GPRS vs EDGE

[joemz]

Cingular in North NJ, on BES with 8800

Lately the screen switches between EDGE and GPRS.

What does it mean, and should I care?

[BallHawk3]

it means the area you went into an area that has no EDGE coverage.

EDGE is basically a faster version of GPRS, think of it as an "upgraded version."

Talking about data connection speeds.

[penguin3107]

EDGE is higher speed than GPRS.
Very rough estimates put GPRS at about 60-80kbps and EDGE at about 200-300kbps. YMMV

[joemz]

Is EDGE relatively new? I can't say that I've paid that much attention, but I know that when I boot up the phone it goes from gsm, to gprs, to GPRS and I don't think it normally goes to EDGE.

Does it mean that the service might have been upgraded in my home area?

[BallHawk3]

Is EDGE relatively new? I can't say that I've paid that much attention, but I know that when I boot up the phone it goes from gsm, to gprs, to GPRS and I don't think it normally goes to EDGE.

Does it mean that the service might have been upgraded in my home area?

possibly your area recently got upgraded to EDGE.

I'm on T-Mobile and reside in los angeles, personally, very rarely have I gone into an area where there was no EDGE coverage.

But yea, GPRS and EDGE are both data connection, EDGE is faster and newer. EDGE is what you want, if no EDGE is available then you'll be picking up GPRS connection. And I do believe if there's not data connection avaiable (which is super rare) it will show GSM.

[joemz]

thanks, just a few years ago I could barely get a decent voice connection at home, then voice got good and the data connection was lousy. Maybe seeing the occasional EDGE means things are getting better.

[Dubdub]

EDGE is higher speed than GPRS.
Very rough estimates put GPRS at about 60-80kbps and EDGE at about 200-300kbps. YMMV

Actually GPRS averages 28-64 kbps with a max of approx 120 kbps.

EDGE averages 50-90 kbps with a max of 236 kbps up to approx 285 or so on an upgraded tower. (Note: these are downlink speeds. Uplink is considerably slower.)

Your actual speed will vary depending on the connection, device processor, available memory, distance to the tower and tower congestion. Voice takes priority on the tower from what I have been told.

[penguin3107]

Actually GPRS averages 28-64 kbps with a max of approx 120 kbps.
EDGE averages 50-90 kbps with a max of 236 kbps up to approx 285 or so on an upgraded tower.

So you'd agree that my post gave very rough estimates, no?


(1200)

[shona67]

EDGE is higher speed than GPRS.
Very rough estimates put GPRS at about 60-80kbps and EDGE at about 200-300kbps. YMMV

3G is the latest network after EDGE and it is much faster than EDGE. T-Mobile will roll out late this year or early next year. But unfortunate is that it doesn't apply to our current device (8100, 8700, 8300 and older series).(n)