Mobile Network Operators (UK)
A Mobile Network Operator (MNO), also known as a Mobile Network Carrier, is a provider of the infrastructure upon whi. . .goto page
EE
EE is number one mobile network within the UK, regularly coming out on top in surveys be that high speed (40Mbps), low. . .goto page
VM-O2
O2 is one of the 4 UK mobile phone operators in the UK. It is owned by Virgin Media, under the VirginMedia-O2 brand. . . .goto page
Vodafone
Vodafone has 19.7% share in the UK mobile phone market and is the 3rd largest of the mobile phone companies. Together. . .goto page
Three
THREE is the smallest of the UK mobile operators with 12% of the UK market. They claim a 99.8% population coverage in . . .goto page
Generations of Mobile Phone Technology.
0G Phones The basis of modern mobile phones is the celular concept. Prior to this there were many radio telephones u. . .goto page
GSM Reference Model - 2G
GSM (Groupe Special Mobile) has published the underlying model and standards for digital cellular communications; the. . .goto page
Base Station Systems.
In 2G the base station was made up of a Base Transceiver System and a Base Station Controller. In 4G the same functio. . .goto page
Core Mobile Management
At the edge of a mobile network is the base station or eNodeB or gNodeB. In essence these systems manage the wireless . . .goto page
HLR + AUC / HSS / UDM
The Home Location Register (HLR) is the location in the 2G network where various subscriber items are stored. This fun. . .goto page
Visitors in a network
The Visitor Location Register (VLR) allows roaming subscribers to use a different network to their own network. For t. . .goto page
Equipment Identity Register
Each mobile network needs to keep lists of equipment that can and cannot connect to their network. This is to ensure t. . .goto page
Mobile Phone Masts
A mobile phone mast is the interface between the wireless part of the network and the base station, the backhaul netwo. . .goto page
Mobile Network Coverage
What a mobile phone customer requires is coverage for their phone on their network at places they visit. To achieve th. . .goto page
User Equipment
Talk of the mobile phone network and the obvious device that can connect to the network is a mobile phone. But these a. . .goto page
Cellular Concept
Some key factors in building a cellular network : The network has to cope with large numbers of subscribers . . .goto page
Handover
Handover and handoff are different words for the same idea. The basics of mobile phone technology is that when a cl. . .goto page
Registration and Roaming
When a customer walks out of a shop with a new phone and new SIM, the shop staff will have registered the SIM on their. . .goto page
Frequencies for Mobile Communications
In the UK OfCOM are responsible for the allocation and oversight of the frequencies used for communications. This cove. . .goto page
Mobile Phone Technology Basics
When purchased, the SIM is registered by a network, the details are stored in the home network (HLR or HSS) with. . .goto page
Phone Numbers
How do we identify the mobile device? - a phone number? International Network Operator is the number that identifi. . .goto page
Converting Phone Calls to Digital.
When we talk the sound waves are analogue sound waves but these need to be converted to a stream of numbers, which can. . .goto page
Mobile Network Virtual Operators (UK)
In addition to the MNOs in the UK there are a number of Mobile Virtual Network Operators. These organisations sell mo. . .goto page
Multiplexing or Multiple Access
There is a limited amount of bandwidth available to the mobile phone operators which are split into channels. One of t. . .goto page
Modulation
The data, in terms of 0's and 1's needs to be sent on a carrier wave at a specific frequency. For example Vodafone use. . .goto page
Generic Mobile Reference Architecture
The different generations of mobile phone technology are based on a similar mobile network architecture. In order to h. . .goto page
GPRS networks
GPRS, often called 2.5G, is a enhancement to the initial 2G network. The 2G network was a phone network and data was . . .goto page
3G Mobile Network
The 3G network built upon the architecture of the GPRS / 2.5G network. The user equipment connected through the air in. . .goto page
Framework for the 4G mobile Network.
The move to 4G is a move to an Enhanced UTRAN architecture or an enhanced 3G network. The technology behind 4G is LTE. . .goto page
WAP
The mobile Internet became available around 1999. The first phones, such as the Nokia 7110, were monochrome, small me. . .goto page
Mobile Web Overview
From 1990 it has been possible to see web pages on a mobile, the Nokia 7110 being one of the first devices. This was a. . .goto page
native Apps for Mobiles
There are millions of applications available for the mobile phone owner to download to their phone covering every conc. . .goto page
Cell Splitting and Small Cells.
The basics of cell splitting is to reduce the strength of the signal of an antenna, this reducing the area of coverag. . .goto page
SMS = Short Messaging Service
SMS is the Short Messaging System available on all mobile phones. An app on a user's phone will allow them to send an. . .goto page
Messaging Apps
Every phone will have an SMS App which is used to send SMS messages. If the message is longer than the 160 c. . .goto page
WAP Push Messages
WAP Push is a special type of SMS message that is pushed to the recipient. The data sent is one of two types : . . .goto page
MMS Messages
MMS is the Mulitmedia messages service available on all modern phones phones. It is advertised as adding rich media s. . .goto page
Cell Sectorisation.
The typical schematic for mobile coverage shows perfect hexagons with an omnidirectional antenna at the centre. If dem. . .goto page
EDGE networks
EDGE = Enhanced Data-rates for GPRS Evolution On a modern smartphone, users will see, in areas of 2G network coverage,. . .goto page
2G Wireless Phones.
G initiated the move to digital technology from the original analogue technology. This allows for greater network capac. . .goto page
Long SMS Messages
A standard SMS message will send messages of at most 160 7-bit characters to a recipient. But what if the message to b. . .goto page
4G-LTE Network
3G-HSPA+ technology has squeezed a fast capable network from the 3G mobile phone network. But there is still a demand . . .goto page
Phase Modulation
The basis of phase modulation is that changes are made to the phase of the carrier wave and these changes represent 0 . . .goto page
3G Wireless Network
G Edge had squeezed a lot out of an older network design but there was still a demand for data. The main goal for the 3. . .goto page
Frequency Physics.
requencies used for mobile phone technology range from 800MHz to 3.8GHz; with 26GHz and 40GHz coming on stream. Thes. . .goto page
HSPA / HSPA+ networks
HSPA - High Speed Packet Access HSDPA - High Speed Download Packet Access HSUPA - High Speed Upload Packet Acc. . .goto page
OFDMA
OFDM splits the spectrum into 15kHz sub-channels but allocates the whole channel to a single user for the specified t. . .goto page
MIMO
MIMO, is multiple input, multiple output meaning that the signals are transmitted on different frequencies to differen. . .goto page
4G+ Networks
How to speed up 4G? The LTE Advance, often referred to as 4G+, is a technology used to produce more speed out of the e. . .goto page
WiFi and Mobiles
Wifi is a wireless communication technology designed to allow computing devices to send data to and receive data from. . .goto page
Mobile Broadband
There are two classes of mobile router as illustrated by the images. A 'mobile' mobile router is one that can be carri. . .goto page
Apple iPhones
In 2007 Apple released their first phone, the iPhone. A touch sensitive screen rather than a keyboard and a large, for. . .goto page
Samsung Galaxy S Phones
In 2010 Samsung released their Galaxy S range of phones as their flagship phone. These phones have, over the years, d. . .goto page
QAM - Quadrature Amplitude Modulation
There is always a demand to deliver more bits on the carrier wave. 8PSK will deliver 3 bits (8 values) but this me. . .goto page
4G-Drivers for the Technology
Why is 3g not good enough? What are the technology drivers that will give the demand for 4G technology. If there i. . .goto page
5G Drivers for the Technology
A familiar question - why is 4G not good enough? 5G has 3 (potential) impovements over the 4G network namely more c. . .goto page
5G - Overview of Technology
5G is the latest generation of mobile phone technologies, following on from 4G. Indeed it is envisaged that 5G will wo. . .goto page
5G Bandwidth Auction in UK
5G will be delivered (in UK) using a mix of 3 spectrum bands : 700Mhz - to provide the coverage over large areas. . .goto page
Virtual SMS.
Many companies use SMS messages to communicate with customers. For example : Marketing or Advertising Second of. . .goto page
Format of SMS messages.
n SMS message is sent as a series of 140 8 bit characters. These can be decoded into 160 7 bit characters (as usual in. . .goto page
RCS Messaging
SMS is the most basic of mobile messaging systems. There have been enhancements to allow long messages (over 160 c. . .goto page
LTE for Machines (LTE-M)
The model for IoT or Smart devices is that these can be located anywhere but they need some element of communication t. . .goto page
Carrier Aggregation
In a 4G-LTE environment the available bandwidth is split into channels, or component carriers. The standard sizes of . . .goto page
Network Slicing
In a 4G network each operator will run a general purpose network supporting the range of use, from browsing the Inter. . .goto page
Heath Issues of Mobile Technology
With every new generation of mobile phone technology there are claims that the radiation associated with the technolog. . .goto page
5G Small and Macro cells.
The big change implemented in 5g is (will be) mmWave, transmission frequency at 26GHz. These waves have a large capac. . .goto page
VoLTE
VoLTE - Voice over LTE - is the protocol for using the 4G network for phone calls. 2G and 3G networks wer. . .goto page
SDL
In a normal mobile connection the channel used is a pair of channels, one uplink and one downlink. The mo. . .goto page
CGNAT- Carrier Grade Network Address Translation
When your phone is connected to the mobile network it needs an IP address so that your phone can be found.There are t. . .goto page
OFDM
Orthogonal Freequency Division Multiplexing is a mixture of frequency multiplexing, spliiting the available frequency. . .goto page
Beam Forming
Most mobile masts, in busy areas, are arranged to receive and send data within a 120 degree sector. These masts will . . .goto page
5G - NR vs SA
5G in UK - the 4 mobile operators, EE, O2, 3UK and Vodafone each bought frequencies to be able to run a 5G network. T. . .goto page
Phones that changed our lives 1
Nokia 7110 (2000) The Nokia 7110 was a notable phone as it was at the start of the data revolution. Prior to . . .goto page
Phones that changed our lives 3
Nokia N95 (2007) The N95 was the flagship Noki phone which were released to deliver 3G. This phone had a much. . .goto page
Phones that changed our lives 2
Nokia 6230 (2003) The Nokia 6230 was significant because of the (small) colour screen. Also it supported HTML. . .goto page
VoIP
VoIP is the making of a phone call over the Internet. Making phone calls over the Internet has been the 'norm' for . . .goto page
Vo-WiFi - Voice over WiFi
If your phone is connected to a WiFi network and you wish to make or receive a call then this can be carried out seam. . .goto page
Framework for the 5G mobile Network.
There are 2 variants of 5G in the Uk; 5G-SA (Stand Alone) and 5G-NR (New Radio). In the case of 5G-NR this is the 5G r. . .goto page
FDD and TDD.
The channel used to transmit data in 2G, 4G and 5G needs to be shared between users. This sharing is done by either s. . .goto page
e-SIM.
A SIM card is a Subscriber Identity Module, and is the way the network identifies the device on the network. It . . .goto page