Basic Unit of a GSM Network

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This is the basic unit of a GSM network. The image is not mine, I copied it from a PDF I got from the internet.

The most important part of the network is the MSC or the Mobile Switching Center. MSC is equivalent to the telephone exchange. It has got necessary switching equipment to route a call to the appropriate MSC or external switching device, PSTN or PSPDN.

PSTN - Public Switched Telephone network (our ordinary telephone network, landline)

PSPDN - Packet Switched Public Data Network (GPRS, X.25 based VPNs)

The MSC is connected to many BSSs.

BSS - Base Station Subsystem

The BSS is that part of the GSM network which is responsible for taking the call to the subscribers wireless mobile. It handles the radio communication part and is equivalent to the cabling system that comes to our homes for the PSTN (landline) phones.

There can be 3 types of calls

• Mobile to Mobile
• Mobile To Land Line
• Data Calls

M2M calls are routed to from MSC to MSC. Mobile to landline calls are routed from the MSC to the appropriate PSTN exchange or gateway switching center. Data packets from a data call are sent to the appropriate PSPDN gateway. GPRS is considered a data call.

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