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EDGE - technical definition
Originally, Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution.A 2.5G standard (1999) developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) as the final stage in the evolution of data communications within the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) standards. The only IMT-2000 specification based on time division multiple access (TDMA) rather than code division multiple access (CDMA), EDGE supports data transmission rates up to 473.6 kbps over GSM channels 200 kHz wide through an improved modulation technique known as 8-Phase Shift Keying (8-PSK), which involves eight levels of phase shift and, therefore, supports three bits per symbol. EDGE employs frequency division duplex (FDD) to support bidirectional communications over 124 channels, each of which supports 8 time slots. EDGE supports two modes of operation:
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(Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution - or GSM Evolution) A 2.5G digital data service provided by GSM cellular carriers worldwide, including AT&T and T-Mobile in the U.S. Also called "Enhanced GPRS" (EGPRS), EDGE works on EDGE cellphones as well as laptops and portable devices that have EDGE modems. Superseding the GPRS data service, EDGE users have experienced downstream data rates up to 200 Kbps. See cellular generations, cellular vs. Wi-Fi, GSM, GPRS, TDMA and UWC-136.
Dual Support
If an iPhone 3G finds a 3G cell tower, it uses the higher HSDPA speed. However, it throttles down to EDGE (E) if a 3G HSDPA channel is not available. See HSPA.
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