EDGE

From ShadoWiki

Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) is a digital mobile phone technology which acts as a bolt-on enhancement to 2G and 2.5G (a.k.a.GPRS) networks. This technology is working in TDMA and GSM networks. EDGE (also known as EGPRS) is a superset to GPRS and can function on any network with GPRS deployed on it (provided the carrier implements the necessary upgrades).

EDGE provides Enhanced GPRS (EGPRS), which can be used for any packet switched applications such as an Internet connection. High-speed data applications such as video services and other multimedia benefit from EGPRS' increased data capacity.

It can carry data speeds up to 384 kbit/s in packet mode.

Although EDGE requires no hardware changes to be made in GSM core networks, base stations must be modified. An EDGE compatible tranceiver unit must be installed and base station system needs to be upgraded to support EDGE. New mobile terminal hardware and software is also required to decode/encode using the new shift keying scheme.