SMS Text Messaging is widely popular, and new technology that improves smartphone bandwidth will make Multimedia Messages the new preferred communications method.

Sending SMS text messages, technically identified as Short Message System (SMS), but typically known as “texting”, is a straightforward, effortless, and convenient method to keep in touch between mobiles.  In addition to being a great system for people to correspond, SMS texting can be a valuable system for software programs to exchange simple messages, and even setup instructions, to and from  cell phones.  SMS doesn’t require a direct connection between mobile phones; the communications infrastructure for the process is already in place, and it works across most cell service providers. One functionality of text messaging that makes it especially useful for mobile software applications is that it uses smartphone fixed identity, the phone number. This feature provide a unique benefit over other technologies that rely on IP addresses because a cell phone IP address can vary depending on current network.

Short Message Service (SMS) is a communication service component of the GSM mobile communication system.  It utilizes standardized communications protocols that allow incoming and outgoing short text messages between mobile devices. SMS texting is the most widely used data application around the globe, boasting about 2.4 billion active users, or almost 75% of all cellular phone subscribers.

SMS texting as used on modern smartphones was originally included as part of the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) series of protocols in 1985  as a way of exchanging texts of up to 160 characters, between GSM mobile handsets.  Since then service support has extended to include other mobile technologies such as ANSI CDMA networks and Digital AMPS, as well as satellite and landline networks.  The largest number of SMS messages are mobile-to-mobile text messages, though the standard supports other types of broadcast messaging as well.  Computer to mobile SMS texting capabilities are also growing rapidly.

GSM was initially called Groupe Spécial Mobile.  It is the most popular standard for mobile telephone systems on earth. The GSM Association, the promoting industry organization of mobile phone operators and manufacturers, estimates that approximately 80% of the global mobile market uses the standard.  GSM is used by over 3 billion people across more than two hundred countries and territories.  Its pervasiveness  allows international roaming agreements between mobile phone network providers, providing subscribers the benefit of their mobiles all over the world.  GSM has evolved from its predecessor technologies in that both signaling and speech channels are digital.  Thus GSM is considered a second generation (2G) mobile phone system.  Additionally, this  eases the wide-spread deployment of data communication programs.

The ubiquity of GSM deployment can be seen as a benefit for consumers that are given the ability to roam and switch carriers without having to replace their mobiles, and also to network providers, who can choose equipment from many equipment suppliers. GSM pioneered low-cost deployment of SMS text messaging, which subsequently has been supported on other mobile phone standards.

Recent versions of the standard work with the original GSM system.  Release ‘97 of the standard added packet data capabilities by means of General Packet Radio Service (GPRS). Release ‘99 introduced higher speed data transmission by means of Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE).

General packet radio service (GPRS)

is a packet oriented mobile data service available to users of the 2G and 3G GSM. In 2G systems.  GPRS data transfer is usually billed per megabyte of trafficsent and received, while data transfer using traditional circuit switching is charged per unit of connection time, without regard to whether or not the user actually is transmitting or if it is idle. GPRS is a best-effort packet switched service, as opposed to circuit switching, that has assured quality of service during the connection for non-mobile users.

2G cellular systems in combination with GPRS are frequently referred to as 2.5G.  2.5G is a technology bridge transitioning between the second (2G) and third (3G) generations of mobile device telephony. It delivers moderate-speed data transfer, by using unused time division multiple access (TDMA) channels. Initially it was intended to broaden GPRS to cover other standards, but these networks are converting to the GSM standard.   GPRS is integrated into GSM Release 97 and newer releases.

GPRS was created as a GSM response to the earlier CDPD and i-mode packet switched cellular technologies.  Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) was a wide-area mobile data service which used unused bandwidth normally used by AMPS mobile phones.  The service was dropped along with with the discontinuation of the parent AMPS service.
CDPD was developed in the early 1990’s, with anticipation it would be a future technology. However, it had competition from existing slower but less expensive Mobitex and DataTac systems.  CDPD never gained general acceptance before newer, faster standards such as GPRS earned common acceptance and became dominant.

For consumer markets CDPD had very limited appeal.  AT&T Wireless initially sold the technology in the US under the brandname PocketNet, one of the very first consumer wireless web service offers. Cingular Wireless later offered CDPD under the Wireless Internet brand (as opposed to Wireless Internet Express, Cingular Wireless GPRS/EDGE data). AT&T Wireless PocketNet was generally considered a failure.  However, CDPD was adopted into several enterprise and government networks.  It was particularly successful as a first-generation wireless data solution for telemetry devices (machine to machine communications) and for public safety mobile data terminals.

Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) (also known as Enhanced GPRS (EGPRS), or IMT Single Carrier (IMT-SC), and Enhanced Data Rates for Global Evolution) is a backward-compatible digital mobile device technology that allows improved data transmission rates on top of standard GSM.  EDGE is considered a 3G radio technology.  EDGE allows  more than three-fold increase in both the capacity and performance of GSM/GPRS networks by incorporating advanced systems of coding and transmitting data, that deliver higher bit-rates per radio channel.  EDGE delivers broadband performance and supports high bandwidth data applications such as Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS).

A very interesting software application that uses the connectivity between the mobile phone  and the internet to capture and archive MMS Multi-Media Messages, GPS location,  SMS messages, and Call Event Logs is PhoneBeagle Mobile Monitoring.  Follow this link if you are interested in    Mobile Monitoring Software that works with with BlackBerry  and  Android  Smartphones,.    Visit this link for more information regarding the latest software for  Parental Monitoring and Employee Monitoring of Mobile Phones .

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