Cellular standards
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Cellular Phone Standards
Wikipedia has a good article on the various cellular standards in use worldwide, as well as information about each carrier. Rather than replicate the article here, we are providing external links to various sections:
Mobile Operators
- Worldwide listing of mobile operators, ranked by region
- This is a good jumping off point for people that may be travelling to foreign countries
- United States listing of mobile operators.
Penn Preferred Vendors
Links to Penn's Preferred vendors (AT&T, Nextel and Verizon Wireless) are found on Telecommunication's Cellular Phone page.
For reference, here are the standards supported by the major vendors in the United States:
| Vendor | Cellular Voice | Cellular Data | High Speed Data Standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| AT&T | GSM | GPRS | HSDPA |
| T-Mobile | GSM | GPRS | HSDPA |
| Verizon | CDMA | EV-DO | |
| Sprint/Nextel | CDMA | EV-DO |
Breakdown of Data Standards
In the attempt to understand how all of the acronyms fit together, we have come up with the following cheat sheet:
| Vendor | 2G | Approx speed | 3G | Approx speed | 3.5 G | Approx speed | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AT&T | EDGE | 100kbps (2x dial-up) | UMTS | 300kbps | HSDPA (extension of UMTS) | 500-800kbps (slow DSL) | |||
| Verizon | 1xRTT | 100kbps (2x dial-up) | EV/DO rev 0 | 500-800kbps (slow DSL) |
Purchasing Recommendations
Currently, GSM is the most popular standard in use worldwide. If you are looking to purchase a cell phone to use while travelling, make sure that it at least supports the GSM standard. Ideally, you want to find a phone that is tri-band or quad-band to give you the most flexibility.
China has recently rolled out a CDMA network that is compatible with Verizon's US network. Standard CDMA phones from Verizon will work in China for both voice and data. Prior to taking your device to China, be sure that you have the proper international plan on the device. Contact your account representative for more information.
Be aware that certain regions around the world have specific frequency requirements for their networks, and that those frequencies may not be available on phones sold in the United States. For example, Japan and Korea require devices that operate on the 2100MHz 3G network band. If you are travelling to these countries, you should make sure that your device supports this frequency.
