ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF 2G

Advantages

Digital systems were embraced by consumers for several reasons.

* The lower powered radio signals require less battery power, so phones last much longer between charges, and batteries can be smaller.
* The digital voice encoding allowed digital error checking which could increase sound quality by reducing dynamic and lowering the noise floor.
* The lower power emissions helped address health concerns.
* Going all-digital allowed for the introduction of digital data services, such as SMS and email.

A key digital advantage not often mentioned is that digital cellular calls are much harder to eavesdrop on by use of radio scanners. While the security algorithms used have proved not to be as secure as initially advertised, 2G phones are immensely more private than 1G phones, which have no protection whatsoever against eavesdropping.

Disadvantages

The downsides of 2G systems, not often well publicized, are:

* In less populous areas, the weaker digital signal will not be sufficient to reach a cell tower.
* Analog has a smooth decay curve, digital a jagged steppy one. This can be both an advantage and a disadvantage. Under good conditions, digital will sound better. Under slightly worse conditions, analog will experience static, while digital has occasional dropouts. As conditions worsen, though, digital will start to completely fail, by dropping calls or being unintelligible, while analog slowly gets worse, generally holding a call longer and allowing at least a few words to get through.
* With analog systems it was possible to have two or more "cloned" handsets that had the same phone number. This was widely abused for fraudulent purposes. It was, however, of great advantage in many legitimate situations. One could have a backup handset in case of damage or loss, a permanently installed handset in a car or remote workshop, and so on. With digital systems, this is no longer possible, unless the two handsets are never turned on simultaneously.
* While digital calls tend to be free of static and background noise, the lossy compression used by the CODECs takes a toll; the range of sound that they convey is reduced. You'll hear less of the tonality of someone's voice talking on a digital cellphone, but you will hear it more clearly.