What is UMTS?

[extravagant]

Can someone please tell me what UMTS is? Is that something to do with 3G? Is UMTS an extension of GSM for internet connectivity? In Canada, is Telus UMTS, is UMTS related with CDMA? lol please someone clear that up! thanks!

[Mike Temporale]

I can never keep these things straight, so...

Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is one of the third-generation (3G) mobile phone technologies. The currently most common form uses W-CDMA

You can read more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UMTS but it sounds like it's based on CDMA which means Bell/Telus up here in Canada. (If they've upgraded to that - and I think they have)

[AdamaDBrown]

Can someone please tell me what UMTS is? Is that something to do with 3G? Is UMTS an extension of GSM for internet connectivity?

UMTS is the 3G standard for high-speed data on GSM networks. It has speeds of 200-400 Kbits, compared to the older EDGE standard at 50-175 Kbits. There's also HSDPA, which is an upgrade to UMTS, which can go as high as 3.6 megabits.

In Canada, is Telus UMTS, is UMTS related with CDMA?

Not really. While UMTS uses what's called WCDMA as an underlying technology, it's not really related to, or compatible with, CDMA phone carriers. Bell, Telus, and other CDMA carriers use a competing standard called EVDO, which produces faster connections than UMTS, but not as fast as HSDPA.