Mobile Broadband : A Short Guide
Imagine cable and DSL internet connections connected wirelessly through cellular communications, that is mobile broadband. Though wireless internet has been available in many forms for a while now, it has only recently been becoming a popular alternative to WiFi. WiFi is quickly losing its edge due to the restraints that comes with it. The problem with WiFi is that if you want to connect, then you must be in a WiFi hotspot and, crucially, you must be stationary. You could say that a WiFi connection is similar to a cordless telephone, whereas mobile broadband is like the mobile telephone, enabling fast internet access, anywhere. Mobile broadband has changed the way businesses operate. Mobile broadband communication now means businesses can have virtual conferences and meetings with their employees and clients anywhere in the world and can quickly update clients and employees with new information.
Mobile broadband works in a similar way to mobile phone communications that use radio waves and frequencies to send and receive data. This digital information is sent in packets to and from the cell phones and telephone communication towers. With standard mobile telephone calls, the data that is transmitted and received is only in an audio format. Alternatively, the digital data that is communicated through cell phones and towers is in various formats such as web page data, audio data, visual data such as videos and also emails.
Mobile broadband was initially quite slow compared to a WiFi connection, though constant improvements have meant that speeds have increased dramatically, listed below are the chronological order of mobile broadband advancements:
-2.5g, or EDGE as it is more widely known, was the first form of mobile broadband, though take up was low as the packet transfer speeds were so low.
-After EDGE came 3g or UMTS. 3g was a little quicker and became a decent alternative if there were no WiFi hotspots available.
-The third format to be introduced was HSDPA. Though it was faster than EDGE and 3g, it was still no match for a good WiFi connection
-The current format of HSUPA. With speeds similar to WiFi connections, it is offering users a very good alternative to WiFi.
In the not too distant future is 4g, also known as WIMAX. It is reported that WIMAX will offer much faster speeds than is currently available through most WiFi connections also combined with a wide network coverage ratio. Most notebook manufacturers are beginning to offer hardware shipped with their products that is able to access mobile broadband. This means that using wires to connect to the internet, even in your home, could be redundant within the next 10 years.