General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) and EDGE

This chapter discusses the advantages and disadvantages of General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) and Enhanced Datarates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) compared to data transmission in classic GSM and fixed-line networks. It then focuses on how GPRS and EDGE have been standardized and implemented. The chapter also discusses circuit-switched data transmission over GSM, packet-switched data transmission over GPRS, GPRS interfaces, GPRS network elements, GPRS radio resource management and GPRS mobility management and session management (GMM/SM). GPRS was initially designed to support different types of packet-switching technologies. The great success of the Internet, which uses the IP exclusively for packet switching, has led to IP being the only supported protocol today. The chapter shows the state model introduced to address the needs of a packet-switched connection for GPRS. GPRS network is also responsible for the mobility management of the subscribers and the SM to control the individual connections between subscribers and the Internet.