4 Main Concepts

22.0603GPPGeneral Packet Radio Service (GPRS)Release 17Service descriptionStage 1TS

The GPRS allows the service subscriber to send and receive data in an end-to-end packet transfer mode, without utilizing network resources in circuit switched mode.

GPRS enables the cost effective and efficient use of network resources for packet mode data applications e.g. for applications that exhibit one or more of the following characteristics:

– intermittent, non-periodic (i.e., bursty) data transmissions, where the time between successive transmissions greatly exceeds the average transfer delay;

– frequent transmissions of small volumes of data, for example transactions consisting of less than 500 octets of data occurring at a rate of up to several transactions per minute;

– infrequent transmission of larger volumes of data, for example transactions consisting of several kilobytes of data occurring at a rate of up to several transactions per hour.

Within the GPRS, two different bearer service types are defined. These are:

– Point-To-Point (PTP);

– Point-To-Multipoint (PTM).

Based on standardized network protocols supported by the GPRS bearer services, a GPRS network administration may offer (or support) a set of additional services. This is outside the scope of this specification, however, a number of possible PTP interactive teleservices include:

– retrieval services which provide the capability of accessing information stored in data base centres. The information is sent to the user on demand only. An example of one such service in the Internet’s World Wide Web (WWW);

– messaging services which offer user-to-user communication between individual users via storage units with store-and-forward mailbox, and/or message handling (e.g., information editing, processing and conversion) functions;

– conversational services which provide bi-directional communication by means of real-time (no store-and-forward) end-to-end information transfer from user to user. An example of such a service is the Internet’s Telnet application;

– tele-action services which are characterized by low data-volume (short) transactions, for example credit card validations, lottery transactions, utility meter readings and electronic monitoring and surveillance systems.

Some examples of teleservices which may be supported by a PTM bearer service include:

– distribution services which are characterized by the unidirectional flow of information from a given point in the network to other (multiple) locations. Examples may include news, weather and traffic reports, as well as product or service advertisements;

– dispatching services which are characterized by the bi-directional flow of information from a given point in the network (dispatcher) and other (multiple) users. Examples include taxi and public utility fleet services;

– conferencing services which provide multi-directional communication by means of real-time (no store-and-forward) information transfer between multiple users.

Some examples of teleservices which may be supported by either PTP or PTM bearers include:

– user subscribed services where a priori agreement is made for delivery of data to a user, such as stock quotes, sports results, specific product or service advertisements, and email.

EGPRS is an enhancement of GPRS for GERAN allowing higher data rates on the radio interface. The same set of services provided by GPRS is available in EGPRS.

HSDPA is an enhancement to Packet data services for UTRAN allowing higher data rates on the radio interface downlink. The same set of services provided by GPRS is available with GPRS using HSDPA.