 Recently, the word fanboy was added to the official Merriam Webster dictionary as one of the new words for 2008. A fanboy is defined by Merriam Webster’s as “a boy who is an enthusiastic devotee (as of comics or movies)” or of cell phones for that matter. Conversely, there is the word hater - a hater is, according to dictionary.com, someone who has an “intense dislike or aversion toward something”. Why bring these up in a Tech Tip about 3G cell phone technology? One word: iPhone. The cell phone world was pretty set with its proponents and opponents to a particular carrier or even technology – but it was the Apple iPhone which seemed to propel the cell phone world into the land of the  fanboys and haters. With so much fanfare about the recent launch of the second generation iPhone, we thought it would be appropriate to try to clear up some of the muck. What exactly is 3G? Also, just what is all this GSM and CDMA stuff anyway? Finally, does it all really matter?
First things first…
OK, you’ve heard the hype; you’ve seen the lines (or maybe stood in one yourself); after it was all said and done, many people were still patiently waiting for their new second generation iPhone that supports 3G to be activated (hey, we all have our days). Now for the  million dollar question, what is 3G? 3G is very simply Third Generation cell phone technology that is designed to better optimize data and voice (think faster data). Third Generation – 3G – get it? What you may not know is that 3G has actually been around for a long time – the first 3G cell phone network was launched in 2001 in Japan and has spread like wildfire since. This begs the second question, why is an iPhone being 3G such a big deal, and as an auxiliary question: if 3G has been around so long, then why didn’t the first generation iPhone have it? To answer these questions, we’d need to know about two competing cell phone standards: GSM and CDMA.
CDMA-Who and GSM-What?
In the United States, one of the first companies to roll out their 3G network was Verizon. Verizon’s V Cast takes huge advantage of the greater data bandwidth that 3G allows to stream music and videos to your phone. Verizon phones use what is called CDMA (which stands for code division multiple access) as the basic “channel access method” for their cell phone network. The current 3G data implementation used by Verizon on their network is called EV-DO (which stands for Evolution-Data Optimized). When Apple first  decided to enter the cell phone business, they first talked to Verizon about getting a deal done – but after two years of talks, the deal never came to fruition. CDMA networks account for approximately 400 million of the over 3.3 billion cells phones in use* - which brings us to the other side of the street: GSM.
GSM (which stands for Global System for Mobile - ok, it originally stood for Groupe Spécial Mobile, but Global System for Mobile is a lot easier to remember) is by far the most popular cell phone standard used worldwide, and in the United States AT&T (formerly Cingular) is the number one GSM cell phone provider. When Apple decided to hop over to AT&Ts side of the fence after the talks with Verizon fell through, one thing was glaringly deficient in the U.S. GSM network: the 3G infrastructure was, in a word, lacking the wide availability of the competing Verizon 3G network. Since AT&Ts full acquisition of Cingular in December 2006, they have poured lots of resources into improving and upgrading their 3G network. AT&T primarily uses what is called HSDPA/UMTS for their 3G network – which promises very fast data speeds. Before this and while a lot of the infrastructure was still being implemented, when the original iPhone was launched in 2007, it was decided that it would use AT&T’s Edge Technology (sometimes called a 2.75G technology). Today, with their vastly improved 3G network and infrastructure, the time was right to introduce the 3G iPhone.
Ad Nauseam
Which network is better, faster, has more coverage, CDMA 3G or GSM 3G? Fanboys and haters on both sides of the aisle have different answers to this question as do the companies involved (obviously, there are many more cell phone companies not only in the US, but worldwide as well. Verizon and AT&T are offered as examples of differing 3G implementations.) But the question that begs answering: does it really matter? For most people, experience is the key to which company, network and technology they like and will stick with for the time being. Fanboys and haters alike, let us join hands and sing the praises of 3G – no matter what network you’re on.
* Cellular subscriber statistics end Q4 2007 - GSMWorld.com: PDF
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