General Packet Radio Service is a packet-switched technology that enabled early mobile internet access, MMS, and continuous data connections over 2G cellular networks. Unlike circuit-switched voice calls that tie up a dedicated radio channel, GPRS shares bandwidth among multiple users, charging by the kilobyte rather than by the minute. It is often referred to as 2.5G, bridging the gap between basic digital voice and the faster 3G standards.
Heard on the job
The remote telemetry units still use GPRS modems because they only need to send a few bytes of sensor data an hour.
Insider tip
If a smartphone drops down to a GPRS connection, indicated by a 'G' icon in the status bar, the data rate will be too slow for anything beyond basic text messaging.
Also heard as
- General Packet Radio Service