A comprehensive, in-depth presentation of GPRS (general packet radio service). It is designed to help practitioners understand how this system is used as a major building block technology for the emerging mobile Internet. It explores the most critical aspects of GPRS in great detail, and aims to offer a real-world understanding of the inevitable implementation challenges engineers will face in the field. After a general overview of the GSM (global system for mobile communication) and GPRS systems, the text provides detailed coverage of a wide range of critical topics, including the radio interface, Gb interface, signalling plane, user plane and RLC (radio link control) principles. Case studies throughout present simple approaches to implementation pr...