2G cellular technology combined with GPRS is sometimes described as 2.5G, that is, a technology between the second ( 2G) and third ( 3G) generations of mobile telephony. In 2G systems, GPRS provides data rates of 56–114 kbit/s. GPRS is a best-effort service, implying variable throughput and latency that depend on the number of other users sharing the service concurrently, as opposed to circuit switching, where a certain quality of service (QoS) is guaranteed during the connection. Usage above the GPRS bundled data cap may be charged per MB of data, speed limited, or disallowed. GPRS is typically sold according to the total volume of data transferred during the billing cycle, in contrast with circuit switched data, which is usually billed per minute of connection time, or sometimes by one-third minute increments. It is now maintained by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). GPRS was established by European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) in response to the earlier CDPD and i-mode packet-switched cellular technologies. General Packet Radio Service ( GPRS), also called 2.5G, is a packet oriented mobile data standard on the 2G cellular communication network's global system for mobile communications (GSM). Sony Ericsson K310a showing Wikipedia homepage via internet GPRS.
