Mobile Video and the Connection between Short Message System (SMS) and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), and the Progress Toward Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)
Exchanging text messages, technically identified as Short Message System (SMS), but typically acknowledged as “texting”, is a simple, effortless, and convenient way to communicate to and from mobile devices. Not just a exceptional way for people to keep in touch, SMS can be a practical way for software applications to exchange simple messages, and even setup commands, to and from smartphones. SMS doesn’t require a direct connection between cell phones; the communications infrastructure for the system is already in position, and it works across most cell networks. One functionality of SMS messaging that makes it particularly sensible for mobile software programs is that it utilizes mobile phone fixed identity, the phone number. This facet offers a distinct benefit over other technologies that rely on IP addresses because a mobile device IP address can vary depending on current network.
Short Message Service (SMS) is a communication service component of the GSM mobile communication system. It utilizes uniform communications rules that allow incoming and outgoing short text messages between smartphones. SMS texting is the most widely used data application around the globe, boasting almost two and a half billion active users, or three quarters of all cell phone subscribers.
SMS text messaging as used on modern mobile phones was at first defined as part of the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) series of standards in 1985 as a method of exchanging messages of up to 160 characters, to and from GSM mobile handsets. Since the mid-eighties service support has extended 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 types of broadcast messaging as well. Computer to mobile device SMS text messaging capabilities are also growing rapidly.
GSM was initially called Groupe Spécial Mobile. It is the most accepted standard for mobile telephone systems on the planet. The GSM Association, the promoting trade organization of mobile phone operators and manufacturers, estimates that about 80% of the global mobile market uses it. GSM is enjoyed by over 3 billion people across more than two hundred countries and territories. Its pervasiveness allows international roaming arrangements between mobile phone operators, offering subscribers the use of their mobile phones in many parts of the world. GSM differs from its forerunner technologies demonstrated by the fact that both signaling and speech channels are digital. Thus GSM is considered a second generation (2G) mobile phone system. This also eases the wide-spread implementation of data communication programs.
The ubiquity of GSM implementation has been a benefit for consumers that are given the option to roam and switch carriers without needing to replace their smartphones, and also to network providers, who can choose equipment from a variety of equipment suppliers. GSM is credited with pioneering affordable deployment of SMS text messaging, which subsequently has been 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 transfer is usually billed per megabyte of traffictransferred, while data communication using traditional circuit switching is billed per minute of connection time, without regard to whether or not the subscriber actually is using it or if it is in an idle state. GPRS is a best-effort packet switched service, as opposed to circuit switching, that has guaranteed quality of service during the connection for non-mobile users.
2G cellular systems combined with GPRS are frequently called 2.5G. 2.5G is a technology bridge between the second (2G) and third (3G) generations of mobile phone telephony. It delivers moderate-speed data transfer, by using unused time division multiple access (TDMA) channels. Initially it was intended to broaden 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 developed as a GSM response to the earlier CDPD and i-mode packet switched cellular technologies. Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) was a wide-area mobile data service which used unused bandwidth normally used by AMPS mobile phones. It was discontinued along with with the retirement of the parent AMPS service.
CDPD was developed in the early 1990’s, and was seen as a future technology. But, it had competition from existing slower but cheaper Mobitex and DataTac systems. CDPD never earned general acceptance before newer, faster standards such as GPRS gained common acceptance and became predominant.
For consumers CDPD had little to offer. 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 popular 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 known as 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 better data transmission rates on top of standard GSM. EDGE is referred to as a 3G radio technology. EDGE delivers more than three-fold boost in both the capacity and performance of GSM/GPRS networks by incorporating sophisticated ways of coding and transmitting data, that deliver higher bit-rates per radio channel. EDGE delivers broadband performance and can be used for high bandwidth data applications such as Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS).
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