EDGE vs GPRS
GPRS was a real hit in the cell phone industry. Almost all the telecom service provider now offers GPRS services. Internet access via GPRS on the mobile phones is common these days. I used it with Airtel. All you need is a GPRS enabled mobile phone. But now it is the age of 3G driven by EDGE technology. EDGE or Enhanced Data rate for GSM Evolution, I heard a year ago that this technology was introduced in Europe and mostly used with iphones for global internet connectivity. Also that it allows global roaming facility. Its high data transfer rate of 384 kbps is 3 times the data transfer rate as compared to GPRS. It consists of the 8 pattern time slot, and the speed of 384 kbps could be achieved when all the 8 time slots were used. Based on an 8 PSK modulation, it allows higher bit rate across the aerial Interface. 3 bits represents one symbol. And EDGE Rate = 3x GPRS Rate. (Got this from tripod.com).
EDGE is nothing but EGPRS. GPRS uses various radio channel coding schemes allow bitrates from 9 to over 171.2 kbit/s (if device were to use all 8 channels without error correction) per user. And one more thing, EDGE is not related directly to 3G, rather EDGE belongs to 2.5 G category. GPRS belongs to 2G.
Discussion Area - Leave a Comment