Different technologies arrived that cater the needs of business establishments and private users. High speed Internet access was a need for businesses. It was a need for fast transactions and efficient way of communicating with other entities. As years passed, wireless technologies were created like General Packet Radio Services (GPRS), Enhanced Data for Global Environment (EDGE) and Universal Mobile Telecommunication Services.

GPRS met the need of providing internet access using radio links at a speed of 170 Kbps. GPRS can exist with current mobile station with enhancement through software upgrades. It is a packet-based technology, unlike circuit-switched technology, that is well suited for frequent transmission of small amounts of data.

GPRS is ideally suited for applications such as

•    Extended communications sessions
•    E−mail communications
•   Chat
•   Database queries
•   Dispatch
•   Stock updates

EDGE came and took one step close to UMTS or the 3^rd generation technology. EDGE introduced a new modulation scheme for high speed data rate which is the 8-Phase Shift Keying (PSK). 8−PSK enables each pulse to carry 3 bits of information versus the GMSK 1−bit−per−pulse rate. Therefore, EDGE has the potential to increase the data rate of existing GSM systems by a factor of three. The channel separations are 45 MHz, and the carrier spacing is a 200 kHz channel capacity, the same as GSM and GPRS. The number of TDMA slots on each carrier is the same (eight) as the GSM and GPRS architecture.

With true 3G up for grabs, UMTS was one of which open the world of 3^rd Generation wireless technologies. UMTS a third-generation (3G) broadband, packet-based transmission of text, digitized voice, video, and multimedia at data rates up to 2 megabits per second (Mbps). UMTS offers a consistent set of services to mobile computer and phone users, no matter where they are located in the world. UMTS is based on the Global System for Mobile (GSM) communication standard. It is also endorsed by major standards bodies and manufacturers as the planned standard for mobile users around the world. Once UMTS is fully available, computer and phone users can be constantly attached to the Internet wherever they travel and, as they roam, will have the same set of capabilities.

UMTS is incompatible with GSM. Some phones are dual GSM/UMTS phones, but unless that exciting new mobile phone or handset that you can't wait to get your hands on has that kind of duality built in, you will only be able to utilize one mode, the one that came with the device. As UMTS gains in credibility and functionality, experts believe it will overtake GSM as the industry standard. UMTS is already able to operate at a higher frequency than GSM.

WCDMA is an ITU standard derived from CDMA and is officially known as IMT−2000 direct spread. WCDMA can support mobile/portable voice, images, data, and video communications at up to 2Mbps (local area access) or 384 Kbps (wide area access). The input signals are digitized and transmitted in coded, spread−spectrum mode over a broad range of frequencies. A 5 MHz wide carrier is used compared with a 200 kHz wide carrier for narrowband CDMA.

WCDMA offers very high capacity with 50 to 80 voice channels per 5 MHz carrier (compared with 8 channels per carrier with 200 kHz for GSM). To achieve the very high data rates, WCDMA requires a wide frequency band of between 5 MHz and 10 MHz (compared with a 200 kHz carrier for regular (GSM).

This figure shows a simplified diagram of a WCDMA system. This diagram shows that the WCDMA system includes various types of mobile communication devices (called user equipment - UE) that communicate through base stations (node B) and a mobile switching center (MSC) or data routing networks to connect to other mobile telephones, public telephones, or to the Internet via a core network (CN). This diagram shows that the WCDMA system is compatible with both the 5 MHz wide WCDMA radio channel and the narrow 200 kHz GSM channels. This example also shows that the core network is essentially divided between voice systems (circuit switching) and packet data (packet switching). 

With such technologies, the drive for carriers to improve their services through improvements and innovation led to convenience. These technologies are created most importantly for business use. Higher speed data rates mean faster transaction that led to oppurtunities.