GetHow

Your How to Guide

What is WCDMA or UMTS Network?

by

In mobile network WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) or UMTS (Universal Mobile Telephone System) are the standard which made to accept a high rate of data transmission speed which is also known as 3G (3rd Generation) mobile wireless technology. The need of WCDMA and UMTS is arises to make the internet more valuable for us which gives more better internet browsing speed, enables us to make fine video calls over internet, stream audios videos online and all.

Network

The History of WCDMA Network

The WCDMA Network is first commercial service of accessing high speed internet which was developed by NTT DoCoMo in Japan in the year 2001. The market of WCDMA is marketed under the old name 3G that is UMTS because of being in the same family of networks.

The Speed of WCDMA or UMTS Network

Rendering to the different versions of WCDMA or UMTS, the speeds are ranges from 384 kbps to 20 mbps. UMTS is the very old but was introduced before WCDMA comes. UMTS has less speed as compared to WCDMA but comes under a 3G (3rd Generation) of network family.

Optimizing UMTS the new network technology was introduced which provides much better speed than UMTS network. WCDMA is capable to transfer the data at speed range of 2 mbps to 20 mbps.

Combination of GSM & WCDMA Networks in Mobiles

As the demand for 3G mobiles gets increases the GSM & WCDMA comes into the picture. In mobile network settings manufacturer puts GSM as well as WCDMA together. There may be three options like as GSM/WCDMA (Preferred), GSM Only and WCDMA Only. There individual descripts are as follows.

  • GSM/WCDMA (Preferred) – In mobiles GSM/WCDMA is preferred option by default which makes your phone to access both the network technologies according to the best available networks available at current location of yours.
  • GSM – In mobiles there is an optional option to choose GSM only to use 2G (2nd Generation) network which is slow as well as consume less power as compared to WCDMA network.
  • WCDMA – In mobile there is an optional option to choose WCDMA only which allows you to use 3G (3rd Generation) network if available to your area. WCDMA consumes more power and provides you much better speed than GSM network.

These are all about WCDMA or UMTS network in detail.