Comparing wireless data network standards

The existing wireless data network standards are diverse and include those in 2.5G Wireless, 3G Wireless, Beyond 3G Wireless, and numerous wireless standards under the IEEE 802 family including Wireless Bluetooth, WirelessLAN and WiMAX. These wireless standards may be classified according to their distance ranges in terms of personal area network, local area network, metropolitan area network, and wide area network. They may also be classified according to their multiplexing and multiple access technologies in terms of time division multiple access, code division multiple access, and orthogonal frequency division multiple access. This paper explains and compares these different systems in terms of technologies, data rates, implementations issues, and costs. In moving towards emerging or 4G wireless systems, it is important to look at not just the technology but also practical deployment issues experienced in the industry.