3G or Not 3G? That is the question!

GSM has a lot going for it: universal coverage, roaming and new data services such as General Packet Radio System (GPRS) and even Enhanced Data rate for GSM Evolution (EDGE).

But it is a dead-end technology as it is based on circuit switched systems whereby when a call is made, a connection is made all the way through the network and maintained until the call is ended.

GPRS is a packet service so a session is established (and the service authenticated etc) but packets are only sent across the network when there's data moving.

So when web browsing, when the page has finished downloading and you're reading it, no network resources are being used (unlike circuit switch, where the bandwidth would be reserved whether any data was actually being sent across it).

Unfortunately GPRS eats into the voice capacity of the network and supports about 30-40Kb/s max (when you can get it). The reason most networks have rolled-out GPRS is that it’s a relatively simple, mainly software upgrade to the GSM network.

EDGE has the ability to support higher speeds (in theory 2Mb/s) but involves GSM network upgrades all the way out to the cell sites.

That costs a lot of money so it has 10ded to be adopted by operators who didn't go into 3G. So far only a couple of networks in Europe have adopted EDGE.