What is GPRS Technology
Posted by on April 22, 2009 under GPRS | 
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GPRS upgrades GSM data services providing:
- Multimedia Messaging service (MMS)
- Shor message service (SMS)
- Push to talk over cellular (PoC/PTT)
- Instant messaging and presence— wireless village
- Internet applications for smart devices through wireless application protocol (WAP)
- Point to point (PTP) service: inter-networking with the Internet (IP)
- Future enhancements: flexibility to add new functions, such as more capacity, more users, new accesses, new protocols, new radio networks.
If SMS over GPRS is used, an SMS transmission speed of about 30 SMS messages per minute may be achieved. This is much faster than using the ordinary SMS over GSM, whose SMS transmission speed is about 6 to 10 SMS messages per minute.
General Packet Radio Service is used mostly in Europe and Asia. GPRS is used most commonly for cell phones. In Canada, Rogers and Fido are using GPRS.
You can send and receive emails using GPRS and browse the Internet.
General Packet Radio Service is a radio technology for GSM networks that adds packet-switching protocols, shorter set-up time for ISP connections, it also offers the possibility to charge by amount of data sent rather than connect time.
It is a new nonvoice value added service that allows information to be sent and received across a mobile telephone network. GPRS is NOT related to GPS (Global Positioning System), a similar acronym that is often used in mobile contexts. Allowing information to be transmitted more quickly, immediately and efficiently across the mobile network, GPRS may well be a relatively less costly mobile data service.
GPRS can provide instant connections subject to radio coverage. No dial-up modem connection is necessary.
The mulitple access methods used in GSM with GPRS are based on frequency division duplex (FDD) and TDMA. During a session, a user is assigned to one pair of up-link and down-link frequency channels. This is combined with time domain statical machine i.e., packet mode communication, which makes it possible for several users to share the same frequency channel.
The packets have constant length, corresponding to a GSM time slot. The down-link uses first-come-first-served packet scheduling, while the up-link uses a scheme very similar to reservation ALOHA (R-ALOHA). This means that slotted ALOHA (S-ALOHA) is used for reservation inquiries during a contention phase, and then the actual data is transferred using dynamic TDMa with first-come first-served scheduling.
