What it means: 1G, 2G, 3G, hike
Our wireless savvy users are already familiar with the differences between 1G, 2G and 3G. But like us you might find yourself having to explain the differences to non-TDW readers. The International Herald Tribune has a good summary of the Gs, but as expected from a European GSM perspective. This is completely applicable to US GSM operators with one exception. US GSM operators already plan to implement EDGE (think of it as 2.75G), which many Euro operators plan to skip to go straight to UMTS (aka 3G). For CDMA operators, they started with 2G and their new faster 1xRTT networks (SprintPCS Vision, Verizon Express Network) are technically 2.5G, but they like to call them 3G. However Verizon has started testing true CDMA 3G data networks which could role out next year.
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