Although quite a few people have heard the term, not many people know the real definition of GSM, and what it does. As it is often said, knowledge gives power, so read on.

First: What does the acronym GSM stand for?

When first created, GSM stood for Groupe Special Mobile, however the definition was decided to be altered to be Global System for Mobile communications. The group who came to the decision to do so, and who also promotes the GSM cellular standard, is interestingly enough known as the GSM Association.

Second: What function is GSM used for?

GSM permits mobile phones to make connections with various cellular services we need (phone calls, messaging, internet, and so on.).

Third: And GSM is capable of doing that how?

The right way to define GSM would be as a cellular network, basically meaning that people's phones will connect to networks by finding cells within close proximity. The speech and signaling channels used were upgraded to use digital rather than analog, which helps explain the technical term 2G, since it built the 1st generation analog to the second generation build.

Fourth: What bands can GSM use?

GSM exclusively has use of four different bands. These four are 850, 900, 1800, and 1900MHz. Both the 900MHz and the 1800MHz frequencies are in use by many countries throughout the world, whereas the 850MHz as well as the 1900MHz frequencies are primarily used within the US, as well as Canada, and some parts of South America.

Fifth: What do the acronyms GPRS or EDGE mean when talking about GSM?

GPRS (which isshort for General Packet Radio Service) and EDGE (which is short for Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution) were two releases primarily put in to beef up services that GSM was able to provide, and in particular its accessing the internet capabilities. When GPRS is put together with the GSM 2G cellular system, it is often termed 2.5G (being as it is a 1/2 step up off 2G), whereas EDGE is an addition for GSM giving 3G abilities to it (and is sometimes referred to as 2.75G since is combines the previous gen GSM 2G with the more current 3G technology).

Sixth: Is the GSM system also considered 3G as well as 2G?

Mostly due to to its popularity, it was decided that connections to 3G would have to include the GSM frequencies (850MHz / 900MHz / 1800MHz/ 1900MHz) as well as 2100MHz UMTS. 3G being granted the ability to use the those GSM bands is considered quite clever being as it since it lowers the fees to the network due to the use of GSM's lower band frequencies.

Seventh: GSM's current state?

GSM is currently known as the primary choice of mobile phone users all over the world (with over 2 billion users in over 212 nations using it every day).

Eighth: Why was it that the GSM bands became the most used one?

When it first came out, users chose GSM because of the better quality of digital voice that it was able to offer

in addition to it being the first service to be able to have lower cost alternatives than only making calls with the phone (the most famous being SMS (Short Message Service)). Network carriers decided to use the GSM frequencies mostly because of ease of equipment installation.

Ninth: Why does GSM continue to be the world's 1st choice?

GSM’s worldwide ubiquity has let network providers offer the capability of roaming, which means that the network subscribers will be capable of using the phones worldwide from different GSM carriers. No other band can even come near to having the ability to match this wide reaching coverage.