Law Technology

Talking 3G and other Wireless Acronyms

By Dennis Kennedy

I'll get back to my blog series, "My New Laptop Computer is an iPod Touch," tomorrow, but wanted to point you to my latest technology column in the ABA Journal, which has an iPhone theme.

My editor, Reg Davis, had been suggesting a column that explained some of today's telcom and wireless acronyms. I liked the idea, although I was not quite as enthused about the topic as he was, in part because telcom acronyms are a world of their own.

However, when the new iPhone launched with all the hoopla over 3G access, I realized that I didn't have a very good idea about what "3G" really. The timing seemed right for the topic.

So, I took a stab about putting together a short primer to help people try to understand the arcane, daunting and confusing world of wireless acronyms, and the differences between services and generations of wireless standards, both voice and data.

The column, called "Learning 3G-Speak," takes you on a tour through the sometimes wacky world of wireless standards. Once you get the idea that 3G refers to third, it follows what 2G and 4G must refer to, but what the story about 2.5G and even 2.75.

The column should help you understand whether you really can take advantage of higher data speeds or not and aid in navigating the wireless world. Learning to speak the language will be a benefit in this area.

Let me know what you think of the article.

Follow me on Twitter: @denniskennedy

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

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Technorati tags: legal technology 3G aba journal iphone wireless standards

Full post as published by DennisKennedy.blog on July 22, 2008 (boomark / email).