About Mobi Wireless
GPRS
General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is an overlay network on the GSM network, and provides TCP/IP packet data connectivity from a GPRS enabled mobile phone. GPRS provides new business opportunities in making the Internet accessible from a mobile phone. It is a vital step on the road to an always-connected ubiquitous Mobile Internet as heralded by 3G networks. Where 3G networks will offer a nirvana of affordable and almost unlimited bandwidth, a truly Mobile Internet.
The following diagram shows the main components of a GSM GPRS network.
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SGSN - Serving GPRS Support Node (takes packet data from base station onto data network) |
| GGSN - Gateway GPRS Serving Node (takes packet data out onto Internet or to corporate LAN) | |
| MSC - Mobile Switching Center (traditional circuit switched voice network) | |
| BTS - Base Transceiver Station | |
| PCU - Packet Control Unit | |
The biggest problem with GPRS is that mobile operators are charging per packet .i.e. $/Mbyte of data transmitted and received by the mobile phone, making it difficult for the end user to determine how much money will be spent on their Mobile Internet service. Ideally a service based charging model, such as instituted by Blackberry, where a user pays a fixed charge for a specific service such as email or web access, is needed for end user acceptance of GPRS.
Services using GPRS as a connectivity technology need to take the variable and complex pricing of GPRS into account. Using technologies such as J2ME and synchronisation protocols such as SyncML, GPRS can be efficiently and cost-effectively utilised.