2G Wireless System

2g network concerns with the second generation wireless telecommunication technology. The 2g technology uses digital radio signals, while its predecessor, 1G, was based on analog radio signals.

What the market needs today is the 2g wireless technology, capable of servicing complex commercial relationships and second generation of b-to-b ecommerce systems all across the world. For the future of e-commerce, strategic buying and selling where the action is, there is a growing need to develop dynamic commercial relationships. 2g technologies focus just on that – to unleash the potential of the Internet to transform commercial relationships. 2G mobile technologies allows much greater access enabling different mobile phone networks to offer services like text messages, picture messages and MMS.

About 2G Technology Capacity

The recent technological developments have made it possible for operators to get more value out of 2G technology. The last five years have seen a lot of technological innovations taking place in 2G technology, thus improving the 2g technology capacity. The prime focus of this page is to shed light on the capacity in 2g technologies and the recent developments in this area.

Some of the latest innovations have resulted in delivery of a higher 2g technology system capacity, thus improving on its efficiency and working. Many technological developments have been initiated to increase the capacity of 2g technology, widening the bandwidth of the networks. This also enables the operators to offer new services in these platforms.

The 2g technology capacity between the handsets and the towers can be increased in two ways, by using digital signals.

First, through the use of various codecs the digital voice data can be condensed and multiplexed much more successfully than analog voice encodings. This improves the 2g technology capacity and allows more calls to be packed into the same amount of radio bandwidth.

The second way to increase the capacity of 2g technology is to focus on the cells. As the digital systems are designed to emit less radio power from the handsets, it means that the cells could be smaller. Smaller cells mean that more cells could be placed in the same amount of space. This also made the related equipment to get less expensive.

What Is 2G Technology?

2g technologies are based on what type of multiplexing is employed, for instance, the procedure of merging multiple digital data streams into one signal. Classified by whether they are based on time division multiple access (TDMA) or code division multiple access (CDMA), the 2G standards may include the following: Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (IDEN) or Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), used worldwide. Digital Advanced Mobile Phone System (D-AMPS) is used in North and South America, while Personal Digital Cellular (PDC) is used in Japan.

2G telecom networks were commercially launched in 1991 on the GSM standard in Finland. The 2G systems were found to be considerably more efficient on the spectrum, allowing far greater mobile phone penetration levels. Moreover, the phone conversations were digitally encrypted.

Getting on with the meaning of 2g technology, 2G makes use of a CODEC or compression-decompression algorithm for compressing and to multiplex digital voice data. Using this technology, it is possible for a 2G network to bundle more calls per amount of bandwidth. As the data is transmitted through digital signals, 2G also offers extra services such as SMS and e-mail. Moreover the battery lasts longer due to the lower-powered radio signals. Digital voice encoding, offering a feature of error checking, also improves the sound quality by reducing dynamic and lowering the noise floor.

Although 2g technologies have much more benefits to offer over its predecessors, it has a few disadvantages as well. The 2G's digital signals are very dependent on location and proximity. A call made from far away may not allow the digital signal to be strong enough to reach it. Moreover, the digital signals used in 2g technologies have a jagged, angular curve, which can fail completely under unsuitable conditions.

How 2G Technology Works?

The 2G technology or Second generation technology was launched in Finland in 1991.In this article, we will focus on the working of 2g technologies and the technology of 2g. The technology behind 2g is based on GSM or in other words global system for communication.

Depending on the type of multiplexing used, the 2G technologies are divided into TDMA-based (time division multiple access) and CDMA-based standards (code division multiple access). While the TDMA allows for the division of signal into time slots, the CDMA on the other hand allocates each user a special code to communicate over a multiplex physical channel. TDMA assigns each call a certain portion of time on a designated frequency and the CDMA gives a unique code to each call, thus spreading it over the available frequencies. The last part of each name, which is multiple access, simply means that more than one user can make use of each cell.

The main standards for technology behind 2g are:

GSM 
TDMA-based, although it originated in Europe, this is used in almost all countries on all the main continents. Accounting for more than 80% of all subscribers around the world, CDMA2000 in the 450 MHz frequency is used by over 60 GSM operators.

IS-95 aka cdmaOne

CDMA-based, this technology of 2g is used in parts of America and Asia. Used by about 17% of all subscribers globally, one sees many CDMA operators migrating to GSM in countries like Mexico, India, Australia and South Korea.

PDC
TDMA-based, this is used exclusively in Japan

iDEN
TDMA-based, this proprietary network is in use by Nextel in the United States and Telus Mobility in Canada.

IS-136 aka D-AMPS

TDMA-based, it was once widespread in the America but today most operators have migrated to GSM.

The working of 2g technologies in GSM helped it to first establish international roaming. This facilitated all the mobile subscribers to use their mobile phone connections in many different countries across the world. Unlike 1G technology, GSM technology is based on digital signals. This technology behind 2g is advantageous to both the network operators and the users at the same time.

Disadvantages Of 2G Technologies

Although the 2G technology is widespread and popular in use, there do exist some disadvantages of 2g technologies, which you may not be familiar with. The reason is that these drawbacks of 2g technology are often not well publicized.

Here are the main disadvantages of 2g technologies:

Weaker digital signal

Some areas which are less populated, if the digital signals are weak, they will not be sufficient enough to reach a cell tower. This particular problem is more often on 2G systems positioned on higher frequencies. For 2G systems deployed on lower frequencies, this is not a problem. Regulations about where 2G can be deployed may vary from country to country. However, this is looked upon as one of the main disadvantage of 2g technology.

Angular decay curve

One of the other disadvantages of 2g technologies is due to the fact that the digital signal has jagged decay curve, unlike the Analog, which has a smooth decay curve. Under unfavorable conditions, digital will have occasional dropouts, and may fail completely if the conditions worsen.

Reduced range of sound

The digital calls, although are free of static and background noise, the use of lossy compression by the codec’s takes a toll and the range of sound that they transmit is reduced. You may hear less of the tonality of someone's voice conversing on a digital cellphone, which is one of the drawbacks of 2g technology.

Some of the other disadvantages of 2g technologies are that the pulse nature of TDMA transmission used here often interferes with some electronics, like certain audio amplifiers. Moreover, as the intellectual property is concerted among a few industry members, it creates obstacles for new entrants. This in turn limits the competition among phone manufacturers. Another disadvantage of 2g technology is that GSM has a fixed maximum cell site range of 35 km, which is imposed by technical limitations.