The GSM logo is used to identify compatible handsets and equipment

Global System for Mobile communications (GSM: originally from Groupe Spécial Mobile) is the most popular standard for mobile phones in the world. Its promoter, the GSM Association, estimates that 82% of the global mobile market uses the standard.^[1] GSM is used by over 2 billion people across more than 212 countries and territories.^[2][3] Its ubiquity makes international roaming very common between mobile phone operators, enabling subscribers to use their phones in many parts of the world. GSM differs from its predecessors in that both signalling and speech channels are digital call quality, and thus is considered a second generation (2G) mobile phone system. This has also meant that data communication was easy to build into the system. GSM is a common abbreviation for Global System for Mobile Communications (Groupe Spécial Mobile), the European group set up to establish European mobile telephony protocols, and for telephony services using those protocols. ... A list of Mobile phones standards or generations is given in the table below. ... Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is one of the third-generation (3G) mobile phone technologies. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is a Mobile Data Service available to users of Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and IS-136 mobile phones. ... Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) or Enhanced GPRS (EGPRS), is a digital mobile phone technology that allows increased data transmission rates and improved data transmission reliability. ... Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) or Enhanced GPRS (EGPRS), is a digital mobile phone technology that allows increased data transmission rates and improved data transmission reliability. ... Circuit Switched Data (CSD) is the original form of data transmission developed for the time division multiple access (TDMA)-based mobile phone systems like Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). ... High-Speed Circuit-Switched Data (HSCSD), is a development of Circuit Switched Data, the original data transmission mechanism of the GSM mobile phone system. ... Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is one of the third-generation (3G) cell phone technologies. ... 3G is the third generation of mobile phone standards and technology, superseding 2G. It is based on the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) family of standards under the International Mobile Telecommunications programme, IMT-2000. // Main article: IMT-2000 International Telecommunications Union (ITU): IMT-2000 consists of six radio interfaces W-CDMA... High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) is a collection of mobile telephony protocols that extend and improve the performance of existing UMTS protocols. ... High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA, also known as High-Speed Downlink Protocol Access) is a 3G (third generation) mobile telephony communications protocol in the High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) family, which allows networks based on Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) to have higher data transfer speeds and capacity. ... High-Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) is a 3G mobile telephony protocol in the HSPA family with up-link speeds up to 5. ... Evolved HSPA (also known as HSPA Evolution) is a 3G mobile data protocol defined in 3GPP release 7 (expected in 2007). ... UMTS-TDD is a mobile data network standard built upon the UMTS 3G cellular mobile phone standard, using a TD-CDMA, TD-SCDMA, or other 3GPP-approved, air interface that uses Time Division Duplexing to duplex spectrum between the up-link and down-link. ... UMTS-TDD is a mobile data network standard built upon the UMTS 3G cellular mobile phone standard, using a TD-CDMA, TD-SCDMA, or other 3GPP-approved, air interface that uses Time Division Duplexing to duplex spectrum between the up-link and down-link. ... TD-SCDMA (Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access) is a 3G mobile telecommunications standard, being pursued in the Peoples Republic of China by the Chinese Academy of Telecommunications Technology (CATT), Datang and Siemens AG, in an attempt to develop home-grown technology and not be dependent on Western... FOMA, officially short for Freedom of Mobile Multimedia Access, is the brand name for the 3G services being offered by Japanese mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo. ... Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is one of the third-generation (3G) cell phone technologies. ... This article is about the mobile phone standard. ... 3GPP LTE (Long Term Evolution) is the name given to a project within the Third Generation Partnership Project to improve the UMTS mobile phone standard to cope with future requirements. ... High Speed OFDM Packet Access (HSOPA) is a proposed part of 3GPPs Long Term Evolution (LTE) upgrade path for UMTS systems. ... Interim Standard 95 (IS-95), is the first CDMA-based digital cellular standard pioneered by Qualcomm. ... CDMA2000 is a hybrid 2. ... The 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2) is a collaboration agreement that was established in December 1998. ... Interim Standard 95 (IS-95), is the first CDMA-based digital cellular standard pioneered by Qualcomm. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... CDMA2000 is a hybrid 2. ... 3G is the third generation of mobile phone standards and technology, superseding 2G. It is based on the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) family of standards under the International Mobile Telecommunications programme, IMT-2000. // Main article: IMT-2000 International Telecommunications Union (ITU): IMT-2000 consists of six radio interfaces W-CDMA... Evolution-Data Optimized or Evolution-Data only, abbreviated as EV-DO or EVDO and often EV, is one telecommunications standard for the wireless transmission of data through radio signals, typically for broadband Internet access. ... Ultra Mobile Broadband is the brand name to describe the advanced technologies and services that will be supported by the CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Revision C (Rev. ... This article is about the mobile phone standard. ... Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) is the analog mobile phone system standard developed by Bell Labs, and officially introduced in the Americas in 1983[1][2] It was the primary analog mobile phone system in North America (and other locales) through the 1980s and into the 2000s, and is still... Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) is the analog mobile phone system standard developed by Bell Labs, and officially introduced in the Americas in 1983[1][2] It was the primary analog mobile phone system in North America (and other locales) through the 1980s and into the 2000s, and is still... 1G (or 1-G) is short for first-generation wireless telephone technology, cellphones. ... Advanced Mobile Phone System or AMPS is the analog mobile phone system standard, introduced in the Americas during the early 1980s. ... IS-54 and IS-136 are second-generation (2G) mobile phone systems, known as Digital AMPS (D-AMPS). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Mobile radio telephone systems preceded modern cellular mobile telephony technology. ... “Push to Talk” redirects here. ... The Mobile Telephone System (MTS) was one of the earliest mobile telephone standards. ... The Improved Mobile Telephone Service (IMTS) is a pre-cellular VHF/UHF radio system that links to the PSTN. IMTS was the radiotelephone equivalent of land dial phone service. ... The Advanced Mobile Telephone System was a 0G method of radio communication, mainly used in Japanese portable radio systems. ... OLT (Norwegian for Offentlig Landmobil Telefoni, Public Land Mobile Telephony), was the first land mobile telephone network in Norway. ... MTD (Swedish abbreviation for Mobilelefonisystem D, or Mobile telephony system D) was a manual mobile phone system for the 450 MHz frequency band. ... Autotel (also called PALM, or Public Automated Land Mobile) is a radiotelephone service which was the missing link between earlier MTS/IMTS and later cellular telephone services. ... ARP (Autoradiopuhelin, Car Radio Phone in English) was the first commercially operated public mobile phone network in Finland. ... 1G (or 1-G) is short for first-generation wireless telephone technology, cellphones. ... For other meanings of the abbreviation, see: NMT. NMT (Nordisk MobilTelefoni or Nordiska MobilTelefoni-gruppen, Nordic Mobile Telephone in English) is a mobile phone system that was specified by the Nordic telecommunications administrations (PTTs) starting in 1970, and opened for service in 1981 as a response to the increasing congestion... hicap is a mobile techonology which has a consumer interface with a wide variety of industry references. ... Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) uses unused bandwidth normally used by AMPS mobile phones between 800 and 900 MHz to transfer data. ... Cingular Interactive Truck at Ground Zero on 9/11/2001 Mobitex Network Design Mobitex is an OSI based open standard, national public access wireless data network first introduced in 1991 by carriers RAM Mobile Data and in Canada 1990 by Rogers Cantel. ... DataTac is a wireless data network technology originally developed by Motorola and deployed in the United States as the ARDIS network. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Iden is also a village in East Sussex, England Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (iDEN) is a mobile telecommunications technology, developed by Motorola, which provides its users the benefits of a trunked radio and a cellular telephone. ... Personal Digital Cellular (PDC) is a 2G mobile phone standard developed and used exclusively in Japan. ... Circuit Switched Data (CSD) is the original form of data transmission developed for the time division multiple access (TDMA)-based mobile phone systems like Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). ... The Personal Handy-phone System (PHS), also marketed as the Personal Access System (PAS) and known as Xiaolingtong (小灵通) in China, is a mobile network system operating in the 1880-1930 MHz frequency band, used mainly in Japan, China, Taiwan and some other Asian countries. ... Wideband Integrated Dispatch Enhanced Network, or WiDEN, is a software upgrade developed by Motorola for its iDEN enhanced specialized mobile radio (or ESMR) wireless telephony protocol. ... This article is about the mobile phone standard. ... iBurst (or HC-SDMA, High Capacity Spatial Division Multiple Access) is a wireless broadband technology developed by ArrayComm. ... HIPERMAN stands for High Performance Radio Metropolitan Area Network and is a standard created by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) Broadband Radio Access Networks (BRAN) group to provide a wireless network communication in the 2 - 11 GHz bands across Europe and other countries which follow the ETSI standard. ... Official WiMax logo WiMAX, the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, is a telecommunications technology aimed at providing wireless data over long distances in a variety of ways, from point-to-point links to full mobile cellular type access. ... WiBro (Wireless Broadband, Korean: 와이브로) is a wireless broadband Internet technology being developed by the Korean telecoms industry. ... Generic Access Network (GAN), also known as Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA), is a telecommunication system allowing seamless roaming and handover between local area networks and wide area networks using a dual-mode mobile phone. ... In communications, a channel access method is used to share a communications channel or physical communications medium between multiple users. ... FDMA, or frequency-division multiple access, is the oldest and most important of the three main ways for multiple radio transmitters to share the radio spectrum. ... Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) is a multiple access scheme for OFDM systems. ... Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) is a technology for shared medium (usually radio) networks. ... Spread-spectrum telecommunications is a technique in which a signal is transmitted in a bandwidth considerably greater than the frequency content of the original information. ... Code division multiple access (CDMA) is the current name for the cellular technology originally known as IS-95. ... Cellular frequencies - the general term which unites radio frequencies utilized by cellular networks to provide service to their subscribers. ... Cellular frequencies - the general term which unites radio frequencies utilized by cellular networks to provide service to their subscribers. ... GSM frequency bands or frequency ranges are the radio spectrum frequencies designated by the ITU for the operation of the GSM system for mobile phones. ... UMTS frequency bands or frequency ranges are the radio spectrum frequencies designated for the operation of the UMTS / HSDPA / HSUPA / HSPA+ system for mobile phones. ... Personal Communications Service or PCS is the name for the 1900-MHz radio band used for digital mobile phone services in Canada and the United States. ... The Specialized Mobile Radio system (SMR) is a conventional two-way radio system, or trunked radio system, operated by a service in the 800 or 900 Mhz bands. ... The GSM Association (GSMA) is the global trade association representing 700 GSM mobile phone operators across 215 countries of the world. ... One thousand million (1,000,000,000) is the natural number following 999,999,999 and preceding 1,000,000,001. ... Roaming is a general term in wireless telecommunications that refers to the extending of connectivity service in a location that is different from the home location where the service was registered. ... A mobile phone operator (also wireless carrier) is a telephone company that provides phone services for mobile phone subscribers. ... The term Digital Call Quality had entered into popular english language in the late 20th century at a time of increasing popularity of GSM mobile (cell) phones (2G) replacing the preceding analogue system. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

The ubiquity of the GSM standard has been advantageous to both consumers (who benefit from the ability to roam and switch carriers without switching phones) and also to network operators (who can choose equipment from any of the many vendors implementing GSM^[4]). GSM also pioneered a low-cost alternative to voice calls, the Short message service (SMS, also called "text messaging"), which is now supported on other mobile standards as well. For other uses, see SMS (disambiguation). ...

Newer versions of the standard were backward-compatible with the original GSM phones. For example, Release '97 of the standard added packet data capabilities, by means of General Packet Radio Service (GPRS). Release '99 introduced higher speed data transmission using Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE). This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is a Mobile Data Service available to users of Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and IS-136 mobile phones. ... Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) or Enhanced GPRS (EGPRS), is a digital mobile phone technology that allows increased data transmission rates and improved data transmission reliability. ...

History

In 1982, the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) created the Groupe Spécial Mobile (GSM) to develop a standard for a mobile telephone system that could be used across Europe.^[5] In 1987, a memorandum of understanding was signed by 13 countries to develop a common cellular telephone system across Europe.^[6][7] The European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) was established on June 26, 1959 as a coordinating body for European state telecommunications and postal organizations. ... A memorandum of understanding (MOU) is a legal document describing a bilateral agreement between parties. ...

In 1989, GSM responsibility was transferred to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and phase I of the GSM specifications were published in 1990. The first GSM network was launched in 1991 by Radiolinja in Finland with joint technical infrastructure maintenance from Ericsson.^[8] By the end of 1993, over a million subscribers were using GSM phone networks being operated by 70 carriers across 48 countries.^[9] The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) is a standardization organization of the telecommunications industry (equipment makers and network operators) in Europe, with worldwide projection. ... Radiolinja was a Finnish GSM operator founded on September 19, 1988. ...

Technical details

GSM is a cellular network, which means that mobile phones connect to it by searching for cells in the immediate vicinity. GSM networks operate in four different frequency ranges. Most GSM networks operate in the 900 MHz or 1800 MHz bands. Some countries in the Americas (including Canada and the United States) use the 850 MHz and 1900 MHz bands because the 900 and 1800 MHz frequency bands were already allocated. The tone or style of this article or section may not be appropriate for Wikipedia. ... GSM frequency ranges or frequency bands are the radio spectrum frequencies designated by the ITU for the operation of the GSM system for mobile phones. ...

The rarer 400 and 450 MHz frequency bands are assigned in some countries, notably Scandinavia, where these frequencies were previously used for first-generation systems.

In the 900 MHz band the uplink frequency band is 890–915 MHz, and the downlink frequency band is 935–960 MHz. This 25 MHz bandwidth is subdivided into 124 carrier frequency channels, each spaced 200 kHz apart. Time division multiplexing is used to allow eight full-rate or sixteen half-rate speech channels per radio frequency channel. There are eight radio timeslots (giving eight burst periods) grouped into what is called a TDMA frame. Half rate channels use alternate frames in the same timeslot. The channel data rate is 270.833 kbit/s, and the frame duration is 4.615 ms. Look up uplink in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In radio communications, a downlink is the link from a satellite to a ground station. ... Time-division multiplexing (TDM) is a type of digital multiplexing in which two or more apparently simultaneous channels are derived from a given frequency spectrum, i. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Radio waves. ... In telecommunication, the term burst transmission has the following meanings: transmission that combines a very high data signaling rate with very short transmission times - i. ... Time division multiple access (TDMA) is a channel access method for shared medium (usually radio) networks. ...

The transmission power in the handset is limited to a maximum of 2 watts in GSM850/900 and 1 watt in GSM1800/1900.

GSM has used a variety of voice codecs to squeeze 3.1 kHz audio into between 5.6 and 13 kbit/s. Originally, two codecs, named after the types of data channel they were allocated, were used, called Half Rate (5.6 kbit/s) and Full Rate (13 kbit/s). These used a system based upon linear predictive coding (LPC). In addition to being efficient with bitrates, these codecs also made it easier to identify more important parts of the audio, allowing the air interface layer to prioritize and better protect these parts of the signal. A codec is a device or program capable of encoding and/or decoding a digital data stream or signal. ... Half Rate or HR or GSM-HR is a speech encoding system for GSM developed in the early 1990s. ... Full Rate or FR or GSM-FR was the first digital speech coding standard used in GSM digital mobile phone system. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Code Excited Linear Prediction. ...

GSM was further enhanced in 1997^[10] with the Enhanced Full Rate (EFR) codec, a 12.2 kbit/s codec that uses a full rate channel. Finally, with the development of UMTS, EFR was refactored into a variable-rate codec called AMR-Narrowband, which is high quality and robust against interference when used on full rate channels, and less robust but still relatively high quality when used in good radio conditions on half-rate channels. Enhanced Full Rate or EFR or GSM-EFR is a speech coding standard that was developed in order to improve the quite poor quality of GSM-Full Rate (FR) codec. ... Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is one of the third-generation (3G) mobile phone technologies. ... Adaptive Multi-Rate (AMR) is a Audio data compression scheme optimized for speech coding. ...

There are five different cell sizes in a GSM network—macro, micro, pico, femto and umbrella cells. The coverage area of each cell varies according to the implementation environment. Macro cells can be regarded as cells where the base station antenna is installed on a mast or a building above average roof top level. Micro cells are cells whose antenna height is under average roof top level; they are typically used in urban areas. Picocells are small cells whose coverage diameter is a few dozen meters; they are mainly used indoors. Femtocells are cells designed for use in residential or small business environments and connect to the service provider’s network via a broadband internet connection. Umbrella cells are used to cover shadowed regions of smaller cells and fill in gaps in coverage between those cells. In telecommunications, a femtocell—originally known as an Access Point Base Station—is a small cellular base station, typically designed for use in residential or small business environments. ... The term base station can be used in the context of land surveying, wireless computer networking, and wireless communications. ... A yagi antenna Most simply, an antenna is an electronic component designed to send or receive radio waves. ...

Cell horizontal radius varies depending on antenna height, antenna gain and propagation conditions from a couple of hundred meters to several tens of kilometers. The longest distance the GSM specification supports in practical use is 35 kilometres (22 mi). There are also several implementations of the concept of an extended cell, where the cell radius could be double or even more, depending on the antenna system, the type of terrain and the timing advance. “km” redirects here. ... “Miles” redirects here. ... In the GSM standard, timing advance corresponds to the number of milliseconds the signal from the mobile phone travels to the base station. ...

Indoor coverage is also supported by GSM and may be achieved by using an indoor picocell base station, or an indoor repeater with distributed indoor antennas fed through power splitters, to deliver the radio signals from an antenna outdoors to the separate indoor distributed antenna system. These are typically deployed when a lot of call capacity is needed indoors, for example in shopping centers or airports. However, this is not a prerequisite, since indoor coverage is also provided by in-building penetration of the radio signals from nearby cells. A compact Clear Voice cellular repeater including a directional antenna, an amplifier and a monopole rebroadcast antenna. ...

The modulation used in GSM is Gaussian minimum-shift keying (GMSK), a kind of continuous-phase frequency shift keying. In GMSK, the signal to be modulated onto the carrier is first smoothed with a Gaussian low-pass filter prior to being fed to a frequency modulator, which greatly reduces the interference to neighboring channels (adjacent channel interference). In telecommunications, modulation is the process of varying a periodic waveform, i. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Continuous_phase_modulation. ... Frequency-shift keying (FSK) is frequency modulation in which the modulating signal shifts the output frequency between predetermined values. ... Gaussian curves parametrised by expected value and variance (see normal distribution) In mathematics, a Gaussian function (named after Carl Friedrich Gauss) is a function of the form: for some real constants a > 0, b, and c. ... A low-pass filter is a filter that passes low frequencies but attenuates (or reduces) frequencies higher than the cutoff frequency. ... In telecommunications, frequency modulation (FM) conveys information over a carrier wave by varying its frequency. ... For other uses, see Interference (disambiguation). ...

Network structure

The network behind the GSM system seen by the customer is large and complicated in order to provide all of the services which are required. It is divided into a number of sections and these are each covered in separate articles.

• the Base Station Subsystem (the base stations and their controllers).
• the Network and Switching Subsystem (the part of the network most similar to a fixed network). This is sometimes also just called the core network.
• the GPRS Core Network (the optional part which allows packet based Internet connections).
• all of the elements in the system combine to produce many GSM services such as voice calls and SMS.

The structure of a GSM network

A typical GSM Base Station The Base Station Subsystem (BSS) is the section of a traditional cellular telephone network which is responsible for handling traffic and signaling between a mobile phone and the Network Switching Subsystem. ... The term base station can be used in the context of land surveying, wireless computer networking, and wireless communications. ... The GSM Core network is the heart of a GSM system, the most common mobile phone system in the world. ... The GPRS system is used by GSM Mobile phones, the most common mobile phone system in the world (as of 2004), for transmitting IP packets. ... GSM services are a standard collection of applications and features available to mobile phone subscribers all over the world. ... For other uses, see SMS (disambiguation). ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 522 pixelsFull resolution (808 × 527 pixel, file size: 56 KB, MIME type: image/png) This diagram shows the simplified structure of a GSM network. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 522 pixelsFull resolution (808 × 527 pixel, file size: 56 KB, MIME type: image/png) This diagram shows the simplified structure of a GSM network. ...

Subscriber Identity Module

Main article: Subscriber Identity Module

One of the key features of GSM is the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM), commonly known as a SIM card. The SIM is a detachable smart card containing the user's subscription information and phonebook. This allows the user to retain his or her information after switching handsets. Alternatively, the user can also change operators while retaining the handset simply by changing the SIM. Some operators will block this by allowing the phone to use only a single SIM, or only a SIM issued by them; this practice is known as SIM locking, and is illegal in some countries. It has been suggested that Virtual sim be merged into this article or section. ... It has been suggested that Virtual sim be merged into this article or section. ... Smart card used for health insurance in France. ... A SIM lock, not to be confused with PIN or PUK code, is a capability built-in to GSM phones by mobile phone manufacturers. ...

In Australia, Canada, Europe and the United States many operators lock the mobiles they sell. This is done because the price of the mobile phone is typically subsidised with revenue from subscriptions, and operators want to try to avoid subsidising competitor's mobiles. A subscriber can usually contact the provider to remove the lock for a fee, utilize private services to remove the lock, or make use of ample software and websites available on the Internet to unlock the handset themselves. While most web sites offer the unlocking for a fee, some do it for free. The locking applies to the handset, identified by its International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number, not to the account (which is identified by the SIM card). It is always possible to switch to another (non-locked) handset if such a handset is available. For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... A subsidy is generally a monetary grant given by government in support of an activity regarded as being in the public interest. ... The International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) is a number unique to every GSM and UMTS mobile phone. ... It has been suggested that Virtual sim be merged into this article or section. ...

Some providers will unlock the phone for free if the customer has held an account for a certain time period. Third party unlocking services exist that are often quicker and lower cost than that of the operator. In most countries, removing the lock is legal. United States-based T-Mobile provides free unlocking services to their customers after 3 months of subscription.^[11] T-Mobile logo T-Mobile is a multinational mobile phone operator. ...

In some countries such as Belgium, Costa Rica, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Malaysia, all phones are sold unlocked. However, in Belgium, it is unlawful for operators there to offer any form of subsidy on the phone's price. This was also the case in Finland until April 1, 2006, when selling subsidized combinations of handsets and accounts became legal, though operators have to unlock phones free of charge after a certain period (at most 24 months). is the 91st day of the year (92nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

GSM security

GSM was designed with a moderate level of security. The system was designed to authenticate the subscriber using a pre-shared key and challenge-response. Communications between the subscriber and the base station can be encrypted. The development of UMTS introduces an optional USIM, that uses a longer authentication key to give greater security, as well as mutually authenticating the network and the user - whereas GSM only authenticated the user to the network (and not vice versa). The security model therefore offers confidentiality and authentication, but limited authorization capabilities, and no non-repudiation. A pre-shared key or PSK is a secret which was previously shared between the two parties using some secure channel before it needs to be used. ... For the spam-filtering technique, see Challenge-response spam filtering. ... Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is one of the third-generation (3G) cell phone technologies. ... A Universal Subscriber Identity Module is an application for UMTS mobile telephony running on a UICC smartcard which is inserted in a 3G mobile phone. ... Non-repudiation is the concept of ensuring that a contract, especially one agreed to via the Internet, cannot later be denied by one of the parties involved. ...

GSM uses several cryptographic algorithms for security. The A5/1 and A5/2 stream ciphers are used for ensuring over-the-air voice privacy. A5/1 was developed first and is a stronger algorithm used within Europe and the United States; A5/2 is weaker and used in other countries. Serious weaknesses have been found in both algorithms: it is possible to break A5/2 in real-time with a ciphertext-only attack, and in February 2008, Pico Consulting, Inc revealed its ability and plans to commercialize FPGAs that allow A5/1 to be broken with a rainbow table attack [1]. The system supports multiple algorithms so operators may replace that cipher with a stronger one. A5/1 is a stream cipher used to provide over-the-air communication privacy in the GSM cellular telephone standard. ... A5/2 is a stream cipher used to provide voice privacy in the GSM cellular telephone protocol. ... The operation of the keystream generator in A5/1, a LFSR-based stream cipher used to encrypt mobile phone conversations. ... In cryptography, a ciphertext-only attack is a form of cryptanalysis where the attacker is assumed to have access only to a set of ciphertexts. ...

See also

• Core technology:
  • 2G
  • 2.5G
  • 3G
  • 3.5G
  • 4G
• Future Alternatives to GSM
  • Mobile VoIP
• Architectural elements:
  • Base Station Controller (BSC)
  • Base Station Subsystem (BSS)
  • Home Location Register (HLR)
  • Mobile Switching Center (MSC)
  • Subscriber Identity Module (SIM)
  • Visitors Location Register (VLR)
  • Equipment Identity Register (EIR)
• Radio:
  • GSM frequency ranges
  • Cellular Frequencies
• Cellular traffic
• Services:
  • GSM localization
  • GSM services
    • GSM codes for supplementary services
  • Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)
  • Short message service (SMS)
  • Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)
  • General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)
  • Cell Broadcast
• Standards:
  • Comparison of mobile phone standards
  • European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI)
  • Intelligent network (IN)
  • Parlay
• Common terms:
  • International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI)
  • International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI)
  • Mobile Subscriber ISDN Number (MSISDN)
  • Handoff
• Related technologies:
  • GSM-R (GSM-Railway)
• List of device bandwidths

This article does not cite any references or sources. ... 2. ... 3G is the third generation of mobile phone standards and technology, superseding 2G. It is based on the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) family of standards under the International Mobile Telecommunications programme, IMT-2000. // Main article: IMT-2000 International Telecommunications Union (ITU): IMT-2000 consists of six radio interfaces W-CDMA... The term 3. ... This article is about the mobile phone standard. ... Mobile VoIP or Mobile Voice over Internet Protocol is the application of voice over IP technology to mobile handsets. ... The Base Station Subsystem (BSS) is the section of a GSM network which is responsible for transmitting to and receiving radio signals from the mobile phone. ... A typical GSM Base Station The Base Station Subsystem (BSS) is the section of a traditional cellular telephone network which is responsible for handling traffic and signaling between a mobile phone and the Network Switching Subsystem. ... The GSM Core network is the heart of a GSM system, the most common mobile phone system in the world. ... The GSM Core network is the heart of a GSM system, the most common mobile phone system in the world. ... It has been suggested that Virtual sim be merged into this article or section. ... Visitor Location Register (VLR) is a database - part of the GSM mobile phone system - which stores information about all the mobiles that are currently under the jurisdiction of the MSC (Mobile Switching Center) to which it is attached. ... The International Mobile Equipment Identity (or IMEI) is a unique number associated with every GSM and UMTS mobile phone. ... GSM frequency ranges or frequency bands are the radio spectrum frequencies designated by the ITU for the operation of the GSM system for mobile phones. ... Cellular frequencies - the general term which unites radio frequencies utilized by cellular networks to provide service to their subscribers. ... Teletraffic engineering is a necessary field in telecommunications network planning to ensure that network costs are minimised without compromising the quality of service delivered to the user of the network. ... GSM localization is the use of multilateration to determine the location of GSM mobile phones, usually with the intent to locate the user. ... GSM services are a standard collection of applications and features available to mobile phone subscribers all over the world. ... Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) standards define certain codes that (if implemented by the particular carrier) make it possible to query and set certain service parameters ( type of Call Forwarding) from mobile devices (GSM cell phones). ... For the Microsoft Media Server (MMS) protocol, see Microsoft Media Services. ... For other uses, see SMS (disambiguation). ... WAP is an open international standard for applications that use wireless communication. ... General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is a Mobile Data Service available to users of Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and IS-136 mobile phones. ... BTS (Base Transceiver Station). ... GSM and IS-95 are the two most prevalent mobile communication technologies. ... The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) is a standardization organization of the telecommunications industry (equipment makers and network operators) in Europe, with worldwide projection. ... The Intelligent Network or I.N., as it is more commonly referred to, is a network architecture for both fixed and mobile telecommunication networks. ... Parlay is an open API for the telephone network (fixed and mobile. ... The International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) is a number unique to every GSM and UMTS mobile phone. ... IMSI[im-zee] is an acronym for International Mobile Subscriber Identity. ... The Mobile Station Integrated Services Digital Network (MSISDN) is the mobile equivalent of ISDN. Used as a value, MSISDN refers to the MSISDN subscriber ID, which is a max 15-digit number. ... In telecommunication, the term handoff refers to the process of transferring an ongoing call or data session from one channel connected to the core network to another. ... GSM-R (GSM-Railway) is a wireless communications platform developed specifically for railway communication and applications. ... This is a list of device bandwidths: the channel capacity (or, more informally, bandwidth) of some computer devices employing methods of data transport is listed by bit/s, kilobit/s (kbit/s), megabit/s (Mbit/s), or gigabit/s (Gbit/s) as appropriate and also MB/s or megabytes per...

References

Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 10th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 8th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 164th day of the year (165th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 8th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 193rd day of the year (194th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 8th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 8th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... In 1989 Ziff Davis Inc. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 250th day of the year (251st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 250th day of the year (251st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The GSM Association (GSMA) is the global trade association representing 700 GSM mobile phone operators across 215 countries of the world. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 249th day of the year (250th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For information on Wikipedia press releases, see Wikipedia:Press releases. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 250th day of the year (251st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 24th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 8th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 9th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 248th day of the year (249th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 40th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

Literature

External links

• GSM Association – the group representing GSM operators (official site) – includes coverage maps for all members
• 3GPP - The current standardization body for GSM with free standards available.
• Most Widely Used Cellular Channelizations