UMTS Support

[Chomee]

Hi,

I have a BENQ SIEMENS Cellphone, and it supports UMTS. Can I use the phone for 3G, or does this mean the phone is 3G enabled? What is the difference between UMTS and 3G.

 

[vip]

Hi,

3G is an implementation of UMTS. So Yes your phone is 3G enabled.

 

[JimM]

UMTS, or Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systems, represents
the evolution of the present-day mobile networks available in most
countries in terms of transfer velocity, terminal features, and services
available to third-generation mobile telephony.

3G, or third generation, is a collective term for new communication
procedures, standards, and devices involved in enhancing the quality
and velocity of mobile telephony services.

So 3G = UMTS

 

[Chomee]

Thank U.

 

[Deenem]

I'm trying not to sound too dumb, but can anyone explain how WCDMA & WCDMA2000 fits into the alphabet soup?

Often seen these two abbreviations related to 3G as well

 

[vodacom3g]

I'm trying not to sound too dumb, but can anyone explain how WCDMA & WCDMA2000 fits into the alphabet soup?

Often seen these two abbreviations related to 3G as well

3G is more a marketing term where 1G (or 1st generation) referred to normal phones, 2G to the 'second generation' we still us a GSM phones and then the latest 3G, or '3rd generation systems' based on UMTS.

As always there are various standards. WCDMA is used in most of the world and that is the '3G' system we use here in SA, Europe, most of Asia and also a bit in the US.

CDMA2000 is another '3G standard' mostly used in the US.

All cellphones today will support 2G (GSM and it's data formats GPRS / EDGE) and many now also support 3G (UMTS and 'vanilla 3G'/HSDPA)

iBurst and myWireless are also forms of 3G.

None of these standards can inter-operate.