What is GPRS (General Packet Radio Service)?

GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) is a specification for data transfer on TDMA and GSM networks.


GPRS utilizes up to eight 9.05Kb or 13.4Kb TDMA timeslots, for a total bandwidth of 72.4Kb or 107.2Kb. GPRS supports both TCP/IP and X.25 communications.

Fixed/Mobile Mobile
Circuit/Packet Packet
Max Bandwidth 107.2Kb
Range Coverage area of host network
Frequency Frequency of host network
Host Network TDMA, GSM
Definer ETSI

The Future of GPRS
EDGE (Enhanced Data-Rates for GSM Evolution) enabled GSM networks are able to implement EGPRS (Enhanced General Packet Radio Service), an enhanced version of GPRS. EGPRS increases the bandwidth of each timeslot to 60Kb.

GPRS Security
For more information on GPRS security, read GSM and GPRS Security by Chengyuan Pen.