Wireless Master

Firstly, GSM means Global System for Mobile Communications while GPRS means General Packet Radio Service. Other than the obvious differences in name there are certain technical differences that lie between both the services. However, before going into the technicalities of the differences, it is important to note that GPRS uses the GSM network and is also a complementary enhancement of the GSM network and complements services like the Short Messaging Service or the SMS.

The first and the fundamental difference between GSM and GPRS is over the speeds of data transmission. GPRS has a higher bandwidth and therefore a higher speed of data transmission.

Secondly, GPRS provides a continuous connectivity to the Internet and also provides a stable Internet connection. This connection can be both constant as well as instant. It is called the “always online” feature of GPRS. The content can be more features as well as graphics rich. There can be constant updating on news concerning the weather, international news, stock market updates, international news and so on. This is mainly due to the fact that there is a steady connection that is always mentioned. Moving images can be downloaded along with email, constant chat and instant messaging services and online financial transactions as well. People are able to buy flight and cinema tickets online, using a credit card payment mode. The use of GPRS facilitates the development of advanced communication applications like video conferencing, and so on. There can be remote access to intranets and other public networks as well. This is so much easier than the long distance phone calls due to usage of the dial-up modem.

While the GSM service involves circuit switching channels, GPRS networks use packet switching. In the former, data is routed through a channel or a circuit created between certain transmission points. As long as that is being used by some users, others cannot use it. On the other hand, the latter which is the packet switching networks, data is broken into small packets and then routed through independent channels. Thus there is a much better and efficient use of bandwidth and other resources in the GPRS networks because here the bandwidth is used only when the data is being transferred, while in the circuit switched connection, the channel remains active even if there is no communication going on.

GPRS supports other leading and important standards like the Internet Protocol or what is popularly known as the IP, and also the X.25 which is mostly used in Europe.

GPRS is more economic for the users than GSM because in the former, the calculation is made on the basis of the amount of data that is being transferred or used while in GSM, the calculation is made on the basis of how many minutes the connection channel was active.

GPRS is used from laptops, hand-held computers, GPRS enabled cellphones., USB modems, PC card modems, smartphones as well as cellphones which have WAP micro-browsers.