E-mail from your cellphone thanks to spohisticated 2.5G
Zatni Arbi, Columnist, Jakarta
What in the world is this 2.5G that we have been seeing in newspaper headlines lately?
Just like any other evolving technology, people talk about "generations" and "the next generation". However, even when the next generation is still perceived to be too far ahead, an interim generation may be adopted.
In mobile telephone technology, that is the case today. The digital generation of technology, including the GSM that we use, is considered the Second Generation (2G).
With the advent of Internet at our fingertips, increasingly restless consumers have begun to demand a constant connection to the Internet on their mobile phones, so that they can receive e- mail, newsletters, stock quote updates and a slew of other types of information and even browse the Internet at any time. The 2G mobile phone technology, however, is, so far, not able to deliver that effectively and affordably.
While it is possible to connect a 2G cellphone to a modem and a notebook computer, the setup is too unwieldy and the speed over the dialup connection would be too low with a max of 14.4 kilo bits per second (Kbps). People still use them, though, because, at the moment, there is no alternative.
Not very long ago a technology called Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) appeared and looked promising. Unfortunately, quite a few pioneering WAP businesses flopped because users were not really happy with the procedures that they had to follow each time they wanted to access the Internet.
Millions of dollars in research and development (R&D) went down the drain as a result, but such is the risk that all technology leaders must be willing to take.
The Third Generation (3G) of mobile phone technology promises far better Internet access, with the addition of voice communication. Theoretically, it will give us a dream speed of up to 2 mega bits per second (Mbps) and even higher. Certainly, live video conferencing will be commonplace once the service becomes available in our area.
In between is the 2.5 Generation, which uses a technology called General Packet Radio Service (GPRS). It can provide us with regular Internet access at a speed of up to 140 Mbps or higher. As is the case with the more powerful 3G, we will have to pay our 2.5G operator based on the amount of data that we download and upload instead of the number of pulses that are spent in the process.
Is the 2.5G mobile phone service already available here in Indonesia at present? With the proliferation of mobile phone users, estimated to have reached 6 million by the end of last year, it would be a surprise if no major telecom company had sought to capture such a sizable opportunity. Indeed, Indosat Multi Media Mobile (IM3), a subsidiary of our international carrier Indosat, has been offering it in Batam, Semarang, Surabaya, Jakarta and Bali since late last year.
If your colleague gives you his or her new mobile number that starts with 0856, it means that he or she is an IM3 subscriber. IM3 promises that more cities in Indonesia will soon enjoy its SIM card-based pre-paid service. Indonesia's largest mobile network operator Telkomsel reportedly plans to begin offering its own 2.5G services this year in cooperation with TelkomMobile.
With the 2.5G mobile phone network, which is also known as the DCS 1800 and operates on the 1800 MHz spectrum, you can access the Internet like using a PC with a LAN or a cable modem. You can browse, send and receive e-mails, and chat without having to log on every time.
The 3G services may still take two or three years to arrive here. However, as if to remind us of the fact that technologies are moving faster than we can absorb them, the 4G has already been in development since 2000. This super-duper technology is projected to become available in 2010, through, so let us hope there will be a leapfrog by our operators within the next eight years.