2G 3G 4G - One simple picture!

Cell phones are now world wide, infrastructure for using your phone is not.
I found this image that seems to simplify: "Is your phone 3 or 4 G's?"

So basically all phones are [2G] GSM (for worldwide use);
and newer phones also have [3G] WCDMA and/or [4G] HSPA technology as well.

For more detailed info go here:
http://www.gsmworld.com/technology/index.htm

Virgin Strong Again

Just two quick notes. 

#1)
My bad Virgin service is great again; must have been the bad storm.

Also for the HTC Legend on Virgin Mobile in Edmonton, the service is WCDMA.
Switching to just GSM left no signal, WCDMA got great reception.

Rather than having auto mobile network, set your mobile network to which network
protocool gives you the best signal; it should save some battery with the phone not
having to decide which network to connect to.

#2)
Tasker was too confusing to set up profiles so I uninstalled it.  It would do alot of things
but was not intuative at all.  Basically you set up sets of logical arguments and
the phone does what you say if you say it right.  Arguments need to be valid and
sound.
It seems other apps do some things Tasker can so it would be most useful to
user who have few programs and want automation.  I think I'm going to go with some
sort of extended controls on a home screen and monitor manually what I was going
to get Tasker to do... I'll also feel more in control.

GSM, 3G, 4G

Everyone keeps asking if my phone is 3G or 4G.

G.G.G.... It's a HTC Legend on Virgin Mobile Canada;
GSM, WCDMA, HSDPA OR in G's; it's a 3.5G

Problem is like computer technology, we have 3G and 4G phones
everywhere but the networks aren't so readily available.  Like multi-core
computing, you may have 4, 8 or 16 cores; but where do you find multi-core software.  Technology is getting better and farther apart at the same time.
As far as cell phones networks, here's a brief simple history (BTW the "G" stands for "generation"):

GSM: 2G European standard and the first digital mobile system. It offers only circuit-switched traffic (i.e voice calls, SMS...etc) and data transfer at very low bitrates 9.6kbps.

GPRS: also reffered to as phase 2+. It offered packet-switched traffic with new network components integrated over the existant GSM core network. This allowed data bitrates to increase to 171kbps. It is also considered as the first step towards 3G networks.


EDGE: It was made to cover the delay of delivery of 3G/UMTS network. It supported data rates upto 384kbps.


UMTS: the first 3G European standard network. It is the optimal solution for GSM operators to support 3G services. The Air interface technique used for this network is WCDMA. This technique allowed data rates to reach 2Mbps.


HSDPA: It is actually a software upgrade to the UMTS network using the same air interface technique used in UMTS (WCDMA) and supporting data rates upto 10Mbps.