Analysis of the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) of GSM as access to the Internet

The General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) of the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is designed for packet switched data transmission and is a means of mobile access to packet data networks, e.g. the Internet. Packet switched transmission is inherently better suited for bursty traffic as it is generated by typical Internet applications-primarily WWW, FTP and e-mail. A simulator is presented showing the performance of GPRS for accessing TCP/IP based applications in the Internet. Performance is evaluated from the point of end-user perception as well as from a network operator's perspective. The results demonstrate that GPRS is well suited for accessing Internet services in GSM.