Telecommunications and electronics manufacturing giants made the news as they battled to be the first in what was hoped would be a huge market for a new era of mobile communication, and then when 3G was actually set up, mobile phone companies tried to convince consumers to upgrade to the new services.



Despite all the talk, a lot of people still don't know what 3G really means. What follows is a brief guide to 3G mobile phone communication.

What is it? 3G means that the new generation of mobile phones now have the capacity to hook up to wireless broadband services. The connection speed is 144 kbps and which is roughly three times the speed of a 56K dial up modem connection.

Some services offer higher connection speeds. With this enhanced connectivity you can now surf the Internet from a phone, enjoy streaming music video, watch on-demand video programming, download and play 3D games, and videoconference with your friends and colleagues.

Laptop users also can take advantage of 3G networks for mobile broadband without a Wi-Fi network; basically you'll just have to have a network supplied computer card and a simple data plan.

What kinds of 3G networks exist? There are two main varieties of 3G: UMTS (Universal Mobile Telephone Service), which uses W-CDMA as its underlying standard, and CDMA2000 1xEV-DO (Evolution-Data Optimised.

now 1xEV-DO and even W-CDMA are located in all major capital cities all over Australia and ofcourse growing all the time. both speeds are about the ADSL entry-level of quality.

Which Companies provide 3G services? In Australia, The big four mobile phone networks / carriers all have 3G services, but they each have different plans, services and coverage areas.

Presently the service of these carriers is not provided in all localities, and when a user goes outside the 3G supported areas, the phones fall back on the normal GSM/ GPRS system enabling users to reach approximately 95% of the mobile phone population. these plans from all networks and providers start from a low $20 per month and up. What Kinds of Phones Support 3G? If you want to take advantage of 3G you not only have to subscribe to a new service plan, but you need a new phone.

3rd-generation devices can offer high speed music downloads, great streaming services and even video calls. They're generally a bit bigger than their 2G predecessors but offer a whole lot more multimedia capacity. All the major manufacturers (Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Sharp, NEC, Samsung) sell models with 3G capacity. Check with your service provider to find out which handsets are suitable for the plan that you wish to sign up for.

More About 3G With the advert of 3G technology your options related to services you wouldn't even imagine previously can now be available. There's no doubt 3G and with handset manufactures creating more phones to handle it, it will open the doors to wireless communications you previously thought was not possible!

Each network provider will have their own spin on how their 3G system works and it might be good to review all 3G networks before signing up on a lengthy contract! It's all about speed and coverage.

If the network provider has good 3G speed and coverage for the areas you are mainly located in, you're on a winner.

The future looks bright for wireless high-speed communication systems like 3G.

Soon you'll have one wireless device in your hands that will pretty much be able to do everything you need. You'll be able to even watch VIDEO calls, download anything you want at high wireless download speeds as well as even paying your accounts with one mobile device!

What's coming next? In the near future the connection speeds of 144kbps will be increased to 30-100 Mbps in the so-called 4G networks. These speeds will allow users to enjoy high-quality streaming video, high-quality videoconferencing and voice-over-IP mobile communication.

If you enjoy the services that you get on a broadband Internet connection and would like to have them in your pocket, then the time is right to take a close look at 3G mobile phones.