The mobile generations from 1G to 2G

The first operational cellular communication system was deployed in the Norway in 1981 and was followed by similar systems in the US and UK. These first generation systems provided voice transmissions by using frequencies around 900 MHz and analogue modulation.

The second generation (2G) of the wireless mobile network was based on low-band digital data signaling. The most popular 2G wireless technology is known as Global Systems for Mobile Communications (GSM). The first GSM systems used a 25MHz frequency spectrum in the 900MHz band. FDMA is used to split the available 25MHz of bandwidth into 124 carrier frequencies of 200 kHz each. Each frequency is then divided using a TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) scheme into eight timeslots and allows eight simultaneous calls on the same frequency. This protocol allows large numbers of users to access one radio frequency by allocating time slots to multiple voice or data calls. TDMA breaks down data transmission, such as a phone conversation, into fragments and transmits each fragment in a short burst, assigning each fragment a time slot, which the caller can not detect at all.

Today, GSM systems operate in the 900MHz and 1.8 GHz bands throughout the world with the exception of the Americas where they operate in the 1.9 GHz band. Within Europe, the GSM technology made possible the seamless roaming across all countries.
While GSM technology was developed in Europe, CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) technology was developed in North America. CDMA uses spread spectrum technology to break up speech into small, digitized segments and encodes them to identify each call. CDMA distinguishes between multiple transmissions carried simultaneously on a single wireless signal.

CDMA promises to open up network capacity for wireless carriers and improve the quality of wireless messages and users' access to the wireless airwaves. Whereas CDMA breaks down calls on a signal by codes, TDMA breaks them down by time. The result in both cases is an increased network capacity for the wireless carrier and a lack of interference for the caller.

While GSM and other TDMA-based systems have become the dominant 2G wirelesses technologies, CDMA technology are recognized as providing clearer voice quality with less background noise, fewer dropped calls, enhanced security, greater reliability and greater network capacity.