What Does 3g Mean?

Ever since the cell phone market was flooded by the introduction of the smartphone, there has been an ever increasing amount of related jargon thrown around. I think it is fair to say that the average cell phone user probably doesn't understand an awful lot about this lingo, so where do they turn to find out? Well the internet of course.

One term that has become ever more popular over recent years is '3g', but what does 3g mean, and how does 3g work?

There are plenty of websites that answer this question online, however many of them are so filled with jargon that they appear as totally foreign to a lot of readers. Whatever happened to a simple explanation, something in a nutshell?

This article is going to provide you with a very simple explanation as to what 3g is, in case you are one of the thousands of people each month that search the internet trying to find out!

What does 3g mean?

First off I am going to answer the basic questions, what does the 'g' mean in '3g', as well as what does the 3 stand for in this acronym. Well it is quite simple really, the '3' stands for 3rd and the 'g' stands for generation. It is simply referring to the stage of mobile cell phone technology that it represents. The generation that preceded it was 2nd generation, and the improved technology that comes after it is referred to as 4th generation or 4g. Look at it as a stage in history or evolution, we refer to everything between 1900 and 1999 as the twentieth century, well it is no different here in that it is a type of technology applied to products in a period before the next generation of the technology comes along.

What is 3g?

So what is 3g? The term 3g is specific to wireless devices such as cell phones, and it represents the technology that compiles current cellular data networks. These networks allow cell phone users, and the users of other wireless devices that are capable of connecting to a cellular network (such as tablets), to send and receive data at high speed. This basically means when you are on your cell phone you are able to upload and download data by using apps on your phone, and using the internet. You will notice this is always faster when the '3g' logo is showing, as that means your phone is connected to the network and taking advantage of it's advanced power. Without it you may fail to connect at all or just experience much slower speeds, as regular cellular networks are not as advanced.

There are two main pillars of cellular technology, these are called CDMA, which stands for Code Division Multiple Access, and GSM, an acronym that is short for Global System for Multiple access). Both of these have their own specific sub-technologies, that qualify as '3g', but that is not so important when we are explaining what 3g is in a nutshell.

All of the major cell phone carriers have their own networks that fall under the 3g umbrella, because of the technology that is used to make them.

For example, in the USA the popular cell phone carriers AT&T and T-Mobile are GSM carriers and they use a standard of technology known as UMTS, otherwise known as HSPA. However, for the average person wanting to know what 3g is and what it means, this is not so important. The differences are that some 3g networks may be faster and more reliable than others.

What about 4g?

Whereby 3g technology is something that has been around for several years now, 4g is the latest standard of cellular technology. However, it is not available in as many areas as 3g yet, nor are there as many wireless devices that can support it.

Unlike previous generations of mobile technology such as 3g, 4G mobile will be commonly used for internet access on computers, in addition to carrying cell phone communications. Users in areas which have good 4G coverage will be able to use it for home broadband connection which doesn't require any cabling to their house. It will also be used for accessing the internet on the move without the need to be in a wireless hot-spot. This however is in the future when 4g is widespread, at present it is still predominantly 3g for the average cell phone user.

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