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For the past couple of decades, the telecom landscape has grown in leaps & bounds in so many areas. Needless to say, the industry has witnessed several eras & periods, all delineated by varying terms. One of the terms synonymous with global changes in mobile telecommunication advancements are the ‘G’ terms ranging from 1G, 2G, 3G, 4G, & the more recent 5G & 10G.
It is easy to guess that the Gs behind each of these numbers represents “Generation” which suggests that each of these terms represents advancements in technology with 1G standing for 1st generation, 2G for the second generation & so on.
However, there’s more to it than just acronyms. Each of these generation changes are actually advancements in information rates & limits, tweak procedure, remote advances, communication speed among others.
1G: As mentioned, this refers to the 1st generation analog wireless mobile communication. Compared to today’s technology it was pretty basic with an information limit of 2Kbps operating on a AMPS only standard protocol. It’s history by now.
2G: The 2nd generation mobile communication technology was a step ahead. It represents a transition from analog to digital. With GPRS & EDGE data capability. However, the limit was still a low 10Kbps operated on TDMA, CDMA & GSM standards.
3G: The 3rd generation is an era of faster communication. There is a significant increase in communication speed with an increase in information limit to about 384Kbps thanks to IP or broadband innovation. Introduced services along with this include high-speed voice communication, packet network & so on.
4G: The 4th generation is an era of IP based frameworks & advanced innovation that saw an increase in information limit of up to 100 Mbps to 1Gbps. With 4G communication came capabilities for faster & more efficient voice, sound, sight, & web over IP based activities. 4G is based on the LTE (Long-Term Evolution) framework.
5G: The 5th generation system is a communication framework designed to be faster, with a promise of multi-gigabit speeds. It is also expected that 5G will be able to operate without a need to deploy expensive infrastructure typical of today’s 4G & other networks. 5G is driven by OFDM, LAS-CDMA, MC-CDMA, UWB, & IPV6 Network & so on.
10G: Yes, this one is coming soon. But there’s a difference. Unlike the other Gs, 10G does not actually refer to generational count. Instead, it refers to the network speed that the groups behind the development of this communication network hope to achieve which is an astonishing 10Gigabits; a massive figure compared to today’s current network of 1Gbps in some countries and even lower in others.
Generally, the developers of this network hope to leverage the already in place, fiber infrastructure combined with existing & new technology (both hardware & software) to attain 10G capabilities. It is expected that countries with stable 5G capabilities like China & the US will frontline these advancements. In addition to higher speed, 10G is also expected to offer lower latency, & allow ultra connection of homes & devices.
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