High-Speed Data Transmission

• Published in: Mobile Telecommunications in a High-Speed World pp. 1 - 20
• Main Authors: Curwen, Peter, Whalley, Jason
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: United Kingdom Routledge 2010; Taylor & Francis Group
• Edition: 1
• Subjects: Communications engineering / telecommunications; Research & development management; Multiple Input Multiple Output Antenna; Mobile WiMAX; WAP; ITU; ITU's Radio Regulation; NTT DoCoMo; NTT; Spectrum Bands; TDD; WLL; HSDPA; GHz Band; MHz Band; OFDMA; World Radiocommunications Conference; Sprint Nextel; Cdma2000 1xRTT; SK Telecom; CDMA; 2G Stage; Division Multiple Access; High Speed Uplink Packet Access; FDMA; 3GPP Release; Edge
• ISBN: 9781409403616; 1409403610
• DOI: 10.4324/9781315595696-1

The mobile - alternatively, wireless or cellular radio - communications market encompasses a variety of radio telephone services that are provided by connecting together two or more mobile devices or terminals via a base station. For the purposes of the discussion below, these devices will for the most part be taken to be handsets since they dominate current usage, although they are constantly evolving both in form and function (see Chapter 7). Suffice it to say for now that whatever form a device may take - including data cards and modems in computers - it is currently already capable of incorporating some or most of the following: blogs, calculator, calendar, camera with flash, clock, diary, digital music player, digital purse, email facility, games, instant messaging, modem, satellite tracking, spreadsheet, television, text messaging, torch, video camera and word processor. This list is incomplete, and becomes ever more incomplete with each passing day. The device is also useful for conveying voice, which remains its primary function in its guise as a handset. In practice, the owner of a modern 'converged' handset can do without, for example, a watch, alarm clock, camera and music player, and there is growing evidence that the loss of a handset is regarded as more distressing than that of a wallet or credit card.