Today we are not only going to see what mobile networks are . But also how they work and what types exist . Join me in this extensive article where we talk in detail about each of these points .
What are mobile networks?
In short, it is a communication system between the control panel and the devices that connect to it . In this case it would be between the mobile device and the telecommunications company.
To summarize a bit, it is about connecting elements such as communication towers or antennas and mobile devices. The networks work over a geographic area which are generally installed in grids.
In this way and depending on the number of people estimated to use the service. An infrastructure of communication towers is installed so that the user can use his device and the information he sends is received by another person.
How does a mobile data network work?
Communication between mobile devices works by sending and receiving low-power radio signals. They travel to different nearby points, they can “jump” from antenna to antenna until they reach their destination.
When we make a phone call, what happens is that our mobile starts looking for coverage . If we have it, a connection is created between our cell phone and the closest telephone tower or station to establish the call.
This doesn’t just work this way for calls. But also with SMS and the internet .
Types of mobile networks that exist
2G or GSM
Many surely remember having used 2G connections on their mobile devices. This connection is the first for all-digital mobile phones. For little things like sending WhatsApp, communicating by voice, etc. It wasn’t working bad at all.
However, when we tried to navigate or work with a larger flow of data, it obviously became too slow since this kind of network is limited to 900 bits per second.
GPRS
We are talking about the 2.5G network which was created to try to solve the serious problem of sending unswitched data. In terms of speed, the change was remarkable since we are talking about 56000 bits. Even being able to reach 144,000 bits per second.
EDGE
This is the 2.75G network that practically passed without pain or glory to say the least. Obviously the speed was increased in every way, especially when we were close to an antenna.
3G (UMTS)
Popularly known as 3G , the change that this network brought about was notorious. The data connection was up to 384,000 bits per second . Which allowed to surf the internet more fluidly and also perform tasks such as video calls.
The way it works is basically to give priority to the devices that are close to the antenna while the ones that were further away were in the background. Surely on many occasions you heard that to save battery it was better to maintain the 2G connection, instead of the 3G .
Certainly it required more power to use 3G, this was reflected in the battery consumption.
4G (LTE)
The fourth generation is really fast. It works with Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing and solves everything that 3G coverage could not. It remains constant no matter how much there is, which gives it impressive stability.
With a 4G connection , browsing sometimes becomes much faster than doing it with a Wi-Fi connection . Although again it requires more power to function.
5G (IMT-2020)
5G promises to be a real madness in terms of speed since we are talking about a trivial capacity of 100 Mbps. It is even intended to reach 10 Gbps if certain conditions are met.
