UMTS-GSM cell phones
These phones can use both UMTS and GSM technologies. The GSM network started in the late 80s and has become the base technology for second generation mobile phone technology. Unlike its predecessor, the main difference is that it uses digitized coding to transmit data and voice through its network. Some of the basic operations that it handles are voice calls, text messaging or sms and multimedia messages or mms.
It was built around the concept of Time Division Multiple Access or TDMA which divides the network into channels so that it can handle data separately. Even with the onset of UMTS technology, most service providers around the world giving them the ability to connect to each other thus allowing mobile phone owners use their phone in a much larger area.
To accommodate the transfer within the network, once voice or data is received it compress and digitally encodes it in a way that it can be sent immediately to the intended receiver. In some parts of Europe, this technology is combined with the new Universal Mobile Telecommunication System or UMTS and is sometimes called as 3gsm. This term is used to describe the new cellular technology wherein it was built around the principles of the original GSM network.
See also: