Mobile communication: what is EDGE

Historically, the life of a modern person becomes more and more informational every year. Not always there is an opportunity in daily vanity to catch from an information stream interesting news, the description of technological novelties or simply the recipe of a new dish from "old" products.

Today we will talk about EDGE (pronounced Edge). What is the EDGE network? In fact, this combination of letters GPRS / EDGE refers to mobile communications. More precisely, we are talking about the technology of data transmission over long distances without the use of wires. In addition to voice communication, operators provide the ability to transfer data via mobile phones.

*** Brief information: all the usual mobile phones are able to transmit / receive data (information in digital form) - photos, music, video, text. In addition, the ability to transfer data allows you to use in mobile phones mobile versions of programs for communication (SKIP, ICQ), using the browser to browse the pages of Internet resources.

The subscriber is paid not for the time spent on the network, but for the number of downloaded / transmitted information (traffic). The use of packet data does not interfere with voice communication - the line is not busy, you can talk and transmit / receive data in parallel.

Initially, the data in the networks of mobile operators were made using GPRS technology (transmission speed up to 171.2 kbit / s, real - within 30 kbit / s). These speeds are clearly not enough for comfortable work with data. In 2004, several US cellular operators began using the new EDGE standard for data transfer. What is EDGE? Standard, in which the data transfer rate was three times higher than when using GPRS. This significantly increased the attractiveness of their proposals in comparison with competitors.

Gradually EDGE moved overseas and spread among European mobile operators. The question, what is EDGE, is still relevant today. There is a simple explanation for this. Today, the EDGE network successfully works there, where higher data rates (third generation 3G networks) have not yet reached. Thus, EDGE is the "today" of our mobile communication.

Why is data transfer so important? After all, mobile communication is designed for voice communication. At first glance this, of course, is so. But in business there is such a thing as "average revenue per subscriber". Even so, subscribers use voice communications. If, in addition to voice communication, to the package of services provided, we add mobile traffic with good speed and at a "pleasant price" - this will significantly increase the amount of money that subscribers will spend each month on communication.

Due to mass demand, which was successfully formed by the players in the telecommunications market, GPRS / EDGE-based services began to generate substantial revenue and significantly increased the amount of money that an average subscriber spends on cellular communications. If we are still considering what EDGE is, then the potential of the mobile Internet is not yet fully disclosed, we have something to strive for.

Overview of services provided by mobile operators today allows us to note a noticeable increase in the consumption of mobile traffic. Given the availability of relatively inexpensive unlimited Internet and not very developed 3G coverage, it can be predicted that the EDGE standard will not be available for retirement very soon. Numerous "smart" gadgets and the trend of "mobility" among the population from 5 to 35 years provide a steadily growing demand for mobile traffic.

In the West, already working at full speed with the networks of the fourth generation, we also have a third generation did not stick. Normal stable operation and 3G coverage is still only available in megacities, and even then not in all. However, this is not a reason to lament the lost dreams and hopelessly lost prospects. The question, what is EDGE, we safely examined. And everything else is still "very much possible" - globalization and the search for new markets make us very attractive for transnational corporations. Experts piously believe that we will not be circumvented by the benefits of scientific and technological progress. It just happens a little later than the rest.