How does cellular communication work? How mobile cellular communication works and works. cellular

It’s a little sad that the vast majority of people, when asked: “How does cellular communication work?” answer “over the air” or even “I don’t know.”

Continuing this topic, I had a funny conversation with a friend on the topic of mobile communications. This happened exactly a couple of days before what was celebrated by all signalmen and telecom workers "Radio Day" holiday. It just so happened that due to his ardent life position, my friend thought that mobile connection works completely wirelessly via satellite. Exclusively due to radio waves. At first I couldn't convince him. But after a short conversation everything fell into place.

After this friendly “lecture” the idea came to write in simple language about how cellular communications work. Everything is as it is.

When you dial a number and start calling, or someone calls you, then your mobile phone communicates via radio channel with one of the antennas closest base station. Where are these base stations located, you ask?

pay attention to industrial buildings, urban high-rises and special towers. Large gray rectangular blocks with protruding antennas are located on them different forms. But these antennas are not television or satellite, but transceiver cellular operators. They are sent to different sides to provide communication to subscribers from all directions. After all, we don’t know where the signal will come from and where the unfortunate subscriber with the handset will take us? In professional jargon, antennas are also called “sectors”. As a rule, they are set from one to twelve.

From the antenna the signal is transmitted via cable directly to the station control unit. Together they form the base station [antennas and control unit]. Several base stations, whose antennas serve a separate area, for example, a city district or a small town, are connected to a special unit - controller. Up to 15 base stations are usually connected to one controller.

In turn, the controllers, of which there may also be several, are connected by cables to the “think tank” - switch. The switch provides output and input of signals to city telephone lines, to other cellular operators, as well as long-distance and international communications.

IN small networks only one switch is used; in larger ones, serving more than a million subscribers at once, two, three or more switches can be used, again interconnected by wires.

Why such complexity? Readers will ask. It would seem that, you can simply connect the antennas to the switch and everything will work. And here are base stations, switches, a bunch of cables... But it’s not so simple.

When a person moves along the street on foot or by car, train, etc. and at the same time talking on the phone, it is important to ensure continuity of communication. Signalmen process of relay handover in mobile networks called the term "handover". It is necessary to timely switch the subscriber's phone from one base station to another, from one controller to another, and so on.

If the base stations were directly connected to the switch, then all these switching would have to be managed by the switch. And the “poor” guy already has something to do. Multi-level network design makes it possible to evenly distribute the load on technical equipment. This reduces the likelihood of equipment failure and resulting loss of communication. After all, we all interested in uninterrupted communication, right?

So, having reached the switch, our call is transferred to then - to the network of another mobile operator, city long-distance and international communications. Of course, this happens over high-speed cable channels communications. The call arrives at the switchboard another operator. At the same time, the latter “knows” in which territory [in the coverage area, which controller] the desired subscriber is currently located. The switch transmits telephone call to a specific controller, which contains information in the coverage area of which base station the call recipient is located. The controller sends a signal to this single base station, and it, in turn, “interrogates”, that is, calls the mobile phone. A tube starts ringing strangely.

This whole long and difficult process in reality it takes 2-3 seconds!

Exactly the same thing happens phone calls to different cities of Russia, Europe and the world. For contact switches of various telecom operators use high-speed fiber optic communication channels. Thanks to them, a telephone signal travels hundreds of thousands of kilometers in a matter of seconds.

Thanks to the great Alexander Popov for giving the world radio! If it weren’t for him, perhaps we would now be deprived of many of the benefits of civilization.

Do you know what happens after you dial a friend's number on your mobile phone? How cellular network finds it in the mountains of Andalusia or on the coast of distant Easter Island? Why does the conversation sometimes suddenly stop? Last week I visited the Beeline company and tried to figure out how cellular communications work...

A large area of the populated part of our country is covered by Base Stations (BS). In the field they look like red and white towers, and in the city they are hidden on the roofs of non-residential buildings. Each station picks up signals from mobile phones at a distance of up to 35 kilometers and communicates with the mobile phone via service or voice channels.

After you have dialed a friend's number, your phone contacts the Base Station (BS) closest to you via a service channel and asks you to allocate a voice channel. The Base Station sends a request to the controller (BSC), which forwards it to the switch (MSC). If your friend is a subscriber to the same cellular network, then the switch will check the Home Location Register (HLR) to find out where in this moment the called subscriber is located (at home, in Turkey or in Alaska), and will transfer the call to the appropriate switch, from where it will forward it to the controller and then to the Base Station. The Base Station will contact your mobile phone and connect you to your friend. If your friend is on a different network or you are calling a landline, your switch will contact the corresponding switch on the other network. Difficult? Let's take a closer look. The Base Station is a pair of iron cabinets locked in a well-conditioned room. Considering that it was +40 outside in Moscow, I wanted to live in this room for a while. Typically, the Base Station is located either in the attic of a building or in a container on the roof:

The Base Station antenna is divided into several sectors, each of which “shines” in its own direction. Vertical antenna communicates with phones, the round one connects the Base Station to the controller:

Each sector can handle up to 72 calls simultaneously, depending on setup and configuration. A Base Station can consist of 6 sectors, so one Base Station can handle up to 432 calls, however, a station usually has fewer transmitters and sectors installed. Cellular operators prefer to install more BS to improve the quality of communication. The Base Station can operate in three bands: 900 MHz - the signal at this frequency travels further and penetrates better inside buildings 1800 MHz - the signal travels over shorter distances, but allows you to install large quantity transmitters on 1 sector 2100 MHz - 3G network This is what a cabinet with 3G equipment looks like:

900 MHz transmitters are installed at Base Stations in fields and villages, and in the city, where Base Stations are stuck like hedgehog needles, communication is mainly carried out at a frequency of 1800 MHz, although any Base Station may have transmitters of all three ranges simultaneously.

A signal with a frequency of 900 MHz can reach up to 35 kilometers, although the “range” of some Base Stations located along highways can reach up to 70 kilometers, due to the reduction in the number of simultaneously served subscribers at the station by half. Accordingly, our phone with its small built-in antenna can also transmit a signal over a distance of up to 70 kilometers... All Base Stations are designed to provide optimal coverage radio signal at ground level. Therefore, despite a range of 35 kilometers, a radio signal is simply not sent to the aircraft’s flight altitude. However, some airlines have already begun installing low-power base stations on their aircraft that provide coverage within the aircraft. Such a BS is connected to a terrestrial cellular network using satellite channel. The system is complemented by a control panel that allows the crew to turn the system on and off, as well as certain types of services, for example, turning off the voice on night flights. The phone can measure the signal strength from 32 Base Stations simultaneously. It sends information about the 6 best (in terms of signal strength) via the service channel, and the controller (BSC) decides which BS to transfer the current call (Handover) if you are on the move. Sometimes the phone can make a mistake and transfer you to the BS with worst signal, in this case the conversation may be interrupted. It may also turn out that at the Base Station that your phone has selected, all voice lines are busy. In this case, the conversation will also be interrupted. They also told me about the so-called “problem of the upper floors.” If you live in a penthouse, then sometimes, when moving from one room to another, the conversation may be interrupted. This happens because in one room the phone can “see” one BS, and in the second - another, if it faces the other side of the house, and, at the same time, these 2 Base Stations are located at a great distance from each other and are not registered as “ neighboring" from the mobile operator. In this case, the call will not be transferred from one BS to another:

Communication in the metro is provided in the same way as on the street: Base Station - controller - switch, with the only difference being that small Base Stations are used there, and in the tunnel, coverage is provided not by an ordinary antenna, but by a special radiating cable. As I wrote above, one BS can make up to 432 calls simultaneously. Usually this power is enough, but, for example, during some holidays the BS may not be able to cope with the number of people wanting to call. This usually happens on New Year's Day, when everyone starts congratulating each other. SMS are transmitted via service channels. On March 8 and February 23, people prefer to congratulate each other on via SMS, sending funny poems, and the phones often cannot agree with the BS on the allocation of a voice channel. I was told an interesting case. In one area of Moscow, subscribers began to receive complaints that they could not get through to anyone. Technical specialists began to figure it out. Most of the voice channels were free, and all service channels were busy. It turned out that next to this BS there was an institute where exams were going on and students were constantly exchanging text messages. Long SMS phone divides it into several short ones and sends each separately. Technical service staff advise sending such congratulations via MMS. It will be faster and cheaper. From the Base Station the call goes to the controller. It looks as boring as the BS itself - it’s just a set of cabinets:

Depending on the equipment, the controller can serve up to 60 Base Stations. Communication between the BS and the controller (BSC) can be carried out via a radio relay channel or via optics. The controller controls the operation of radio channels, incl. controls the subscriber’s movement and signal transmission from one BS to another. The switch looks much more interesting:

Each switch serves from 2 to 30 controllers. It occupies a large hall, filled with various cabinets with equipment:

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The switch controls traffic. Remember the old movies where people first dialed the “girl”, and then she connected them to another subscriber by switching wires? Modern switches do the same thing:

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To control the network, Beeline has several cars, which they affectionately call “hedgehogs.” They move around the city and measure the signal level own network, as well as the level of the network of colleagues from the Big Three:

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The entire roof of such a car is covered with antennas:

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Inside there is equipment that makes hundreds of calls and takes information:

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24-hour monitoring of switches and controllers is carried out from the Mission Control Center of the Network Control Center (NCC):

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There are 3 main areas for monitoring the cellular network: accident rates, statistics and feedback from subscribers. Just like in airplanes, all cellular network equipment has sensors that send a signal to the central control system and output information to dispatchers’ computers. If some equipment fails, the light on the monitor will begin to “blink.” The CCS also tracks statistics for all switches and controllers. He analyzes it, comparing it with previous periods (hour, day, week, etc.). If the statistics of any of the nodes began to differ sharply from previous indicators, then the light on the monitor will again begin to “blink”. Feedback accepted by operators subscriber service. If they cannot resolve the problem, the call is transferred to a technician. If he turns out to be powerless, then an “incident” is created in the company, which is resolved by the engineers involved in the operation of the relevant equipment. The switches are monitored 24/7 by 2 engineers:

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The graph shows the activity of Moscow switches. It is clearly visible that almost no one calls at night:

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Control over the controllers (forgive the tautology) is carried out from the second floor of the Network Control Center:

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CELLULAR COMMUNICATION CELLULAR COMMUNICATION

CELLULAR COMMUNICATION (eng. cellular phone, mobile radio relay communication), type of radio telephone communication, in which the end devices are mobile phones (cm. MOBILE PHONE)- connected to each other using a cellular network - a set of special transceivers (base stations). Base stations communicate with each other using fixed lines, and with supported mobile phones using radio waves. The area where mobile phones served by a separate base station can be located is called a cell. One cellular telephone usually visible at any given time by several base stations, and, according to the standards and protocols used in the cellular network, communicates with the base station that has the least signal attenuation (and at the same time this station does not have a limit on the number of phones it can serve). Thus, when a mobile phone moves with the person using it, and falls into the visibility areas of different base stations, its connection to the cellular network is not broken, and it can make and receive calls, as well as use all the services of the cellular network.
Companies that provide access to cellular networks are called cellular operators.
Radio transmitter power mobile phone in a cellular network there is much less (hundreds of times) base station transmitter power, so mobile phones have relatively little big sizes and safe to use. The radiation level of mobile phones is regulated by special international standards security. There are many mobile communication standards and technologies.
First generation mobile networks
The first cellular networks were built using analog standards - first generation standards (1G, first generation). The most common of them are NMT and AMPS. Usually, next to the name of the standard, the frequency in megahertz is written down, next to which is highlighted frequency range for interaction of the base station with mobile phones, for example, base stations of NMT-450 networks communicate with cell phones at a frequency of 450 MHz.
A network based on the NMT (Nordic Mobile Telephone) standard - the first cellular communication standard - began operating in the Nordic countries in 1981. NMT was also the first mobile communication standard used in Russia (1991) and in the USA.
In analog standards, to ensure the simultaneous operation of several mobile phones in one cell, as well as base stations of different cells, only frequency division of channels (FDMA, Frequency Division Multiple Access, simultaneous access with frequency division) was used, which, in conditions of a shortage of free frequencies, means work in one cell with a maximum of only 10-20 phones and large cell sizes. This was only acceptable when mobile phone penetration was relatively low. Also, analog standards did not provide any protection against interference, and it was sometimes possible to eavesdrop on a conversation using a simple radio receiver.
In the 2000s. Everywhere in the world, first generation networks are being replaced by second and third generation networks.
Second generation mobile networks
In second generation networks (2G, second generation), data between base stations and mobile phones is transmitted to digital form. This made it possible to use time division (TDMA, Time Division Multiple Access, simultaneous access with time division) in the DAMPS standards and the GSM that replaced it for simultaneous operation of several phones from one base station - each frequency channel divided into several so-called “timeslots”, i.e. time intervals during which the channel is occupied by one phone. Thus, one base station can serve up to several hundred phones simultaneously. And the transmitter powers in second-generation mobile phones were reduced, since the losses when transmitting digitized sound are much lower.
IN CDMA standard(Code Division Multiple Access, simultaneous access with division by code) are used more complex methods dividing radio air between different mobile phones. Moreover, no matter how much there is different phones in a cell, and no matter how many base stations are neighbors, each mobile phone uses an entire frequency band (channel) of relatively large width for reception and transmission - 1.25 MHz in the CDMA2000 1x standard. To distinguish between signals from different phones and base stations, each transmitter has its own code that spreads across the entire channel width.
The most popular cellular communication standard is the second generation GSM standard - Global System for Mobile Communications. Mobile phones of this standard are now used by more than a billion people around the world.
Data transmission technologies in second generation networks
But the main consequence of the transition to a digital signal form was the ability to use mobile phones to transmit not only voice (sound), but also other types of information. The first such service to make possible transfer text between mobile phones, there was a so-called “service short messages» - Short Message Service (abbreviated as SMS). SMS first appeared in the GSM standard (in December 1992, an experiment was carried out on the network of the British operator Vodaphone sending SMS), but was later implemented in networks based on other standards. Using SMS technology, you can send not only short text messages, but also simple pictures and sounds, as well as express your emotions using special images - emoticons (from smile - smile). For this purpose, EMS and Nokia Smart Messaging technologies are used.
Later, with the improvement of mobile phones and the development of computerization, technologies for transmitting computer data and accessing the Internet were introduced in GSM networks (cm. INTERNET). The first such technology was CSD (Circuit Switched Data, data transmission through direct connection), in which the timeslot allocated to the phone is used to transmit data at a speed of 9.6 kilobits per second - the timeslot is allocated in the same way as when making phone calls. In this case, the phone cannot be used for its intended purpose. To increase the transfer speed, HSCSD (High Speed CSD) technology was created - the phone receives several timeslots at once, and is also used special algorithm for error correction depending on the quality of the connection. With this technology, there may not be enough timeslots in a cell for all the mobile phones, which is why it has not become widespread.
The most common data transmission technology is GPRS (General Packet Radio Service). common use), which allows several mobile phones to use dedicated timeslots at once, uses various algorithms with different quality of communication with the BS, different workload of the BS. Every phone uses different quantity timeslots, releasing them when no longer needed or requesting new ones. Timeslots are divided between phones using batch sharing, as in computer networks. The number of timeslots that a phone can use is limited by hardware and depends on the class GPRS mobile phone. The transmission speed is asymmetrical - if a class phone can use up to 4 timeslots with 8th and 10th GPRS classes to receive information, then only 1-2 for transmission. The theoretical speed limit for GPRS with an ideal connection (21.4 kilobits per second) and 5 allocated timeslots is 107 kilobits per second. But in reality, the average GPRS speed is 56 kilobits per second. When using GPRS technology, mobile phones are allocated IP addresses on the Internet, which in most cases are not unique.
A further development of GPRS technology was EDGE technology (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution, increased data transfer speed for GSM development). In this technology, compared to GPRS, new information encoding schemes are used, and the error handling algorithm is also changed (erroneously transmitted packets are not transmitted again, only information is transmitted to restore them). As a result, maximum speed transmission reaches 384 kilobits per second.
Sometimes GPRS technology is called “generation 2.5” mobile communication technology - 2.5G, and EDGE technology- 2.75G technology.
For CDMA2000 networks, 1xRTT technology has been created, which allows reaching speeds of 144 kilobits per second.
Purpose of data transmission technologies in mobile networks
Initially, these technologies were used in mobile phones to access the Internet using personal computers, and only then, with further development mobile phones, provided Internet access directly from the mobile phone. To receive information on a mobile phone, WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) technology was used, which had relatively small requirements for technical specifications mobile phone. Pages were created on special language WML (Wireless Markup Language), adapted to the features of mobile phones - small screen size, only key control, low speeds data transfers, delays in loading pages, and so on. Moreover, due to the low processor performance and small memory capacity of the mobile phone, to make the work as easy as possible mobile browser pages in this language were not processed directly, but with the help of an intermediate server (the so-called WAP gateway), which compiled them into a special bytecode executed by the mobile phone. It is for this reason - the work of the intermediate server - that cellular operators rate this service so highly.
However, as mobile phones improved, things soon changed. Firstly, there is no need for an intermediate server - now the browsers of modern mobile phones do its work independently. Secondly, the specialized WML language is being replaced by the xHTML standard - it differs from that commonly used on the Internet HTML language only by following some special rules, namely the XML specification. Thirdly, modern mobile phones have a sufficient screen size to display regular Internet pages designed for computers. Fourthly, with the development modern Internet It turned out that the code of HTML pages began to be simplified and structured, due to the fact that now it is written mainly by machine. Due to these changes, many modern phones They are quite capable of processing HTML on their own.
Based on these data transmission technologies, additional services for mobile phones - for example, MMS (Multimedia Messaging System, transmission system multimedia messages). Using your mobile phone, you can now easily compose a message containing text, image, sound, video or other computer files. Many MMS elements can be combined into slides, and the recipient MMS phone can show a presentation consisting of them. Technically, when an MMS message is sent, a specialized data transfer protocol is used over a regular Internet connection, such as GPRS.
MMS messages from a mobile phone can be sent not only to other mobile phones, but also to addresses Email- on email all the files that make up the MMS will arrive. Each message can be sent to several addresses at once.
If the recipient is the number of another mobile phone that supports MMS, then it directly downloads the contents of the message using a special protocol, either automatically or via special request. And if the mobile phone receiving the message does not support MMS, then it receives an SMS message containing a link on the Internet, by clicking on which you can view the contents of the MMS via the Web either from the mobile phone itself or from a personal computer.
However, most modern mobile phones are equipped with email client programs, and as they improve, MMS becomes unnecessary and is replaced by other services, for example, BlackBerry.
Internet access from mobile phones can be used for the same purposes as in personal computers, for example, to use various services messaging, like ICQ.
Third generation mobile communications
Data transmission speeds in second generation networks are insufficient to implement many new tasks of mobile communications, in particular, transmission high quality video in real time (videophony), modern photorealistic computer games via the Internet and others. To ensure the required speeds, new standards and protocols have been created:
1. UMTS standard (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System, universal system mobile communications) based on W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access, broadband CDMA) technology, partially compatible with GSM. The data reception and transmission speed reaches 1920 kilobits per second.
2. Technology 1xEV (evolution, development) for CDMA2000 networks. The data reception speed reaches 3.1 megabits per second, and the transmission speed is 1.8 megabits per second.
3. TD-SCMA, HSDPA and HSUPA technologies. Allows you to achieve even more high speeds. As of 2006, W-CDMA technologies often provide HSDPA support. TD-SCMA are being developed.
Thus, modern technologies mobile communications is not so much technology mobile telephony, how many universal technologies for transmitting information.

encyclopedic Dictionary. 2009 .

See what “CELLULAR COMMUNICATION” is in other dictionaries:

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It is hardly possible today to find a person who has never used a cell phone. But does everyone understand how cellular communications work? How does what we have all become accustomed to work and work? Are signals from base stations transmitted through wires or does it all work somehow differently? Or maybe all cellular communications function only through radio waves? We will try to answer these and other questions in our article, leaving the description of the GSM standard outside its scope.

At the moment when a person tries to make a call from his mobile phone, or when they start calling him, the phone is connected via radio waves to one of the base stations (the most accessible), to one of its antennas. Base stations can be seen here and there, looking at the houses of our cities, at the roofs and facades of industrial buildings, at high-rise buildings, and finally at the red and white masts specially erected for stations (especially along highways).

These stations look like rectangular boxes gray, from which various antennas protrude in different directions (usually up to 12 antennas). The antennas here work for both reception and transmission, and they belong to the cellular operator. The base station antennas are directed in all possible directions (sectors) to provide “network coverage” to subscribers from all directions at a distance of up to 35 kilometers.

The antenna of one sector is able to service up to 72 calls simultaneously, and if there are 12 antennas, then imagine: 864 calls can, in principle, be serviced by one large base station at the same time! Although they are usually limited to 432 channels (72*6). Each antenna is connected by cable to the control unit of the base station. And blocks of several base stations (each station serves its own part of the territory) are connected to the controller. Up to 15 base stations are connected to one controller.

The base station is, in principle, capable of operating on three bands: the 900 MHz signal penetrates better inside buildings and structures and spreads further, which is why given range often used in villages and fields; a signal at a frequency of 1800 MHz does not travel that far, but more transmitters are installed in one sector, so such stations are installed more often in cities; finally 2100 MHz is a 3G network.

Controllers, of course, in locality or area, there may be several, so the controllers, in turn, are connected by cables to the switch. The task of the switch is to connect the networks of mobile operators with each other and with city lines of regular telephone communication, long distance communication and international communications. If the network is small, then one switch is enough; if it is large, two or more switches are used. The switches are connected to each other by wires.

In the process of moving a person talking on a mobile phone along the street, for example: he walks, drives public transport, or travels in a personal car - his phone should not lose the network for a moment, you cannot interrupt the conversation.

Continuity of communication is obtained due to the ability of a network of base stations to very quickly switch a subscriber from one antenna to another as he moves from the coverage area of one antenna to the coverage area of another (from cell to cell). The subscriber himself does not notice how he ceases to be connected to one base station and is already connected to another, how he switches from antenna to antenna, from station to station, from controller to controller...

In this case, the switch provides optimal distribution loads according to a multi-level network scheme to reduce the likelihood of equipment failure. A multi-level network is built like this: cell phone - base station - controller - switch.

Let's say we make a call, and the signal has already reached the switchboard. The switch transmits our call towards the destination subscriber - to the city network, to the international or long-distance communication network, or to the network of another mobile operator. All this happens very quickly using high-speed fiber optic cable channels.

Next, our call goes to the switch, which is located on the side of the recipient of the call (the one we called). The “receiving” switch already has data about where the called subscriber is located, in what network coverage area: which controller, which base station. And so, a network survey begins from the base station, the recipient is located, and a call is received on his phone.

The entire chain of events described, from the moment the number is dialed to the moment the call is heard on the receiving end, usually lasts no more than 3 seconds. So today we can call anywhere in the world.

Andrey Povny

In recent days, the sad headline “Russia is in 50th place in terms of speed” has been flashing on many domestic news sites. mobile internet" It usually hides a free paraphrase of the text from kommersant.ru:

OpenSignal: Russia ranks 50th in the mobile Internet speed ranking

The British company OpenSignal has published a study on the state of mobile communications around the world. Analysts have compiled a ranking of countries with the fastest mobile Internet in 3G and 4G networks. Tops the list South Korea, followed by Singapore, Hungary, Australia and Denmark. Russia took 50th place after Kuwait. The last two places in the ranking are occupied by Costa Rica and Afghanistan.

This text slightly reduces the fervor of patriotic feelings. But if you look at the results of the study on a map, you can see that Russia is ahead of almost all of Africa, Latin America and most Asian countries in this indicator. And it lags only slightly behind the United States. Data visualization is an ingenious invention against a pun.

This article will present three maps from the above-mentioned Open Signal report and 7 more with the results of other interesting international studies (2014-2016) on the topic of mobile technologies.

1. Average Internet speed 2016

In South Korea it is 41.3 Mb/s, in Canada - 18.3 Mb/s, in the UK - 13.7 Mb/s, in the USA - 12.31 Mb/s, and in Russia - 8.3 Mb/s.

2. Share of time connected to 3G/4G from the total time connected to the mobile Internet

Residents of Russia - 73.11%, South Korea - 98.54%, USA - 91.69%, UAE - 85.85%, Afghanistan - 79.42%, and for Ukrainians - 44.81%.

3. Proportion of Wi-Fi use time from the total time of Internet use on a mobile device

In Holland - 70.05%, in Denmark - 56.15%, in Italy - 49.10%, in Russia - 42.18%, in Iran - 36.88%, and in Ethiopia - 15.55%.

4. The most popular smartphone brands

And this map shows which smartphone manufacturer is most famous in different countries. If you look through the gallery, you can see how much the world has changed since 2010, when most people first associated the word smartphone with the word Nokia. Today, it occurs only among residents of Mozambique and some neighboring countries.

5. Mobile Internet Availability Index

GSMA Intelligence has been measuring the Mobile Connectivity Index for several years. The value of this indicator depends on four criteria - the size of the 3G/4G coverage area, the availability of prices for mobile devices relative to population income, level computer literacy residents and the amount of content in their language. You can find out all the details of the calculation.

Canada has a value of this index of 81.1, the USA has 82.6, and South Korea has 80.7. And in Ukraine - 55.5, in Mongolia - 52.5, in Sudan and Ethiopia - about 25. Russia is relatively close to the leading countries - 66.3

6. 4G coverage

As you can see, LTE has taken over the world. But there are still quite a lot of Green Spots (3G), and some poor African countries live without mobile Internet (turtle GPRS does not count). Areas where there is no LTE are indicated in pale red, but in the countries where they are located it is available. For example, in Greenland, only the surroundings of the city of Nuuk (the capital) are marked in red. Russia is painted all over, which is not entirely correct.

7. GSM bands

The most interesting detail on this map is the colored green Japan and South Korea. In these countries, every subscriber has access to 3G. And 2G networks are no longer active. If your phone does not have a 3G module, it will not pick up the Japanese network. For owners of outdated mobile phones, there are phone rentals at airports.

When traveling to other countries, you can safely use any device. Even Siemens A55 (2002) supports three frequency bands. But the 1996 Motorola StarTAC only works in GSM 900.

8. iOS users love fun

And this map shows the results of a study on the popularity of entertainment applications iOS users in different countries. As you can see, ours are even more inclined to have fun than the Americans. And living in China, India and Saudi Arabia is completely sad.

Researchers consider applications from the categories “Entertainment”, “Food and Drinks”, “Games”, “Music”, “Sports”, “Travel” to be “fun”, and “Serious” - “Business”, “Education”, “Finance”. , Productivity, Reference, and Utilities.

9. Popular mobile instant messengers

In Russia the most popular messenger- WhatsApp (as in most countries), in Belarus and Ukraine - Viber, and in our friendly Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan - Telegram. It's amazing how uniformly colored the countries of South America are.

The brightest point on the map is South Korea, where the KakaoTalk messenger is used by 93% of the country's population, as it was developed by a local company.