TIMELINE
MOBILE
DATA
5G is with us,
but how did
we get here?
Here is a quick
history lesson1G
Haven’t heard of it?
Well, it was a long
time ago (1983)
and it wasn’t called
1G until 2G came
along. In fact, it was
so early in the cycle
of generational
technology that the
1G moniker never
really took off.
Also 1G offered a
forgettable 2.4kbps
of analogue data
load. Pathetic.1983
3G
It’s not a stretch to say that 3G
was transformative for mobile
communication. By today’s standards,
it offered a plodding 1-8Mbps, but
that was enough to get full-fat internet
(or, more likely, the newly minted
and thankfully short-lived mobile
‘optimised’ version of it) and crucially
it meant your inbox could annoy you
when you went on holiday. Previously,
roaming email had been BlackBerry’s
game. The iPhone 3G (confusingly
Apple’s second mobile phone) came
with email and Angry Birds. BlackBerry
didn’t stand a chance.1998
2G
Known at the time as General
Packet Radio Service (GPRS),
2G bumped up the speeds to
40kbps, enough to send SMS
messages from device to
device. More than that, and
you were in for a long wait.
Perhaps that’s why EDGE
(Enhanced Data Rates for
GSM Evolution was such an
exciting upgrade to the 2G
package. It afforded what, at
the time, were described as
“blazing” speeds. 384kpbs of
blazing, that is.1991
16 March 2021