Types of networks

GOOD DAY, students. This is lesson 12 in our series of lessons. In this week’s lesson, we will look at mobile network and wireless network technologies.

WHAT ARE MOBILE NETWORKS

Mobile networking, also known as cellular networks, refers to technology that can support voice and/or data network connectivity using wireless, via a radio transmission solution. They are made up of ‘cells’ that connect to one another and to telephone switches or exchanges. The most familiar application of mobile networking is the mobile phone. In the past, wireless communications predominantly used circuit switching to carry voice over a network. However, more recently, both voice and data are being transmitted over both circuit-switched and packet-switched networks.

GENERATIONS OF MOBILE NETWORK FIRST GENERATION (1G) 1981 – NMT (NORDIC MOBILE TELEPHONE) LAUNCH

The first mobile systems were based on analog radio systems, which meant that users could only make phone calls; they could not send or receive text messages. These first-generation systems provided voice transmissions by using frequencies around 900MHz and analog modulation. They had a low traffic density of one call per radio channel (only allow calls in one country).

SECOND GENERATION (2G) 1991 – GSM LAUNCH

In 1991, the second generation (2G) digital cellular technology was launched in Finland by Radiolinja on the GSM (Global System for Mobile) standard, which sparked competition in the sector as the new operators challenged the incumbent IG network operators. GSM mobile systems developed digital transmission using SIM (subscriber identity module) technology to authenticate a user for identification and billing purposes, and to encrypt the data to prevent eavesdropping. The second generation was the technology that ultimately allowed data services such as SMS (short message service) and MMS (multimedia messaging service) to become prolific on mobile phones later in the decade. It only has a maximum speed of 50 kilobits (Kb) per second.

SECOND- TO THIRD-GENERATION BRIDGE (2.5G) 2000 – GPRS LAUNCH

The introduction of GPRS is seen as an extra period of mobile networking development, between 2G and 3G. GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) is a data service which enables mobile devices to send and receive emails and picture messages. It allows very popular operating speeds of up to 115Kb/s, which has been increased to a maximum of 384Kb/s by using EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution). Typical GSM data transmission rates reached 9.6Kb/s.

THIRD GENERATION (3G) 2003 – FIRST UK 3G LAUNCH

The third generation of mobile systems unifies different mobile technology standards and uses higher frequency bands for transmission and Code Division Multiple Access to deliver data rates of up to 2Mb/s to support multimedia services (MMS: voice, video and data). The European standard is UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication Systems). Mobile systems continue to use digital transmission with SIM authentication for billing systems and for data encryption. The transmission band frequencies are between 1900 and 2200MHz.

FOURTH GENERATION (4G) 2007+

The first public 4G networks in the world came online in Stockholm and Oslo in 2009, and other countries slowly joined them in following years. In the UK, the nationwide roll-out occurred in 2014, while in the US, most of the largest cities now have the network. Most of these networks use the Long-Term Evolution (LTE) for GSM network standard, though some, including Sprint in the US, are using the less-common Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) standard.

The biggest shortcoming of WiMAX is that not enough carriers adopted it to make it viable, thus making LTE the de facto standard. LTE has a higher maximum speed, especially as the next gen LTE-A starts to roll out. LTE draws less battery power on a handset. LTE technology facilitates high-speed data transfer for mobile phones with 299.6Mbps (megabits per second) download speed and 75.4Mbps upload speed. Speeds on 4G will soon be able to go as high as one gigabit per second.

TYPES OF WIRELESS NETWORK TECHNOLOGY BLUETOOTH

Bluetooth is an open wireless protocol for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks. It can connect several devices, overcoming problems of synchronisation.

WIRELESS FIDELITY (WI-FI)

This is a trademark of the Wi-Fi group for certified products based on the IEEE 802.11 standards (which is an organisation dealing with local area networks (LANs) and metropolitan area networks). This certification warrants interoperability between different wireless devices. Wi-Fi provides high-speed wireless access to a network or the Internet. Wi-Fi provides easy access to information between wireless devices from different manufacturing devices. Additionally, it allows different devices to connect to the Internet or communicate with one another wirelessly within a particular area. Such devices include: personal computer operating systems, many video games consoles, laptops, smartphones, printers, and other peripherals.

HOTSPOT

A hotspot is a physical location that offers Internet access over a wireless LAN through the use of a shared Internet connection and a single router.

LEVEL OF PRIVACY THE INTERNET

We use the Internet for a number of reasons. Some of these reasons include: research, entertainment activities (watching movies, music videos, playing games, etc) and certainly to visit YouTube or other social media sites. Let us now look at the definition of the term and key terms associated with the internet.

WHAT IS THE INTERNET?

This is the largest computer network system in the world. It comprises many smaller networks connected together by a global public network.

You are familiar with the term ‘Internet’, but did you know we also have what is called an intranet and an extranet?

INTRANET

This is a private network that belongs to an organisation, and is designed to be accessible by the organisations’ members, employees or others with authorisation.

EXTRANET

This is when part of an intranet is made accessible to customers, partners, suppliers or others outside a respective company.

We have come to the end of this lesson. Remember, if you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail.