WHAT DO YOU NEED FOR A GPRS ?

* To begin with, a mobile phone or terminal that supports GPRS.
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A subscription to a mobile telephone network that supports GPRS. § Knowledge of how to send and/ or receive GPRS information using their specific model of mobile phone, including software and hardware configuration.
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A destination to send or receive information through GPRS. Whereas with SMS this was often another mobile phone, in the case of GPRS, it is likely to be an Internet address, since GPRS is designed to make the Internet fully available to mobile users for the first time.

KEY NETWORK FEATURES OF GPRS

PACKET SWITCHING GPRS
involves overlaying a packet based air interface on the existing circuit switched GSM network. This gives the user an option to use a packet-based data service. With GPRS, the information is split into separate but related "packets" before being transmitted and reassembled at the receiving end.
SPECTRUM EFFICIENCY
Efficient use of scarce radio resources means that large numbers of GPRS users can potentially share the same bandwidth and be served from a single cell. The actual number of users supported depends on the application being used and how much data is being transferred. Because of the spectrum efficiency of GPRS, there is less need to build in idle capacity that is only used in peak hours. GPRS therefore lets network operators maximise the use of their network resources in a dynamic and flexible way, along with user access to resources and revenues.
INTERNET AWARE
GPRS fully enables Mobile Internet functionality by allowing inter-working between the existing Internet and the new GPRS network.

LIMITATIONS OF GPRS

LIMITED CELL CAPACITY FOR ALL USERS
There are only limited radio resources that can be deployed for different uses- use for one purpose precludes simultaneous use for another. For example, voice and GPRS calls both use the same network resources. The extent of the impact depends upon the number of timeslots, if any, that are reserved for exclusive use of GPRS.
SPEEDS MUCH LOWER IN REALITY
Achieving the theoretical maximum GPRS data transmission speed of 171.2 kbps would require a single user taking over all eight timeslots without any error protection. Additionally, the initial GPRS terminals are expected to be severely limited- supporting only one, two or three timeslots. The bandwidth available to a GPRS user will therefore be severely limited.