NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Universal Mobile Telecommunications System

Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is one of the third-generation (3G) cell phone technologies. Currently, the most common form uses W-CDMA as the underlying air interface, is standardized by the 3GPP, and is the European answer to the ITU IMT-2000 requirements for 3G cellular radio systems. A list of Mobile phones standards or generations is given in the table below. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Global System for Mobile communications (GSM: originally from Groupe SpÃ©cial Mobile) is the most popular standard for mobile phones in the world. ... Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is one of the third-generation (3G) mobile phone technologies. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Global System for Mobile communications (GSM: originally from Groupe SpÃ©cial Mobile) is the most popular standard for mobile phones in the world. ... 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 it to increase data transmission rate and improve data transmission reliability. ... Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) or Enhanced GPRS (EGPRS), is a digital mobile phone technology that allows it to increase data transmission rate and improve data transmission reliability. ... High-Speed Circuit-Switched Data (HSCSD), is a development of Circuit Switched Data, the original data transmission mechanism of the GSM mobile phone system. ... 3G is the third generation of mobile phone standards and technology, after 2G. It is based on the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) family of standards under the International Mobile Telecommunications programme, IMT-2000. 3G technologies enable network operators to offer users a wider range of more advanced services while achieving... W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) is a type of 3G cellular network. ... 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. ... 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... 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). ... The 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. ... 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: ì™€ì´ë¸Œë¡œ) is a wireless broadband Internet technology being developed by the Korean telecoms industry. ... 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. ... 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. ... 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. ... CDMA2000 is a hybrid 2. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Interim Standard 95 (IS-95), is the first CDMA-based digital cellular standard pioneered by Qualcomm. ... 3G is the third generation of mobile phone standards and technology, after 2G. It is based on the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) family of standards under the International Mobile Telecommunications programme, IMT-2000. 3G technologies enable network operators to offer users a wider range of more advanced services while achieving... CDMA2000 is a hybrid 2. ... 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. ... This article is about the mobile phone standard. ... 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. ... Mobile radio telephone systems preceded modern cellular mobile telephony technology. ... â€œPush to Talkâ€ 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... 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... 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. ... IS-54 and IS-136 are second-generation (2G) mobile phone systems, known as Digital AMPS (D-AMPS). ... Personal Digital Cellular (PDC) is a 2G mobile phone standard developed and used exclusively in Japan. ... Circuit Switched Data, often known as CSD, is the original form of data transmission developed for the GSM mobile phone system. ... The Personal Handy-phone System (PHS), also marketed as the Personal Access System (PAS) and known as Xiaolingtong (å°çµé€š) 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: ì™€ì´ë¸Œë¡œ) is a wireless broadband Internet technology being developed by the Korean telecoms industry. ... Cellular frequencies - the general term which unites radio frequencies utilized by cellular networks to provide service to their subscribers. ... 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. ... Cellular frequencies - the general term which unites radio frequencies utilized by cellular networks to provide service to their subscribers. ... 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. ... 3G is the third generation of mobile phone standards and technology, after 2G. It is based on the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) family of standards under the International Mobile Telecommunications programme, IMT-2000. 3G technologies enable network operators to offer users a wider range of more advanced services while achieving... Motorola T2288 mobile phone A mobile phone is a portable electronic device which behaves as a normal telephone whilst being able to move over a wide area (compare cordless phone which acts as a telephone only within a limited range). ... W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) is a type of 3G cellular network. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is an international organization established to standardize and regulate international radio and telecommunications. ... IMT-2000 (International Mobile Telecommunications-2000) is the global standard for third generation (3G) wireless communications as defined by the International Telecommunication Union. ... 3G is the third generation of mobile phone standards and technology, after 2G. It is based on the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) family of standards under the International Mobile Telecommunications programme, IMT-2000. 3G technologies enable network operators to offer users a wider range of more advanced services while achieving...

To differentiate UMTS from competing network technologies, UMTS is sometimes marketed as 3GSM, emphasizing the combination of the 3G nature of the technology and the GSM standard which it was designed to succeed. The Global System for Mobile communications (GSM: originally from Groupe SpÃ©cial Mobile) is the most popular standard for mobile phones in the world. ...

1 Preface
2 Features
3 Deployment
4 Technology
5 3G external modems
6 Interoperability and global roaming
7 Spectrum allocation
8 Other competing standards
9 Problems and issues
10 See also
11 Literature
12 References
13 External links

Preface

This article discusses the technology, business, usage and other aspects encompassing and surrounding UMTS, the 3G successor to GSM which utilizes the W-CDMA air interface and GSM infrastructures. Any issues relating strictly to the W-CDMA interface itself may be better described in the W-CDMA page. {stub} In mobile communication, the air interface is the radio-frequency portion of the circuit between the mobile station and the active base station. ... W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) is a type of 3G cellular network. ...

Features

UMTS, using W-CDMA, supports up to 14.0 Mbit/s data transfer rates in theory (with HSDPA), although at the moment users in deployed networks can expect a transfer rate of up to 384 kbit/s for R99 handsets, and 3.6 Mbit/s for HSDPA handsets in the downlink connection. This is still much greater than the 9.6 kbit/s of a single GSM error-corrected circuit switched data channel or multiple 9.6 kbit/s channels in HSCSD (14.4 kbit/s for CDMAOne), and—in competition to other network technologies such as CDMA2000, PHS or WLAN—offers access to the World Wide Web and other data services on mobile devices. W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) is a type of 3G cellular network. ... A megabit per second (mbps or mbit/s) is a unit of data transmission equal to 1,000 kilobits per second or 1,000,000 bits per second. ... In telecommunications, data transfer rate or just transfer rate is the average number of bits, characters, or blocks per unit time passing between equipment in a data transmission system. ... High-Speed Downlink Packet Access or HSDPA is a mobile telephony protocol. ... High-Speed Downlink Packet Access or HSDPA is a mobile telephony protocol. ... High-Speed Circuit-Switched Data (HSCSD), is a development of Circuit Switched Data, the original data transmission mechanism of the GSM mobile phone system. ... WWWs historical logo designed by Robert Cailliau The World Wide Web (commonly shortened to the Web) is a system of interlinked, hypertext documents accessed via the Internet. ...

Precursors to 3G are 2G mobile telephony systems, such as GSM, IS-95, PDC, PHS and other 2G technologies deployed in different countries. In the case of GSM, there is an evolution path from 2G, called GPRS, also known as 2.5G. GPRS supports a much better data rate (up to a theoretical maximum of 140.8 kbit/s, though typical rates are closer to 56 kbit/s) and is packet switched rather than connection oriented (circuit switched). It is deployed in many places where GSM is used. E-GPRS, or EDGE, is a further evolution of GPRS and is based on more modern coding schemes. With EDGE the actual packet data rates can reach around 180 kbit/s (effective). EDGE systems are often referred as "2.75G Systems". This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The Global System for Mobile communications (GSM: originally from Groupe SpÃ©cial Mobile) is the most popular standard for mobile phones in the world. ... Interim Standard 95 (IS-95), is the first CDMA-based digital cellular standard pioneered by Qualcomm. ... Personal Digital Cellular (PDC) is a 2G mobile phone standard developed and used exclusively in Japan. ... The Personal Handy-phone System (PHS), also marketed as the Personal Access System (PAS) and known as Xiaolingtong (å°çµé€š) 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. ... The Global System for Mobile communications (GSM: originally from Groupe SpÃ©cial Mobile) is the most popular standard for mobile phones in the world. ... 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. ... 2. ... In computer networking and telecommunications, packet switching is a communications paradigm in which packets (messages or fragments of messages) are individually routed between nodes, with no previously established communication path. ... In telecommunications, a circuit switching network is one that establishes a dedicated circuit (or channel) between nodes and terminals before the users may communicate. ... Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) or Enhanced GPRS (EGPRS), is a digital mobile phone technology that allows it to increase data transmission rate and improve data transmission reliability. ...

Since 2006, UMTS networks in many countries have been or are in the process of being upgraded with High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), sometimes known as 3.5G. Currently, HSDPA enables downlink transfer speeds of up to 7.2 Mbit/s. Work is also progressing on improving the uplink transfer speed with the High-Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA). Longer term, the 3GPP Long Term Evolution project plans to move UMTS to 4G speeds of 100 Mbit/s down and 50 Mbit/s up, using a next generation air interface technology based upon OFDM. 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. ... In radio communications, a downlink is the link from a satellite to a ground station. ... High-Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) is a 3G mobile telephony protocol in the HSPA family with up-link speeds up to 5. ... 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. ... Orthogonal frequency division modulation (OFDM, also called orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) is a technique for the modulation of digital information onto an analog carrier electromagnetic (e. ...

UMTS supports mobile videoconferencing, although experience in Japan and elsewhere has shown that user demand for video calls is not very high. Categories: Wikipedia cleanup | Groupware | Telecommunications stubs ...

Other possible uses for UMTS include the downloading of music and video content, as well as live TV.

Deployment

See also: List of Deployed UMTS networks

Beginning in 2003 under the name 3, Hutchison Whampoa gradually launched their startup UMTS networks worldwide including Australia, Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Italy, United Kingdom, Ireland and Sweden. ...

Technology

The following information does not apply to non-UMTS systems that use the W-CDMA air interface, such as FOMA W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) is a type of 3G cellular network. ... The word Foma has several meanings: Foma is a term in the fictional Bokononist religion in Kurt Vonneguts novel Cats Cradle. ...

UMTS combines the W-CDMA, TD-CDMA, or TD-SCDMA air interfaces, GSM's Mobile Application Part (MAP) core, and the GSM family of speech codecs. In the most popular cellular mobile telephone variant of UMTS, W-CDMA is currently used. Note that other wireless standards use W-CDMA as their air interface, including FOMA. W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) is a type of 3G cellular network. ... 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... The Global System for Mobile communications (GSM: originally from Groupe SpÃ©cial Mobile) is the most popular standard for mobile phones in the world. ... W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) is a type of 3G cellular network. ... W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) is a type of 3G cellular network. ... 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. ...

UMTS over W-CDMA uses a pair of 5 MHz channels. In contrast, the competing CDMA2000 system uses one or more arbitrary 1.25 MHz channels for each direction of communication. UMTS and other W-CDMA systems are widely criticized for their large spectrum usage, which has delayed deployment in countries that acted relatively slowly in allocating new frequencies specifically for 3G services (such as the United States). CDMA2000 is a hybrid 2. ...

The specific frequency bands originally defined by the UMTS standard are 1885-2025 MHz for the mobile-to-base (uplink) and 2110-2200 MHz for the base-to-mobile (downlink). In the US, 1710-1755 MHz and 2110-2155 MHz will be used instead, as the 1900 MHz band was already utlized.^[1] Additionally, in some countries UMTS operators use the 850 MHz and 1900 MHz bands (independently, meaning uplink and downlink are within the same band), notably in the US by AT&T Mobility. A band is a small section of the spectrum of radio communication frequencies, in which channels are usually used or set aside for the same purpose. ... This article is about the wireless subsidiary of AT&T. For the defunct wireless provider that was merged into Cingular in 2004, see AT&T Wireless Services. ...

For existing GSM operators, it is a simple but costly migration path to UMTS: much of the infrastructure is shared with GSM, but the cost of obtaining new spectrum licenses and overlaying UMTS at existing towers can be prohibitively expensive.

A major difference of UMTS compared to GSM is the air interface forming Generic Radio Access Network (GeRAN). It can be connected to various backbone networks like the Internet, ISDN, GSM or to a UMTS network. GeRAN includes the three lowest layers of OSI model. The network layer (OSI 3) protocols form the Radio Resource Management protocol (RRM). They manage the bearer channels between the mobile terminals and the fixed network including the handovers. Look up Backbone in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... ISDN redirects here. ... The Open Systems Interconnection Basic Reference Model (OSI Reference Model or OSI Model for short) is a layered, abstract description for communications and computer network protocol design, developed as part of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) initiative. ... Radio resource management (RRM) is the system level control of radio transmission characteristics in wireless communication systems, for example cellular networks, wireless networks and broadcasting systems. ...

3G external modems

Using a cellular router, PCMCIA or USB card, customers are able to access 3G broadband services, regardless of their choice of computer (such as a tablet PC or a PDA). Some software installs itself from the modem, so that in some cases absolutely no knowledge of technology is required to get online in moments. Cellular routers (sometimes known as 3G Routers) are routers that provide shared Internet access by incorporating a cellular data modem as a WAN interface. ... A Tablet PC is a notebook- or slate-shaped mobile computer. ... Look up Personal digital assistant in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Installation can be used to refer to Installation (computer programs), the act and the effect of putting a program in a computer system to be run Installation art, art that, through the use of sculptural materials and other media, seeks to modify the way we experience a particular space Install... Online means being connected to the Internet or another similar electronic network, like a bulletin board system. ...

Using a phone that supports 3G and Bluetooth 2.0, multiple Bluetooth-capable laptops can be connected to the Internet. The phone acts as a router, but via Bluetooth rather than wireless networking (802.11) or a USB connection. Bluetooth logo This article is about the electronic protocol named after Harald Bluetooth Gormson. ...

Interoperability and global roaming

At the air interface level, UMTS itself is incompatible with GSM. UMTS phones and UMTS data cards sold in Europe, much of Asia, and South Africa, are UMTS/GSM dual-mode devices, hence they are backwards compatible with regular GSM networks. (As of 2007, some of these devices can be obtained in the United States as well, from independent resale channels not affiliated with the major carriers there.) If a UMTS customer travels to an area without UMTS coverage, a UMTS phone will automatically switch to GSM (roaming charges may apply). If the customer travels outside of UMTS coverage during a call, the call will be transparently handed off to available GSM coverage.

Regular GSM phones cannot be used on the UMTS networks.

This article or section deals primarily with the United States and does not represent a worldwide view of the subject.
Please improve this article or discuss the issue on the talk page.

Softbank (formerly Vodafone Japan, formerly J-Phone) operates a 3G network based on UMTS compatible W-CDMA technology, that launched in December 2002. Lack of investment in the network through 2003 meant that coverage was slow to expand and subscriber numbers remained low. The network was publicly relaunched in October 2004 and again in 2005, and Vodafone now claims network coverage of 99% of the population, while 15% of their subscribers are 3G users. Image File history File links Gnome-globe. ... Vodafone K.K. (ãƒœãƒ¼ãƒ€ãƒ•ã‚©ãƒ³æ ªå¼ä¼šç¤¾) (to be changed into a new name and brand shortly), also known as Vodafone Japan and previously as J-Phone, was the Japanese subsidiary company of mobile phone operator Vodafone. ... W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) is a type of 3G cellular network. ...

NTT DoCoMo's 3G network, FOMA, was the first commercial network using W-CDMA since 2002. The first W-CDMA version used by NTT DoCoMo was incompatible with the UMTS standard at the radio level, however USIM cards used by FOMA phones are compatible with GSM phones, so that USIM card based roaming is possible from Japan to GSM areas without any problem. Today the NTT DoCoMo network — as well as all the W-CDMA networks in the world — use the standard version of UMTS, allowing potential global roaming. Whether and under which conditions roaming can actually be used by subscribers depends on the commercial agreements between operators. A building of NTT DoCoMo in Shinagawa, Tokyo. ... 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. ... W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) is a type of 3G cellular network. ... 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. ... 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. ...

All UMTS/GSM dual-mode phones should accept existing GSM SIM cards. Sometimes, you are allowed to roam on UMTS networks using GSM SIM cards from the same provider. It has been suggested that Virtual sim be merged into this article or section. ...

In the United States, UMTS is currently offered by AT&T Mobility on 850 MHz and 1900 MHz, due to the limitations of the spectrum available to them at the time they launched UMTS service. T-Mobile will be rolling out UMTS on the 2100/1700 MHz frequencies in mid 2007.^{[citation needed]} Because of the frequencies used, early models of UMTS phones designated for the US will likely not be operable overseas and vice versa; other standards, notably GSM, have faced similar problems, an issue dealt with by the adoption of multi-band phones. Most UMTS licensees seem to consider ubiquitous, transparent global roaming an important issue. This article is about the wireless subsidiary of AT&T. For the defunct wireless provider that was merged into Cingular in 2004, see AT&T Wireless Services. ... Quad band literally means four (4) bands. ... 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. ...

Spectrum allocation

Main article: UMTS frequency bands

Over 120 licenses have already been awarded to operators worldwide (as of December 2004), specifying W-CDMA radio access technology that builds on GSM. In Europe, the license process occurred at the end of the technology bubble, and the auction mechanisms for allocation set up in some countries resulted in some extremely high prices being paid, notable in the UK and Germany. In Germany, bidders paid a total 50.8 billion euros for six licenses, two of which were subsequently abandoned and written off by their purchasers (Mobilcom and the Sonera/Telefonica consortium). It has been suggested that these huge license fees have the character of a very large tax paid on income expected 10 years down the road - in any event they put some European telecom operators close to bankruptcy (most notably KPN). Over the last few years some operators have written off some or all of the license costs. 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. ... W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) is a type of 3G cellular network. ... The Global System for Mobile communications (GSM: originally from Groupe SpÃ©cial Mobile) is the most popular standard for mobile phones in the world. ... TeliaSonera AB is the result of a merger between the Swedish and Finnish telecommunications companies, Telia and Sonera. ... Telefónica S.A. (NYSE: TEF) (TYO: 9481) is the national telephone network operator (telco) in Spain. ... KPN (in full Koninklijke KPN N.V., Royal KPN NV) (NYSE: KPN) is a Dutch fixed-line and mobile telecommunications company, including both 2G and 3G mobile operations. ...

The UMTS spectrum allocated in Europe is already used in North America. The 1900 MHz range is used for 2G (PCS) services, and 2100 MHz range is used for satellite communications. Regulators have however, freed up some of the 2100 MHz range for 3G services, together with the 1700 MHz for the uplink. UMTS operators in North America who want to implement a European style 2100/1900 MHz system will have to share spectrum with existing 2G services in the 1900 MHz band. 2G GSM services elsewhere use 900 MHz and 1800 MHz and therefore do not share any spectrum with planned UMTS services. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... 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. ...

AT&T Wireless launched UMTS services in the United States by the end of 2004 strictly using the existing 1900 MHz spectrum allocated for 2G PCS services. Cingular acquired AT&T Wireless in 2004 and has since then launched UMTS in select US cities. Initial rollout of UMTS in Canada will also be handled exclusively by the 1900 MHz band. T-Mobile's roll-out of UMTS in the US will focus on the 2100/1700 MHz bands just auctioned.

Cingular Wireless is rolling out some cities with a UMTS network at 850 MHz to enhance its existing UMTS network at 1900 MHz and now offers subscribers a number of UMTS 850/1900 phones. In Australia, Telstra rolled out the NextG network, a 3G UMTS network operating in the 850 MHz band to replace the existing CDMA network (February 2008) and enhance its existing 2100 MHz UMTS network. The 850 MHz band provides greater coverage compared to equivalent 1700/1900/2100Mhz networks, and is best suited to regional areas where greater distances separate subscriber and base station. Telstra Corporation (ASX: , NZX: TLS, NYSE: TLS) (formed from Telecom Australia) is an Australian telecommunications and media company under private ownership, with a dominant position in landline telephone services, a large share of mobile phone services, domestic consumer (including dial-up access, 50% of Broadband internet broadband cable modem, satellite...

Other competing standards

There are other competing 3G standards, such as FOMA, CDMA2000 and TD-SCDMA, though UMTS can use the latter's air interface standard. FOMA and UMTS similarly share the W-CDMA air interface system. The word Foma has several meanings: Foma is a term in the fictional Bokononist religion in Kurt Vonneguts novel Cats Cradle. ... CDMA2000 is a hybrid 2. ... 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...

On the Internet access side, competing systems include WiMAX and Flash-OFDM. Different variants of UMTS compete with different standards. While this article has largely discussed UMTS-FDD, a form oriented for use in conventional cellular-type spectrum, UMTS-TDD, a system based upon a TD-CDMA air interface, is used to provide UMTS service where the uplink and downlink share the same spectrum, and is very efficient at providing asymmetric access. It provides more direct competition with WiMAX and similar Internet-access oriented systems than conventional UMTS. 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. ... A high-speed mobile broadband internet solution developed by Flarion Technologies. ... 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. ...

Both the CDMA2000 and W-CDMA air interface systems are accepted by ITU as part of the IMT-2000 family of 3G standards, in addition to UMTS-TDD's TD-CDMA, Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) and China's own 3G standard, TD-SCDMA. IMT-2000 (International Mobile Telecommunications-2000) is the global standard for third generation (3G) wireless communications as defined by the International Telecommunication Union. ... 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. ... Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) or Enhanced GPRS (EGPRS), is a digital mobile phone technology that allows it to increase data transmission rate and improve data transmission reliability. ... 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...

CDMA2000's narrower bandwidth requirements make it easier than UMTS to deploy in existing spectrum along with legacy standards. In some, but not all, cases, existing GSM operators only have enough spectrum to implement either UMTS or GSM, not both. For example, in the US D, E, and F PCS spectrum blocks, the amount of spectrum available is 5 MHz in each direction. A standard UMTS system would saturate that spectrum. CDMA2000 is a hybrid 2. ...

In many markets however, the co-existence issue is of little relevance, as legislative hurdles exist to co-deploying two standards in the same licensed slice of spectrum.

Most GSM operators in North America as well as others around the world have accepted EDGE as a temporary 3G solution. AT&T Wireless launched EDGE nationwide in 2003, AT&T launched EDGE in most markets and T-Mobile USA has launched EDGE nationwide as of October 2005. Rogers Wireless launched nation-wide EDGE service in late 2003 for the Canadian market. Bitė Lietuva (Lithuania) was one of the first operators in Europe to launch EDGE in December 2003. TIM (Italy) launched EDGE in 2004. The benefit of EDGE is that it leverages existing GSM spectrums and is compatible with existing GSM handsets. It is also much easier, quicker, and considerably cheaper for wireless carriers to "bolt-on" EDGE functionality by upgrading their existing GSM transmission hardware to support EDGE than having to install almost all brand-new equipment to deliver UMTS. EDGE provides a short-term upgrade path for GSM operators and directly competes with CDMA2000. Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) or Enhanced GPRS (EGPRS), is a digital mobile phone technology that allows it to increase data transmission rate and improve data transmission reliability. ...

Problems and issues

Some countries, such as the United States and Japan, have allocated spectrum differently from the ITU Recommendations, so that the spectrum bands most commonly used for UMTS (UMTS-2100) have not been available. In those countries, alternative bands are used, preventing the interoperability of existing UMTS-2100 equipment, and requiring the design and manufacture of different equipment for the use in these markets. As is the case with GSM today, this presumably will mean that standard UMTS equipment will not work in those markets, and some will work only in them, while some more-expensive equipment may be available that works in all markets. It also diminishes the economy of scale and benefit to users and network providers from the network effect that would have existed if these few countries had harmonized their regulations with the remaining world. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is an international organization established to standardize and regulate international radio and telecommunications. ... ... A network effect is a characteristic that causes a good or service to have a value to a potential customer which depends on the number of other customers who own the good or are users of the service. ...

In the early days of UMTS there were issues with rollout:

overweight handsets with poor battery life;
problems with handover from UMTS to GSM, connections being dropped or handovers only possible in one direction (UMTS → GSM) with the handset only changing back to UMTS after hanging up, even if UMTS coverage returns—in most networks around the world this is no longer an issue;
for fully fledged UMTS incorporating Video on Demand features, one base station needs to be set up every 1–1.5 km (0.62–0.93 mi). While this is economically feasible in urban areas, it is infeasible in less populated suburban and rural areas;
in Ireland, Severe issues were encountered by users of 3G mobile broadband data modems on the rollout of their mobile broadband. It is not compatible with SMTP email programs and it is not possible to “pop” your hotmail to Microsoft Outlook. It is also not possible to receive automatic Software Updates on Apple computers as the internet connection “times out”.

Some of these issues may still be ongoing; for instance, Apple, Inc. cited UMTS power consumption as the reason that the iPhone only supports EDGE. Video on demand (VOD) systems allow users to select and watch video and clip content over a network as part of an interactive television system. ... The term base station can be used in the context of land surveying, wireless computer networking, and wireless communications. ... â€œkmâ€ redirects here. ... â€œMilesâ€ redirects here. ... Apple Inc. ... The correct title of this article is . ... Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) or Enhanced GPRS (EGPRS), is a digital mobile phone technology that allows it to increase data transmission rate and improve data transmission reliability. ...

Literature

Martin Sauter: Communication Systems for the Mobile Information Society, John Wiley, September 2006, ISBN 0-470-02676-6

References

^ The FCC's Advanced Wireless Services bandplan

External links

The external links in this article may not comply with Wikipedia's content policies.
Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links.

GSM/UMTS market statistics from the 'Global mobile suppliers association'
3GPP Specifications Numbering Scheme
3GPP document listing all UMTS Technical Standards for Release 6 and earlier
Vocabulary for 3GPP Specifications, up to Release 8
UMTS FAQ on UMTS World d
Worldwide W-CDMA frequency allocations on UMTS World
UMTS TDD Alliance The Global UMTS TDD Alliance
3GToday.com
3GSM World Congress

Results from FactBites:

UMTS: Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systems (4683 words)
	Current wireless or mobile systems, despite their evolution, are still constrained in terms of the data rate they can offer and their flexibility to manipulate complex, yet user-friendly multimedia services.
	The system seeks to build on and extend the capability of todays mobile, cordless, and satellite technologies by providing increased capacity and data capability as well as a far greater range of services using an innovative radio access scheme and an enhanced, evolving core network (Struthers, 1998).
	The system will be a member of a new family of mobile telecommunications systems being developed by the ITU for deployment across the world.

Universal Mobile Telecommunications System - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (2534 words)
	Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is one of the third-generation (3G) mobile phone technologies.
	In Singapore, Singapore Telecommunications started their trial during December 2004 and it was successfully launched during March 2005 followed by StarHub and MobileOne.
	UMTS and other W-CDMA systems are widely criticized for their large spectrum usage, which has delayed deployment in countries that have not allocated new frequencies specifically for UMTS (such as the United States).

More results at FactBites »

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