Mobile communication technologies constitute the technical foundations of m-commerce. Such technologies have evolved from first-generation (1G) technologies of the 1980s to third-generation technologies of early 2000s. Further evolution into 4G (and even 5G) is already being planned and promoted by leading mobile technology players. The table below provides brief comparisons of these evolving generations.
Characteristics | IG | 2G | 3G | 4G |
---|---|---|---|---|
General Aspects | ||||
Approximate Start | 1981 | 1991 | 2000 | 2006 (first deployments) |
Analog or Digital | Analog | Mostly analog | Mostly digital | All digital |
Traffic Type | Voice | Mostly voice | Voice and data | Multimedia |
Network Architecture | ||||
Network Coverage | Metropolitan area networks | Wide area networks | Wide area networks, some LAN links | Hybrid: seamless LAN, MAN, & WAN integration |
Switching | Circuit-switched | Mostly circuit-switched | Mostly packet-switched | All packet-switched |
Terminal Devices | Clunky large phones | Variety of phones and handhelds | Variety of phones, handhelds, laptops, electronic devices | Vast variety of terminals, especially high-end portable audio and video devices |
Standards and Protocols | ||||
Network Standards and Protocols | NMT, AMPS, TACS | GSM, TDMS, CDMA, PDC-JDC, PCS | IMT-flavors, including UMTS, CDMA-FDD, W-CDMA, EDGE, DECT | OFDM, MC-CDMA, LAS-CDMA |
Devices | Network-proprietary phones | Variety of phones and some handheld devices | Emergence of multimedia devices | Multiple input, Multiple output (MIMO) "smart" antenna, multimedia devices |
Transmission Rates | ||||
Data Transmission Rates | No data transmission | Up to 64 Kbps | 384 Kbps to 2 Mbps | 50 to 100 Mbps |
Roaming and Handovers | ||||
Roaming | Within defined metropolitan area | Roaming within same-type network | Roaming across networks | Global roaming |
Handovers | Very limited handovers | Cell-to- cell handovers within a network, cross-network handover agreements | Goal of smooth 2G-3G handovers for interworkability and backward compatibility, some WAN to LAN handoffs | Seamless handover within/across all generations and types of networks |
Quality of Service | ||||
QoS Standards and Experience | No QoS standards or expectations | Frequent dropped calls, QoS a competitive factor for Digital PCS, etc. | Efforts to monitor, control, negotiate, and guarantee QoS levels | At least 99.99% reliability expected (similar to wireline networks) |
Security | ||||
Transmission Security | Insecure transmission | Authentication and encryption algorithms introduced ‚ relatively weak | High data integrity, secure links, 2GPP-specified strong security levels | Highly secure transmissions |
Source: Author's Research |