Question for IP: 3G vs 2.5G

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: David Adams <david () osnews com>
Date: Thu, 03 Apr 2003 10:41:13 -0500
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: Question for IP: 3G vs 2.5G

I stirred up a hornet's nest of sorts last week when I published a long-term
review of my experience using the SprintPCS Vision service, particularly the
capability to connect my laptop to my phone to stay connected while
road-tripping.  My review at NewMobileComputing ended up getting
Slashdotted, and an online debate ensued over my title.  I called the Sprint
vision service "3G," and many people took exception with that, even though
in the first paragraph I explain that the current "high speed" CDMA services
and GPRS are really "2.5G."

> From the research I've done since then, I believe that I was actually right
to call Sprint's service 3G, but where I was wrong was equating GPRS and the
faster CDMA-1X.  In other words, CDMA-1X is 3G, though just barely, and the
"2.5G" moniker was originally coined to deflate the GPRS bubble, since
vendors were calling GPRS 3G, though it clearly falls short.

So my question is:  am I right?  What's the threshold for 3G, and is there
any kind of real authority on this, or is it just up to the vendors to stake
their claims?  Can anyone point me to any articles or other online resources
that cover this issue?

There seems to be so much confusion on this issue that I'd like to put
together an article to try to clear things up, but I want to be very careful
to get it right.

My article at NewMobileComputing:
http://newmobilecomputing.com/story.php?news_id=3014

Debate at Slashdot:
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/03/26/1542246&tid=193



David Adams
Publisher
OS News, NewMobileComputing
202-321-2512
www.osnews.com
www.newmobilecomputing.com


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