Mobile Video and the Association between Short Message System (SMS) and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), and the Progress Toward Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)
Exchanging SMS messages, technically defined as Short Message System (SMS), but also known as “texting”, is a straightforward, easy, and convenient means to communicate between mobile devices. Not just a very good system for people to correspond, SMS can be a useful means for software applications to exchange simple messages, and even setup commands, to and from mobile devices. SMS texting does not need a direct connection between mobile phones; the communications infrastructure for the system is already in position, and it functions across most mobile service providers. One characteristic of text messaging that makes it particularly practical for mobile software applications is that it uses mobile device fixed identity, the phone number. This functionality provide a distinct benefit over other technologies that rely on IP addresses because a cell phone IP address can vary depending on current network.
Short Message Service (SMS) is a communication service component of the GSM mobile communication system. It utilizes standardized communications rules that allow the exchange of short text messages between mobile phones. SMS texting is the most commonly used data application around the globe, boasting almost two and a half billion active users, or three quarters of all cell phone subscribers.
SMS text messaging as used on modern mobile phones was originally included as part of the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) series of standards in 1985 as a system of transferring messages of up to 160 characters, to and from GSM mobile handsets. Since the mid-eighties service support has expanded to comprise other mobile technology such as ANSI CDMA networks and Digital AMPS, as well as satellite and landline networks. The majority of SMS messages are mobile-to-mobile text messages, though the standard supports other types of broadcast messaging as well. Computer to smartphone SMS capabilities are also growing rapidly.
GSM was initially known as Groupe Spécial Mobile. It is the most popular standard for mobile telephone systems on the planet. The GSM Association, the promoting trade organization of mobile phone network providers and manufacturers, estimates that about 80% of the global mobile market uses the standard. GSM is utilized by over 3 billion people across more than 212 countries and territories. Its ubiquity allows international roaming agreements between mobile phone operators, providing subscribers the use of their cell phones all over the world. GSM has evolved from its predecessor technologies in that both signaling and speech channels are digital. This means GSM is thought of as a second generation (2G) mobile phone system. This also eases the wide-spread deployment of data communication applications.
Recent versions of the standard are backward-compatible with the original GSM system. Release ‘97 of the standard added packet data capabilities using General Packet Radio Service (GPRS). Release ‘99 introduced high speed data transmission through Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE).
General packet radio service (GPRS) is a packet oriented mobile data service available to users of the 2G and 3G GSM. In 2G systems. GPRS data transfer is usually billed per megabyte of traffictransferred, while data communication via traditional circuit switching is billed per minute of connection time, independent of whether or not the subscriber actually is using the capacity or if it is in an idle state. GPRS is a best-effort packet switched service, as opposed to circuit switching, that has assured quality of service during the connection for non-mobile users.
2G cellular systems combined with GPRS are often called 2.5G. 2.5G is a technology bridge between the second (2G) and third (3G) generations of mobile device telephony. It delivers moderate-speed data transfer, by using unused time division multiple access (TDMA) channels. Initially it was intended to broaden GPRS to cover other standards, however these networks are converting to the GSM standard. GPRS is integrated into GSM Release 97 and newer releases.
GPRS was created as a GSM reaction to the earlier CDPD and i-mode packet switched cellular technologies. Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) was a wide-area mobile data service which used unused bandwidth normally used by AMPS mobile phones. It was discontinued in conjunction with the discontinuation of the parent AMPS service.
CDPD was developed in the early 1990’s, and was seen as a future technology. However, it had competition from existing slower but less expensive Mobitex and DataTac systems. CDPD never gained common acceptance before newer, faster standards such as GPRS earned widespread acceptance and started dominating.
For consumers CDPD had very limited appeal. AT&T Wireless initially sold the technology in the US under the brandname PocketNet, one of the very first consumer wireless web service products. Cingular Wireless later offered CDPD under the Wireless Internet brand (as opposed to Wireless Internet Express, Cingular Wireless GPRS/EDGE data). AT&T Wireless PocketNet failed as a product launch. However, CDPD was adopted into several enterprise and government networks. It was especially popular as a first-generation wireless data solution for telemetry devices (machine to machine communications) and for public safety mobile data terminals.
Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) (also called Enhanced GPRS (EGPRS), or IMT Single Carrier (IMT-SC), and Enhanced Data Rates for Global Evolution) is a backward-compatible digital mobile technology that provides superior data transmission rates on top of standard GSM. EDGE is considered a 3G radio technology. EDGE provides more than three-fold boost in both the capacity and performance of GSM/GPRS networks by incorporating sophisticated methods of coding and transmitting data, that produce higher bit-rates per radio channel. EDGE delivers broadband performance and can be used for high bandwidth data applications such as Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS).
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