Back in 1995, due to the monopoly of EuroTel (it was a joint venture between the American company Atlantic West and the telecommunications company SPT Telecom; its successor is today’s O2), the cheapest mobile phone with activation could be purchased for 35,000 crowns, more than four average gross monthly wages, minute call cost 12 crowns. In addition to large case phones, smaller pocket devices have gradually appeared in the Nordic Mobile Telephony (NMT) network.
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The change in the way mobile phones are used was brought about by the launch of the more modern digital network GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), which began to gain ground in Europe in the early 1990s. The government decided to build the network in August 1995, and less than a year later a phone call was made. EuroTel was the first to enter the market on July 1, 1996, and a quarter of a year later the competing Paegas GSM network was launched by RadioMobil (the predecessor of today’s T-Mobile).
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The numbering of mobile networks is confusing
The 1G standard began to be used in 1979 in Norway and Sweden. The numbering of mobile networks can be a bit confusing for ordinary users. This is due to the fact that the meaning of individual standards has changed over the years. For example, first-generation networks did not transmit data at all, they only served to transmit voice in analog form.
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The first 2G networks were built around the mid-1990s. The main difference was that the data was already disseminated in digital form, so in addition to the voice, SMS messages could also be sent via this standard.
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For the first time ever, we are also encountering mobile internet. At that time, it offered a speed of less than 20 kbit / s, which is hard to imagine nowadays. People waited a few minutes for the images to load on the web.
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Higher speeds included mobile internet with a 2.5G transitional network, the first of which appeared with the advent of the new millennium. Today’s thirties and forties will probably still remember terms such as GPRS and EDGE – these were the standards of mobile internet, which offered incredibly high transmission speeds at the time. In the case of GPRS up to 128 kb / s and EDGE up to 256 kb / s.
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By the way, in some localities, these networks operate in the Czech Republic to this day. Although time has advanced and the current Internet connection is much faster, in places with poor coverage, people are often happy to have at least this slower standard.
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Dramatic increase in speed
Just to give you an idea: downloading a package of ten 50 MB photos takes several tens of minutes in the EDGE standard. For modern 4G networks, which are currently the most widespread in the country, it is a matter of less than a minute.
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Until exaggeration, the 3G standard was, without exaggeration, a spell for domestic operators who were attracted to the then dazzling speed of 2 Mb / s, which could not be compared to the EDGE standard. In addition, over time, the 3G standard has gradually accelerated.
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However, no Internet packages existed at the time, and domestic and most foreign operators paid for the data transferred. And the credit on the subscriptions disappeared with each loaded website literally before our eyes, or at the end of the month we had an unpleasantly long bill for mobile services.
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The fourth generation networks, which we use today and which are known as 4G or LTE, began to take off slowly in the Czech Republic in 2012 and 2013. The speeds are breathtaking compared to previous networks – for example in Prague it is possible to surf the web at speeds exceeding 100 Mbps.
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4G networks are thus often even faster than fixed connections in households. Of course, this does not only apply to the Czechia, but also to foreign countries. It was the 4G networks that enabled such an expansion of smartphones and high-speed Internet in general. In addition to data limits, operators also offer completely unlimited internet at home and abroad.
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What will 5G bring?
The same leap in development as between 3G and 4G standards is now to come with the fifth generation of mobile networks. Users will improve again in speed – during the demonstration tests, the operators measured values around 2 Gb / s.
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Fixed connections – for example via a landline or cable – currently offer speeds in the hundreds of Mbps.
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All three domestic operators are now offering 5G connections and the connection is gradually expanding across the Czech Republic. But the whole republic will be covered by the fifth generation mobile network in a few years.
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