EDGE
(
Enhanced
Data rates for
Global
Evolution - or
GSM
Evolution) A 2.5G digital data service provided by GSM cellular carriers worldwide, including AT&T and T-Mobile in the U.S. Also called "Enhanced GPRS" (EGPRS), EDGE works on EDGE cellphones as well as laptops and portable devices that have EDGE modems. Superseding the GPRS data service, EDGE users have experienced downstream data rates up to 200 Kbps. See
cellular generations,
cellular vs. Wi-Fi,
GSM,
GPRS,
TDMA and
UWC-136.
Dual Support
If an iPhone 3G finds a 3G cell tower, it uses the higher HSDPA speed. However, it throttles down to EDGE (E) if a 3G HSDPA channel is not available. See HSPA.