GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) Interview Preparation Guide

General Packet Radio Service is used mostly in Europe and Asia. GPRS is used most commonly for cell phones. In Canada, Rogers and Fido are using GPRS.
You can send and receive emails using GPRS and browse the Internet.
General Packet Radio Service is a radio technology for GSM networks that adds packet-switching protocols, shorter set-up time for ISP connections, it also offers the possibility to charge by amount of data sent rather than connect time.
It is a new nonvoice value added service that allows information to be sent and received across a mobile telephone network. GPRS is NOT related to GPS (Global Positioning System), a similar acronym that is often used in mobile contexts. Allowing information to be transmitted more quickly, immediately and efficiently across the mobile network, GPRS may well be a relatively less costly mobile data service.
GPRS can provide instant connections subject to radio coverage. No dial-up modem connection is necessary.

Packet switching is a digital networking communications method that groups all transmitted data, irrespective of content, type, or structure, into suitably sized blocks, called packets. Packet switching features delivery of variable bit rate data streams (sequences of packets) over a shared network. When traversing network adapters, switches, routers and other network nodes, packets are buffered and queued, resulting in variable delay and throughput depending on the traffic load in the network.

A mobile phone is an electronic device used for mobile telecommunications over a cellular network of base stations known as cell sites. Mobile phones differ from cordless telephones, which only offer telephone service within limited range through a single base station attached to a fixed line, for example within a home or an office. Low-end mobile phones are often referred to as feature phones, whereas high-end mobile phones that offer more advanced computing ability are referred to as smartphones.

GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) is the most popular standard for mobile telephony systems in the world. The GSM Association, its promoting industry trade organization of mobile phone carriers and manufacturers, estimates that 80% of the global mobile market uses the standard. GSM is used by over 3 billion people across more than 212 countries and territories

Time division multiple access (TDMA) is a channel access method for shared medium networks. It allows several users to share the same frequency channel by dividing the signal into different time slots. The users transmit in rapid succession, one after the other, each using his own time slot. This allows multiple stations to share the same transmission medium (e.g. radio frequency channel) while using only a part of its channel capacity

Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) was a wide-area mobile data service which used unused bandwidth normally used by AMPS mobile phones between 800 and 900 MHz to transfer data. Speeds up to 19.2 kbit/s were possible. The service was discontinued in conjunction with the retirement of the parent AMPS service; it has been functionally replaced by faster services such as 1xRTT, EV-DO, and UMTS/HSPA.

NTT DoCoMos i-mode is a mobile internet (as opposed to wireless internet) service popular in Japan. Unlike Wireless Application Protocol or WAP, i-mode encompasses a wider variety of internet standards, including web access, email and the packet switched network that delivers the data. i-mode users have access to various services such as email, sports results, weather forecast, games, financial services and ticket booking. Content is provided by specialized services, typically from the mobile carrier, which allows them to have tighter control over billing.

Dual Transfer Mode (DTM) is a protocol based on the GSM standard that allows simultaneous transfer of Circuit switched (CS) voice and Packet switched (PS) data over the same radio channel (ARFCN). DTM is a 3GPP baseline R99 feature.

Access point name (APN) identifies an IP packet data network (PDN), that a mobile data user wants to communicate with. In addition to identifying a PDN, an APN may also be used to define the type of service, (eg connection to wireless application protocol (WAP) server, multimedia messaging service (MMS)), that is provided by the PDN. APN is used in 3GPP data access networks, eg general packet radio service (GPRS), evolved packet core (EPC).

The General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) system is used by GSM mobile phones, the most common mobile phone system in the world, for transmitting IP packets. The GPRS core network is the centralized part of the GPRS system. It also provides support for WCDMA based 3G networks. The GPRS core network is an integrated part of the GSM network switching subsystem.