Simply put, the 3G is today’s most popularly used mobile phone internet.

3G technology is the one of the latest in mobile communications technologies. Simply put, the term or rather tag "3G” simply stands for "third generation” (in short 3G); Its predecessors, the analog cellular technology generation one and generation two a thing of the past.  

Though the first generation and second generation technologies have been overtaken by technology, they are still widely used by a number of mobile networks.

You might be surprised to visit some countries with your latest 3G activated phones and it refuses to pick the network until you select the 2G search mode!  3G technologies is intended for multimedia cell phones, these have fully multimedia coloured screen and have increased functionalities.

Typically, the 3G technology is intended for Smartphones, these feature increased bandwidth and transfer rates to accommodate Web-based applications and phone-based audio and video files.  Examples of such phones are:- Sony Ericsson V800 3G phone, HP iPAQ, Blackberry, etc. 3G comprises several cellular access technologies. The three most common ones are:-

CDMA2000 - based on 2G Code Division Multiple Access, WCDMA (UMTS) - Wideband Code Division Multiple Access, TD-SCDMA - Time-division Synchronous Code-division Multiple Access

3G networks have potential transfer speeds of up to 3 Mbps (about 15 seconds to download a 3-minute MP3 song). For comparison, the fastest 2G phones can achieve up to 144Kbps (about 8 minutes to download a 3-minute song).

3G’s high data rates are ideal for downloading information from the Internet and sending and receiving large, multimedia files. 3G phones are like miniature laptops and can accommodate broadband applications like video conferencing, receiving streaming video from the Web, sending and receiving faxes and instantly downloading e-mail messages with attachments.

In actual sense, a number of these smartphones come complete with a windows environment.  

Of course, none of this would be possible without those mobile phone masts or towers that carry cell-phone signals from phone to phone.

3G is a cell phone network protocol. Just like the voice calls, the 3G internet is transported along the Mobile phone network to the compliant mobile phones.

Just like you can move while talking on a mobile phone, the 3G internet is designed to connect from cell to cell on a mobile network.

The various Masts used by the provider are interconnected such that, they create a "cobweb” like structure.  Just as is the case with the voice calls, the subscriber is identified when the phone / modem transmits the ESN and MIN to the network at the beginning of the call.

The MIN/ESN pair is a unique tag for your phone line or modem; this is how the phone company knows who to bill for the call.

When your phone transmits its MIN/ESN pair, it is possible for nefarious sorts to listen (with a scanner) and capture the pair. With the right equipment, it is fairly easy to modify another phone so that it contains your MIN/ESN pair, which allows the nefarious individual to make calls on your account.

The significant difference between the two is that, the former is voice while the latter is data.

This brings us to one factor, the use of 3G internet on the mobile phone network requires that, both the network and the handset (phone or modem) being used must be data compliant.

This compliance on the part of the mobile device is created by the manufacturer and on the network, the provider must activate it.

This helps to explain as to why some rural mobile phone masts may still be on the 2G network where as their urban counterparts may be 3G. This is all about deploying technology where it is needed.

After all, why should a provided spend money deploying a purely urban service in the rural areas when it would not be needed?

eddie@afrowebs.com