Hi Dilwyn,
just to give you a rough idea about the terms and the downlink speed:
GPRS (GSM 2 or 2.5) is the slowest packet-oriented mobile phone data.
A GPRS connection is usually shown in your mobile phone with
a G, or a G surrounded by a box (depends on your phone).
Speed can be compared to an analogue line (56k).
EDGE (called GSM 2.75) is the next step (but not widely available),
usually marked with an E in your phone.
Maximum realistic data rates are about 5 times GPRS (230k).
UMTS (or GSM 3 or G3, third generation GSM) is about as fast as a slow
DSL line (768k). A UMTS data connection is usually indicated by G3.
HSDPA (or GSM 3.5), short for High-Speed Downlink Packet Access
allows 1.8MBit, 3.6, 7.2 and 14.4 Mbits. I have used 3.6 MBits in
Austria and it feels quite good - like a DSL line.
Again, I suggest you visit the website of your mobile phone provider
and look for GPRS coverage - there is usually a map showing which
area supports GRPS, EDGE, UMTS or HSDPA (if the network supports it all).
Getting a connection is the same with all technologies - they only
differ in speed, so you will find it is much easier than it sounds.
Cheers Jochen
Dilwyn Jones wrote:
> Sorry, but most of that is meaningless to me:
> GPRS, UTMS, HSDPA ???
>
> Terminology alone is a nightmare for someone who's never used this
> service before! I was afraid of this :-(
>
> Still, we'll work on it when it arrives to see what we can get out of
> it - a lot of things on mobile phones are easier to work out than it
> is to understand the manuals, I find. My son managed to get the file
> sharing etc working on his phone with his friends at school without a
> manual (only had the phone a few days and he'd lost the manual!).
>
> I guess he's is getting to the age now where he tackles anything on a
> computer - he's just scripted, filmed and edited a short film as part
> of his school course and not be outdone I've just had to master
> Windows Movie Maker in readiness for when he starts throwing his
> digital video camera recordings at me after christmas! His mum bought
> him a digital video camera (Aiptek - German made, Jochen will be glad
> to hear) for about £60 for christmas and I've done my bit by getting
> him a few SD memory cards (1GB each, how technology has marched on!),
> card reader and bluetooth dongle and a few other things for less than
> the price of the camera. The camera itself can record movies, photos,
> play MP3 and other audio bits and bobs, yet it's smaller than my
> digital stills camera, the only thing I don't like is the tinty
> controls.
>
> In my youth, we were lucky if we got a Spirograph or similar for
> Christmas, now kids lives revolve around things digital, things
> playstation, various MPEG formats and the like. The one thing he
> hasn't mastered yet is programming, though he's sitting up and taking
> note at how easy it is for me to write things in S*BASIC and he's
> wanting to get into writing games. Oh dear, have I created a monster
> ?!?!
>
> "Nostalgia ain't what it used to be" ;-)
--
Jochen Merz Software - Kaiser-Wilhelm-Str. 302 - D-47169 Duisburg
Tel. +49-(0)203-502011 Fax +49-(0)203-502012
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage: http://SMSQ.J-M-S.COM
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