GSM vs LTE | difference between GSM and LTE | LTE vs GSM

This page compares GSM vs LTE and describes difference between GSM and LTE. This comparison between LTE vs GSM helps to understand these two cellular wireless technologies.

Specifications	GSM	LTE
Full form	Global System for Mobile Communication	Long Term Evolution
Frequency Band(MHz)	There are four major frequency bands used across the globe GSM850, GSM900, DCS1800 and PCS1900, READ MORE	LTE supports frequency Band 1 to 25, band 33 to band 43, READ MORE
Channel Bandwidth	200KHz is supported in GSM	Release 8 supports 1.4MHz, 3MHz, 5MHz, 10MHz, 15MHz and 20MHz
Access scheme	It supports FDMA/TDMA	Supports OFDMA in the downlink and SC-FDMA in the uplink
Topology	FDD (Frequency Division Duplex)	TDD (Time Division Duplex) and FDD both
Frame Structure/Frame Duration	There are two types 26frame MF and 51frame MF. 26Frame MF is of duration 120ms used for traffic and 51frame MF is of duration 235.4ms used for control signalling	Supports TDD and FDD frame structures , 10ms total frame duration
Modulation Method	GMSK	QPSK,16QAM, 64QAM
Physical layer	GSM Physical layer composed of modules which include forward error correction ,interleaving,ciphering, burst building,multiplexing, differential encoding, GMSK modulation etc. It is same on both base station and subscriber station side.READ MORE	Different for both the UE and eNodeB, UE uses SC-FDMA in the transmit while eNodeB uses OFDMA in the transmit side, READ MORE
Channel number	GSM Channel number is referred as ARFCN	LTE channel number is referred as EARFCN
Protocol Stack	composed of PHY, LAPDm,RRM,MM, CM layers at Mobile Subscriber(MS),read gsm protocol stack article	Composed of PHY, MAC,RLC,PDCP, RRC, read LTE protocol stack tutorial
Channel types	Divided into logical channels and physical channels, Refer GSM Channels	Divided into logical channels, physical channels and transport channels, Refer LTE Channel types
Network Architecture	Refer GSM Tutorial for GSM network architecture with interfaces Refer gsm network interfaces	Refer LTE tutorial for LTE network architecture with interfaces
Application	Used mainly for voice calls, GPRS/EGPRS needed for data calls	Used mainly for data calls
Advanced features	Supports gsm advanced features such as MUROS,VAMOS,SAIC,MSRD	LTE Advanced release-10 is available which supports MIMO,beamforming, Carrier Aggregation etc.
Cell search procedure	Refer GSM Network Entry procedure	Refer LTE UE cell search procedure
MIMO Support	gsm advanced supports 2x2 MIMO	Lte advanced supports 4x4 and 8x8 MIMO, supports multi user and co-operative MIMO
Security aspects	uses A3,A5 and A8 algorithms for encryption, Refer GSM Security	Five LTE security groups are described in 3GPP 33.401 document
UE Categories	Supports different categories for multislot configuration mainly to provide GPRS support	Refer LTE UE categories
Throughput	Refer GSM GPRS Throughput	Refer LTE throughput
Modulation Efficiency (b/s/Hz) or spectral efficiency	1.35 b/s/Hz	Downlink cell: 1.69 bps/Hz/user for 2x2 MIMO and 2.67 for 4x4 MIMO (in case of LTE standard) 2.4 and 3.7 respectively for LTE-Advanced standard
Timers	GSM Timers	LTE Timers
Measurements	Refer GSM Measurements	Refer LTE UE Measurements and

GSM vs LTE | LTE vs GSM Related Links

GSM Tutorial  LTE tutorial  features  terminologies  LTE Bands  Frame  TDD FDD  Channel types  PHY  stack  network entry  VoLTE  Main Page  Frame  Burst types  PHY  gsm stack  speech processing  Channel types  Network Entry  Mobile basics 

What is Difference between

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RF and Wireless Terminologies