Understanding The Three G Phone
The three G phone phones are a pretty recent addition to the mobile phone landscape in the United States and are based on the 3G (3rd Generation) networking standards of the ITU (International Telecommunication Union). The Three G phone is also called the IMT-2000 standard in other parts of the world.
Simply put, the 3G standard allows phone companies to offer a wider variety of services to their customers than the previous 2.5G standard allowed. The first 3G network was established in Japan and went live in 2001 followed by Korea and the United Kingdom. The first use of 3G in the United States followed in 2003. Because of the more efficient size of the bandwidth provided, this new standard allows operators to offer better quality of service, video calls and broadband data speeds of 14.4 mbits/s under perfect conditions. This speed is not guaranteed with most contracts and can be less if you are walking, or moving quickly in a vehicle.
The adoption of the 3G standard in the United States has been quick and several carriers now offer phones and calling plans to take advantage of this standard. Another advantage of a 3g enabled phone is that since this is a worldwide standard, you can easily roam to other regions and countries with your phone on other networks. Additional rates will apply with the roaming, but it’s still nice to be able to use a phone you’re familiar with when traveling rather than renting one.
Because this has been an established standard for some time, there is a wide universe of phones available as well for 3g that range from the very basic, to several models that incorporate advanced features like texting with full QWERTY keyboards, video download, and even GPS functionality. This last feature is really nice because it allows you to use the phone for driving directions in a pinch.
Finally, the 3G phones use a SIM card that contains your account information and phone number, along with contacts or other data you may have saved. This is nice because it allows you to easily slide this SIM card into another unlocked 3G phone and use it immediately. Also, you can buy local SIM cards from other countries to use when you are traveling in your phone to help reduce calling costs especially if you’re using cell phone family plans.
All things considered, the 3G standard provides for a lot of advanced features over previous standards. The phone manufacturers and carriers are using these features in their services and phones and making the basic handset you had a few years ago infinitely more functional.