Difference Between Network Technology

8/22/2019 Difference Between Network Technology

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Difference Between UMTS and W-CDMA

UMTS vs. W-CDMA

Universal Mobil Telecommunications System (also known as UMTS) is a thirdgeneration (or 3G) telecommunications technology for mobile electronics. The most

common form of UMTS makes use of W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division MultipleAccess, which is an air interface standard that is a compulsory feature of any mobiletelecommunications device of the 3G network). However, the system makes use of

TD-CDMA (Time Division CDMA) and TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous CDMA).UMTS is a complete network system. As such it also covers the radio accessnetwork, the core network, and the authentication of users using the USIM cards (orSubscriber Identity Module).W-CDMA is an air interface standard that is most notably found in 3G mobiletelecommunications networks. It is the most widely used member of the UMTSfamily and is, in fact, often times used synonymously for UMTS. It makes use of theDS-CDMA channel access method as well as the FDD duplexing method in order toachieve higher speeds and to also support more users in comparison to most of the

time division multiple access schemes (or TDMA). It uses the same basic networkthat is found in the 2G GSM networks. This enables dual mode operation as well aswith the GSM/EDGE another trait it shares in common with other members of theUMTS family.UMTS requires the use of new base stations as well as new frequency allocations.Despite these restrictions, however, UMTS is closely related to GSM (that is GlobalSystem for Mobile Communications, the most popular standard for mobilecommunication technology) and builds upon the concepts of GSM most UTMShandsets support GSM in order to allow dual mode operation without any issues.

W-CDMA includes a plethora of key features. These features include, but are notlimited to, radio channels that are 5 MHz wide, a chip rate of 3.84 Mcps, variablemission on a 10 ms frame basis, multicode transmission, adaptive power controlbased on the Signal to Interference Ratio (or SIR), multiuser detection as well assmart antennae (which can be used to increase the capacity and coverage of thedevice), and multiple types of handoff (or handover) between different calls (whichinclude soft handoff, softer handoff, and hard handoff).

Summary:1. UMTS is a 3G telecommunications technology that makes use of the W-CDMA aswell as other permutations therein; W-CDMA is an air interface standard found in 3Gmobile telecommunications networks and is a member of the UMTS family.2. UMTS requires new base station and frequency allocations to thrive; W-CDMAmakes use of the DS-CDMA channel access method as well as the FDD duplexingmethod to achieve higher speeds and support more users.3. UMTS has a theoretical transfer speed of 21 Mbit/s; W-DCMA includes radiochannels that are 5MHz wide and a chip rate of Mcps.
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Difference Between UMTS and HSDPA

UMTS vs. HSDPA

The Universal Mobil Telecommunications System (also known as UMTS) is a thirdgeneration (or 3G) telecommunications technology for mobile electronics. The mostcommon form of UMTS makes use of W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division MultipleAccess, which is an air interface standard that is a compulsory feature of any mobiletelecommunications device of the 3G network). However, the system makes use of

TD-CDMA (Time Division CDMA) and TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous CDMA).UMTS is a complete network system. As such, it also covers the radio accessnetwork, the core network, and the authentication of users using the USIM cards (orSubscriber Identity Module).High Speed Downlink Packet Access (also known as HSDPA) is also part of the 3Gnetwork; however, it is of an enhanced nature. It is a protocol that is used in mobile

telephony communications in the High Speed Packet Access family a combinationof the HSDPA and HSUPA (High Speed Uplink Packet Access) that extends andimproves the performance of those WCDMA protocols that are currently inexistence. As such, those networks that are part of the UMTS are capable ofreaching higher data transfer speeds and capacities.

UMTS requires the use of new base stations, as well as new frequency allocations.Despite these restrictions, however, UMTS is closely related to GSM (that is GlobalSystem for Mobile Communications, the most popular standard for mobilecommunication technology), and builds upon the concepts of GSM most UTMShandsets support GSM in order to allow dual mode operation without any issues.

For HSDPA to function properly, a new transport layer channel had to be created(High Speed Downlink Shard Channel, or HS-DSCH) and added to the W-CDMAspecification. By introducing three new physical layer channels (HS-SCCH, HS-DPCCH, and HS-PDSCH), the HSDPA network is capable of informing the user thatthe desired data will be sent, acknowledging information and current channelquality, and calculating how much data to send to any device the user uses in thenext transmission, respectively.UMTS has a theoretical maximum data transfer of 21 Mbits/s (in the HSDPA form).However, for those currently using UMTS handsets, an expected transfer rate of 384kbit/s and 7.2 Mbit/s is a more accurate expectation for R99 handsets and HSDPAhandsets, respectively. Most HSDPA technology shows a theoretical transfer rate of1.8, 3.6, 7.2, and 14.0 Mbit/s. However, there are further speed increases with theavailability of the HSPA+ (providing speeds of up to 42 Mbit/s on the downlink, and84 Mbit/s with the Release 9).

Summary:1. UMTS is a 3G telecommunications technology that makes use of the W-CDMA, aswell as other permutations therein; HSDPA is part of the 3G network, but is part ofthe High Speed Packet Access family, therefore capable of elevated performance.
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2. UMTS requires new base station and frequency allocations to thrive; a newtransport layer channel had to be created and combined with W-CDMAspecifications in order for UMTS to function.3. UMTS has a theoretical transfer speed of 21 Mbit/s; HSDPA has a theoreticaltransfer rate of up to 14.0 Mbit/s.

Difference Between GSM and UMTS

GSM vs UMTS

GSM is an abbreviation of Global System for Mobile communication, originally it isknown as Group Special Mobile. It is mobile telephony system that sets thestandards on how mobile telecommunications work. It encompasses everything inreference to mobile communications.However, in this context of comparing GSM and UMTS, we will refer to GSM as a

service or technology. GSM is a second generation (2G) telecommunicationstechnology which is launched early in the 90s. Eventually, it increased its speed andadded more functionality like General Packet Radio System (GPRS) to the systemwhich enhanced it to 2.5G status. 2.5G has data rates up to about 144kbit/s. Ittypically uses a variation of Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA).

Today, in a global scale, GSM is still widely used mobile service. There are about700 mobile networks that provide GSM services across more than 200 countries.Statistically, more than 80 percent of all global mobile connections are GSM. WithGSM, subscribers can still continue using their mobile phones when traveling toother countries because GSM network operators have expansive roamingagreements with foreign operators.

UMTS is the third generation (3G) of mobile telecommunications technology. It isthe latest commercially available technology that mobile phones, PDAs, and smartphones are using today. With this development, internet access (email and webbrowsing), video calling and messaging, and text messaging (SMS) are now possiblealong with traditional phone tasks.People can now do the activities they normally do with an internet-connected homecomputer while on the trot. Imagine yourself traveling the world and still able toemail, video conference, and watch streaming videos using your smartphone.Currently, it can offer transfer speeds of about 3.6 Mbits per second and even more,which can make data transfer seamless and downloads relatively fast.Unlike GSM, UMTS is mainly based on CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) schemeand now combines it with TDMA. However, UMTS is still new as there are only a fewareas and networks that support the technology. Even with countries that support itmay have set different spectrum, thus interoperability does not work fully whenmoving from one nation to another nation with drastically different spectrum.

There are also problems regarding the compatibility between UMTS and GSM, whichfrequently led to connections being dropped. But this is being remedied byUMTS/GSM dual-mode devices. With that feature, UMTS phones that go out of UMTSnetwork boundaries will be transferred to GSM coverage. Transfer of network canhappen mid-call.
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Summary:1. UMTS has faster data transfer rates than GSM.2. GSM is 2G and 2.5G while UMTS is already 3G.3. GSM is a rather old technology while UMTS is newer.4. GSM is typically based on TDMA while UMTS is mainly CDMA-based.

5. Currently, GSM is still the most widely used technology today while UMTS is stillin its infancy, slowly creeping forward.

Difference Between WCDMA and GSM

WCDMA vs GSM

WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiplexing Access) and GSM are twotechnologies that are used in mobile telecommunications. The difference betweenthese two is that GSM is a 2G technology and WCDMA is a part of the newer 3Ggroup of technologies. Being newer and more advanced, WCDMA is now thetechnology that people want and it is slowly being deployed in a lot of areas thatare already being occupied by GSM. Sooner or later, the WCDMA network wouldequal the coverage of GSM, making the GSM network redundant. With this said, it isclear that the GSM network is slowly being phased out and replaced with the newerand better WCDMA. But for now, GSM is still the most widespread technology that isused in the whole world. Surpassing all other 2G and 3G alternatives.

The primary reason why telecommunications companies are having problems withrapidly deploying is the difference in the frequency bands they use. Because of this,

GSM only phones, cannot communicate with WCDMA only networks and vice versa.In order to circumvent this, it has become common for most phone manufacturersto include multiple frequency bands for both 2G networks and 3G networks. Thisensures that their mobile phones can be used in almost any network and anylocation in the world. Telecommunications companies need to deploy a WCDMAnetwork over their existing GSM network to provide 3G services while stillmaintaining compatibility with older mobile phones that are not compatible withWCDMA.

Although WCDMA support has become quite common in most mobile phones, thereare still some models that do not support it. When you are buying a mobile phone,you should look at its specifications in order to make sure that it supports WCDMAand the frequencies available in your area. This is to ensure that you can use it inyour countrys networks. Even non-GSM networks are choosing to add WCDMAsupport as it is the most popular 3G technology. Sooner or later older andcompeting network standards, namely GSM, CDMA, and EV-DO, would probably bephased out and replaced with WCDMA.

Summary:1.WCDMA is a 3G technology while GSM is a 2G technology
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2.GSM is slowly being phased out in favor of CDMA3.GSM is still more widespread than CDMA4.WCDMA and GSM uses different frequency bands5.WCDMA offers much faster data speeds than GSM6.WCDMA would soon replace GSM

Difference Between HSDPA and HSUPA

HSDPA vs HSUPA

HSPA (High Speed Packet Access), commonly referred to as 3.5G, is an upgrade toWCDMA networks that allows for much higher data speeds for internet connectivity.

There are two aspects to this technology and each is more or less independent ofthe other. HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) is the one that improves thedownlink of the data transmission while HSUPA (High Speed Uplink Packet Access) isthe one that improves the uplink or transmission from the mobile device to thenetwork.

Common practices that would be affected by having HSDPA include watching onlinevideos, browsing sites, downloading files, and a lot more. If you usually send emailswith large attachments, upload files to sites, or seed files in a file sharing network,then HSUPA would improve the speed at which you do your tasks.It is common practice for most mobile networks to deploy HSDPA first before doingHSUPA. Based on the usage patterns of majority of the population, internetbandwidth usage is asymmetrical. This means that we often download morecompared to uploading. Telecoms know this and that is why they want to improvedownlink as soon as its possible. There are areas in the world where only HSDPA isdeployed while HSUPA is still pretty much absent. Mainly because telecoms want toallocate as much bandwidth to downlink as they can while spending as little as theycould. Even when fully deployed HSDPA would still have much higher speedscompared to HSUPA. This is in keeping with the asymmetric use of the bandwidth.Allocating equal bandwidth to each would result in a huge waste for the bandwidthallocated to the uplink.

Although most telecoms do not deploy HSDPA and HSUPA at the same time, itshould not be an issue for users in buying mobile phones. Most of the recent mobilephones that support the HSPA technology already have both HSDPA and HSUPA.
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Getting one or the other would just then depend on when your network decides todeploy either technology in your area.

Summary:1. HSDPA is the side of the technology that brings information down to the userwhile HSUPA is the side of the technology that brings information up from the user

2. HSDPA affects downloading and browsing while HSUPA affects uploading files andsending emails3. HSDPA is often deployed way ahead of HSUPA4. HSDPA has much faster speeds compared to HSUPA

Difference Between UMTS and WCDMA Network Technologies

UMTS vs WCDMA Network Technologies

The third generation of technologies for mobile networks has added a lot of newfeatures aside from the typical calling and messaging capabilities of older 2Gnetworks. With them come a number of new terminologies that can seem confusing.

Two of these technologies are UMTS and WCDMA. The main difference between

UMTS and WCDMA is that the former is a cellular technology while the latter is oneof the air interfaces that it used in order to communicate with the actual device.UMTS stands for Universal Mobile Telecommunications System, and it succeeds theolder GSM networks. It significantly increases data speeds up to 45Mbps withHSPA+ activated, but most deployments offer maximum speeds of7Mbps. Asidefrom WCDMA, which is the most popular air interface in use in mobile networks,there are also other air interfaces that include UTRA-TDD HCR and TD-SCDMA.

These three air interfaces behave in different manners while achieving the sameexact goal; facilitating the flow of data from a mobile device to the base stationover the air.

The specifics are handled by WCDMA or the Wideband Code Division MultipleAccess, which is based on CDMA, a competing standard to GSM. It utilizes two 5MHzchannels, one for the downlink (from base station to mobile device) and another forthe uplink (from the mobile device to the base station). The 5MHzchannel is afourfold increase when compared to the 1.25MHz channel used by the older CDMAstandard. The increased bandwidth is aided by a variety of multiplexing techniquesin order to increase the number of users who can be accommodated on the channelwhile increasing the total bandwidth that can be utilized for the data.
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The prominent use of WCDMA has made it synonymous to UMTS. When using eitherterm, most people are actually referring to the very same thing. The use of one orthe other is widely accepted, and there should be no worries that you may be usingthe incorrect term.

Summary:

1.UMTS is a cellular technology while WCDMA is one of its air interfaces.2.UMTS and WCDMA are often used interchangeably.

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Difference Between Network Technology