First of all it should be known that 1G, 2G, 3G, 4G etc refers to the different generations of wireless communication technology characterized by having a defined range of speed. Where G stands for generation.

Let's discuss them one by one.

•2G
2G covers two important technologies.
i. GPRS(General Packet Radio Service)
GPRS is a packet based wireless communication service. It is a 2G technology network that support a download speed of up to 114Kbps. Limitation of GPRS is that GPRS data cannot be sent while a voice call is in progress.

ii. EDGE(Enhanced Data GSM Evolution)
EDGE is also a 2G technology but EDGE is significantly faster with a download speed of up to 384Kbps.

•3G
Introduction of 3G network made video calling and seamless streaming of video possible, with download speed of up to 3.1Mbps.

•HSDPA (High-Speed Down-link Packet Access)

It is based on the 3G network and an enhancement to 3G. Thus has a faster speed, download speed can be up to 14Mbps. HSDPA is sometimes called 3.5G.

•HSPA+ (Evolved High-Speed Packet Access)

HSPA+ is an evolution HSPA(HSDPA&HSUPA). It is a 4G technology that allows download at a rate of up to 168Mbps.

•4G LTE(Long Term Evolution)
LTE is a 4G communication standard that supports HD video streaming, download speed as high as 299.6Mbps.

This is all there is to learn about data communication and various generation of data network technologies.


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