Q Trial
Brazil 4Q Launch
Canada 4Q Launch
Japan 4Q Launch
Korea Commercial
Mexico 4Q Launch
New Zealand 4Q Launch
United States 4Q Launch
Venezuela 2Q Trial
(SOURCE: CDG – WWW.CDG.COM/)
4 CDMA2000 worldwide trial
and launch schedule for 2001
DESCRIPTION OF 2.5G/3G WIRELESS AIR INTERFACE TECHNOLOGIES
• Universal Mobile Telecommunications System
(UMTS): A 3G broadband, packet-based wireless
technology that will be able to support data
transfer rates as fast as 2Mbps (transfer rate will
depend on proximity to the wireless base station).
UMTS essentially marries GSM’s established
network topology and infrastructure components
with CDMA’s high-capacity wideband
air interface. The frequency band range for
UMTS is commonly from 1885–2025MHz,
although spectrum allocation has been a problem
in some countries including the U.S.
Worldwide deployment is expected to start in
the second half of 2002 (earlier in Japan).
• General Packet Radio Service (GPRS): A 2.5G
packet-based transitional wireless technology
that offers data transfer rates in the range of
56–114Kbps. GPRS is typically deployed over
circuit-switched GSM or TDMA networks, and is
a shared bandwidth wireless data protocol.
Worldwide deployment started in late 2000 and
is ongoing. An extension to GPRS is EDGE,
which supports data transfer rates up to
384Kbps.
• Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA2000):
A harmonized wideband (IS-136) 3G wireless
technology that supports data ranges from
144Kbps–2Mbps, and comes in 1x or 3x multicarrier
offerings. This technology will be the
transition path for many carriers operating
CDMA networks, with worldwide deployment
expected to begin in the first half of 2002.
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