Editing GPRS (section)

{{Short description|Packet oriented mobile data service on 2G and 3G}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2023|cs1-dates=y}}

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[[File:GPRS symbol One UI.png|thumb|GPRS sign shown in notification bar of a [[Samsung Galaxy]] smartphone]]
{{List of mobile phone generations}}
'''General Packet Radio Service''' ('''GPRS'''), also called '''2.5G''', is a [[mobile data]] standard on the [[2G]] [[cellular communication]] network's [[Global System for Mobile Communications|global system for mobile communications]] (GSM).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Is General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) 2G, 3G or 4G? – Commsbrief |url=https://commsbrief.com/is-general-packet-radio-service-gprs-in-gsm-2g-3g-or-4g/ |access-date=2023-07-16 |language=en-US}}</ref> Networks and mobile devices with GPRS started to roll out around the year 2001;<ref>{{Cite news |date=2001-05-18 |title=Q&A: GPRS phones |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/1338172.stm |access-date=2023-07-16 |language=en-GB}}</ref> it offered, for the first time on GSM networks, seamless data transmission using [[Packet switching|packet data]] for an "always-on" connection (eliminating the need to "dial-up"),<ref>{{Cite news |date=2001-03-23 |title=Industry's mobile hopes |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/1237079.stm |access-date=2024-06-18 |language=en-GB}}</ref> so providing improved [[Internet access]] for [[World Wide Web|web]], [[email]], [[Wireless Application Protocol|WAP]] services, [[Multimedia Messaging Service]] (MMS) and others.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2001-05-18 |title=Q&A: GPRS phones |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/1338172.stm |access-date=2024-06-18 |language=en-GB}}</ref>

Up until the rollout of GPRS, only [[circuit switched]] data was used in cellular networks, meaning that one or more radio channels were occupied for the entire duration of a data connection. On the other hand, on GPRS networks, data is broken into small packets and transmitted through available channels.<ref>https://www.solartradesales.co.uk/Cache/Downloads/Sunny-Webbox-GSM-information.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=May 2025}}</ref> This increased efficiency also gives it theoretical data rates of 56–114&nbsp;[[Kilobit|kbit]]/s,<ref>{{Cite web |title=General packet radio service from Qkport |url=http://about.qkport.com/g/general_packet_radio_service |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100128100744/http://about.qkport.com/g/general_packet_radio_service |archive-date=2010-01-28 |access-date=2009-12-14}}</ref> significantly faster than the preceding [[Circuit Switched Data]] (CSD) technology. GPRS was succeeded by [[Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution|EDGE]] ("2.75G") which provided improved performance and speeds on the 2G GSM system.