GSM And GPRS Mobile Systems
| Field | Mobile phones |
| Went Obsolete | Early 2000s |
| Made Obsolete By | By the introduction of 3G mobile technology |
| Knowledge Assumed | Some fingers and half a brain |
| When useful | Not likely |
Those of us in Ye Olde United States often still have 2.75G (EDGE) cell phones at best; only you fancy Europeans and Japanese have 3.5 or 4 or whatever you're up to nowadays.
N.B. In the UK at least 3G coverage, and/or adoption, is still sparse to non-existent; leaving 2G and 2.5G, GSM phones the most common portable telecommunications standard. This is also true for Australia, especially the cheaper pre-paid phones. (This is completely wrong, the UK has around 98% 3G coverage, and has done for at least 7-8 years. All UK networks now support at least 7.2Mbit downloads, some are trialling 20Mbit.)
There is still widespread use of 2G and GPRS in the UK at least because lots of consumer devices have these radios built in. (eg. TomTom sat navs for weather/traffic updates).
