EDGE (telecommunication)

Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), also known as 2.75G and under various other names, is a 2G digital mobile phone technology for packet switched data transmission. It is part of the GSM family and represents an upgrade to General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), also known as "2.5G". EDGE is standardized by the 3GPP and offers speeds close to 3G technology, hence the name "2.75G". EDGE was deployed on GSM networks beginning in 2003 – initially by Cingular (now AT&T) in the United States. It could be readily deployed on existing GSM and GPRS cellular equipment, making it an easier upgrade for cellular companies compared to the UMTS 3G technology that required significant changes. Through the introduction of sophisticated methods of coding and transmitting data, EDGE delivers higher bit-rates per radio channel, resulting in a threefold increase in capacity and performance compared with an ordinary GSM/GPRS connection - originally a max speed of 384 kbit/s. Later, Evolved EDGE was developed as an enhanced standard providing even more reduced latency and more than double performance, with a peak bit-rate of up to 1 Mbit/s.