3G

History

UMTS or 3G is a third-generation mobile communications standard that Data transfer rates of up to 42nbsp Mbit/s with HSPA+ are possible. Compared to the 2G standard GSM 3G offers the following features

• Data rates of up to 384 kbit/s
• Data rates of up to 42 Mbp/s with HSPA+
• Use of higher frequency ranges
• Latency times below 1 ms
• 200 times speed compared to the GSM data standard EDGE
• 750 times speed compared to the GSM data standard GPRS

The 3G mobile phone licenses were issued in Germany after an auction on October 6, 2000. UMTS was in operation from 2004 untill 2021 and was offered by all mobile network providers (Telekom, Vodafone and Telefónica).

Shutdown

Since 3G was no longer attractive due to the comparatively low data transmission rates, it was successively deactivated by the mobile network successively deactivated and the frequencies reallocated in favor of 4G or 5G.

The providers in Germany have switched off their 3G networks at the following dates:

• 2021-06-30 Telekom
• 2021-06-30 Vodafone
• 2021-12-30 Telefónica

With the 2G-network GSM customers with older mobile phones may continue to phone.

Overview

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