GPRS, 3G, HSDPA, WAP???

fallbayuk · 22 Apr 2008 at 11:14

Whats the difference? Im looking to upgrade my phone which only has GPRS to the N95 8gb which appears to have pretty much everything. Does it just come down to speed or are there other differences such as cost and coverage? Do all the network providers offer these types of connection? As you can tell im a tad confused and in need of some clarification before signing up for anything

Sarduk · 22 Apr 2008 at 11:26

Surely you know how to Google and use Wikipedia?

mrochester · 22 Apr 2008 at 12:36

WAP refers to the mobile web - websites that have been severely cut down for use on primitive phones.
GPRS is basically dial-up for mobiles.
3G is essentially like a 'midband' connection and allows for video calls.
HSDPA is essentially broadband for phones, with speeds more in the region of 1mbps+.

Tunney · 22 Apr 2008 at 13:49

General idea of speeds:

GPRS (2.5G): 56kbps
EDGE (2.75G): 256kbps
UMTS (3G): 384kbps
HSDPA (3.5G): 7.2Mbps (most phone only do 1.8Mbps, the N95 8GB does 3.6Mbps)

UMTS and HSDPA can handle voice and data at the same time (so you don't miss calls when browsing/downloading + enables video calling), GPRS and EDGE can't.

And yes, the Nokia N95 8GB does the lot. And it has WiFi (54Mbps).

fallbayuk · 22 Apr 2008 at 15:35

Great, thanks for the replies. So is something like HSDPA a feature offered by the handset itself or the network operator?

Rossmac · 22 Apr 2008 at 16:11

fallbayuk said:
Great, thanks for the replies. So is something like HSDPA a feature offered by the handset itself or the network operator?

Both.