These were purely analog systems, conceived and developed exclusively for making voice calls and some other modest capabilities. In the days of 1G, no one thought about data service. Although several generations of mobile services existed before, the three AMPS, TACS, and NMT are considered the first generation ( 1G), because it was these technologies that made mobile phones a mass product.
The story begins with the advent of several innovative network technologies in the 1980s: AMPS in the USA and a combination of TACS and NMT in Europe. Applying the definition of “generation” in this context leads to the confusion that we will try to understand.
To begin, “ G” means “ generation”, so when you hear that someone is referring to a “5G network”, it means that they are talking about a wireless network based on fifth-generation technology. What is 5G? This is higher than 4G, but does that mean better? Why do all major US telecommunications operators unexpectedly call their 4G networks? Why are they in such a hurry to rename them to 5G? Answers to these questions require a short excursion into the history of wireless technology. Those gloomy days are already far behind, but promising new-generation wireless high-speed data networks continue to appear around the world, and many things begin to seem confusing. They could not upload a 15-megapixel photo on Instagram, snap-in Snapchat and, of course, could not turn into a wireless access point. No social networks, messaging, uploading photos or streaming video in HD format. 1ĥG has significantly lower latency to deliver more instantaneous, real-time access: a 10x decrease in end-to-end latency down to 1ms.Do you remember the time when mobile phones were still called “phones”, not smartphones, not superphones…, just “phones”? These devices were stored in our pockets and could make calls. 5G can also natively support all spectrum types (licensed, shared, unlicensed) and bands (low, mid, high), a wide range of deployment models (from traditional macro-cells to hotspots), and new ways to interconnect (such as device-to-device and multi-hop mesh).ĥG is also designed to get the most out of every bit of spectrum across a wide array of available spectrum regulatory paradigms and bands-from low bands below 1 GHz, to mid bands from 1 GHz to 6 GHz, to high bands known as millimeter wave (mmWave).ĥG can be significantly faster than 4G, delivering up to 20 Gigabits-per-second (Gbps) peak data rates and 100+ Megabits-per-second (Mbps) average data rates.ĥG is designed to support a 100x increase in traffic capacity and network efficiency. While 4G LTE focused on delivering much faster mobile broadband services than 3G, 5G is designed to be a unified, more capable platform that not only elevates mobile broadband experiences, but also supports new services such as mission-critical communications and the massive IoT.
CDMA2000).Ģ010s: 4G LTE ushered in the era of mobile broadband.ġG, 2G, 3G, and 4G all led to 5G, which is designed to provide more connectivity than was ever available before.ĥG is a unified, more capable air interface.
1G TO 5G TECHNOLOGY CODE
Įarly 1990s: 2G introduced digital voice (e.g. CDMA- Code Division Multiple Access).Įarly 2000s: 3G brought mobile data (e.g. The previous generations of mobile networks are 1G, 2G, 3G, and 4G. Higher performance and improved efficiency empower new user experiences and connects new industries. 5G wireless technology is meant to deliver higher multi-Gbps peak data speeds, ultra low latency, more reliability, massive network capacity, increased availability, and a more uniform user experience to more users.