Paxchal: Thanks.

Buh can 3G work on bb?

Troll:

You May Have Been Browsing Video Streaming Sites On Your BB. Nigerian GSM Networks Charge Extra For Internet Video Streaming On Blackberry Expect For Airtel Which Gives A Mere 1gb BB Monthly Data Which Maybe Exhausted Within A Few Hours On Youtube.
The Solution Is that do not watch online videos on your bb except for some embedded ones which may be difficult for you to decipher. Browsing Google is okay, don't just click on video links.
The EDGE only makes it difficult to stream videos. 3G is fine don't just stream videos and it zaps battery faster too. I must confess Airtel has the most stable and fastest EDGE network in Nigeria and their 3.5G is very okay too. My only problem is their limited data bundle.
I hope this helps.

oyeleyemaureen: Pls bros don't deceive us. Where will you see it in nigeria where a download speed will be like 1mb/sec talkless of 14mb/sec or even more. Abeg park well bros. We no be mumu

arbitrage: lower than gprs is the old dial up modem, with speed levels range of 19.6kbps, 32kbps to even 64kbps analogous to code division multiple access cdma u have in those earlier starcomms table top phones.

What u need to take note is that all these speed levels are that of ur hardware be it phone, tablet, pc or even the adjourning cables thru which data will pass. The most important part is ur network signal data throughput, which determines what data gets to ur device per sec.

Most of our networks that are boasting of 3.5g like mtn, 3.75g like glo, airtel or 4g like swift, mobitel and so on, do not even give a consistent data thruput of 384kbps for 5 mins. They use non constant burst speed to advertise or give excuse of fair share policy because they carry more users than their data speed until many sleep at night.

The nokia phone i am typing with now is hspa+ 4g capable and glo or airtel shows 3.5g signal or 3g for mtn in my area, yet none of them gives data thruput up to 200kbps. Note that my swift 4g network at home has never given beyond 300+kbps and more consistently at less than 200kbps, yet it streams youtube video with no much draw back.

So the networks and internet service providers need to give better data thruput and stop deception.

dammytex: Nice write-up xcitedjay.

Taking it back a little;
we started with analog 1G system in the '80s (eg NITEL cellular) which was doing only voice call and wasting resources like frequency channels. We evolved into digital 2G system (GSM) which provides both voice and low rate data (eg sms) and also optimizing frequency resource.
We wanted more throughput for data and we got GPRS. This is good for FTP (File Transfer Protocols) eg email and browsing of text-based files.
We wanted more again and we got EDGE. This is good for real time chats and heavier downloads of almost any file both texts and graphics.
We wanted more again and we had to terminate 2G to migrate to 3G for more throughput and we got UMTS which is a 3G standard based on WCDMA technology as against TDMA that GSM (2G) was based.
In 3G, we could do video steaming and multitask with video, voice and data at the same time.
We wanted more and we had improvement on the 3G platform to HSDPA (14.4Mbps). This gave much higher throughput for higher services like video calls.
We wanted more again and we had HSPA+ (21 Mbps). This was good for higher bandwidth services eg online gaming.
We wanted more again and we got different variants of HSPA+. Bringing another frequency carrier on HSPA+ gave 21+21=42Mbps. Three carriers gave 63Mbps. So, eight different WCDMA frequency carriers gave a HSPA+ throughput of about 168Mbps. (only God knows what this high throughput is to be used for ooo)

And then, the telecom standards bodies wanted a convergent standard for voice, data, video, 2G, 3G, CDMA, on an IP platform and hence proposed LTE. LTE is the next big thing. We don't have it in Nigeria yet but my company has already made trials for MTN and Airtel already. MTN should launch LTE by next year. But for now, LTE is only doing data. Voice will come later.
For now, there is NO LTE standard in Nigeria yet.

xcitedjay: While conversing with a friend I was asked the differences between GPRS, EDGE and 3G, decided to share my little knowledge about the topic in case you might be confused about it too.

Before advancing, it should be known that 1G, 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G etc refers to the different generations of wireless communication technology characterized by having a defined range of speed.

GPRS(General Packet Radio Service)
GPRS is a packet-based* wireless communication service. It is a 2G technology network that support a download speed of up to 114Kbps.
Limitation of GPRS is that GPRS data cannot be sent while a voice call is in progress.
Nice one....very educative
EDGE(Enhanced Data GSM Evolution)
GPRS and EDGE are both 2G technology but EDGE is significantly faster with a download speed of up to 384Kbps. EDGE is sometimes called a 2.5G network as it also has some characteristics of a 3G network but it doesn't satisfy the specification.

3G
Introduction of 3G network made video calling and seamless streaming of video possible, with download speed of up to 3.1Mbps.

HSDPA(High-Speed Down-link Packet Access)
It is based on the 3G network and an enhancement to 3G. Thus has a faster speed, download speed can be up to 14Mbps. HSDPA is sometimes called 3.5G.

HSPA+(Evolved High-Speed Packet Access)
HSPA+ is an evolution HSPA(HSDPA&HSUPA). It is a 4G technology that allows download at a rate of up to 168Mbps.

4G LTE(Long Term Evolution)
LTE is a 4G communication standard that supports HD video streaming, download speed as high as 299.6Mbps.

Summary
GPRS(114Kbps) < EGDE(368Kbps) < 3G(3.1Mbps) < HSDPA(14Mbps) < HSPA+(168Mbps) < 4G/LTE(299.6Mbps)

By the way, I posted this using a GPRS connection.

*Packet-based means data is broken into packets before being transmitted.

DANILSA: WHY THE GUY FACE COME BEND FOR 4G? WELL I DONT THINK ANY NETWORK IN NIGERIA HAS UP TO 4G OR 5G NETWORK, EXCEPT FOR ETISALAT THAT HAS 3.5G ABI NA 3.75G NETWORK,MOST GADGETS ARE STILL YET TO UPGRADE, ONLY FEW HAS UPTO 4G LIKE THE IPAD

Tony Spike:
This is certainly a telecomms expert. HSPA+ is just a MIMO platform, which applies spatial diversity to achieve a maximum throughput. I see LTE as a better scheme since it'll be utilizing maximum code rates features of spatial diversity on
MIMO OFDMA platform with channel efficiency. Like I said, we have interesting days ahead for telecoms technologies.

m-ployer:
What does the "G" stand for

binger: Lol! at the pics.Assuming the air we breathe in was rated 4G,man for done exit earth

jericco1: Hmm... 4g is the fastest... Smart phones noni... Iphone...

afam4eva: Thanks for the info. Some people see these technical terms on their phones or computers but don't know what they mean.

Btw, is there any 4G network provider in Nigeria?

ocelot2006: A little correction.

GSM- 2G
GPRS- 2.5G
EDGE- 2.75G
UMTS- 3G

ulonnaya21: nice info. But what is WiMAX?

oyeleyemaureen: Pls bros don't deceive us. Where will you see it in nigeria where a download speed will be like 1mb/sec talkless of 14mb/sec or even more. Abeg park well bros. We no be mumu