I'm sure that all of you at one point have heard the word GSM or GSM phone, right? But did you ever wonder what the hell GSM really is? Well, I can probably write thousands of words about it…but I won't. I will make it short and simple so that in the end you will get it.

First of all, GSM is short for Global System for Mobile Communications, which already tells you a lot. This technology was first introduced to us in 1991 and by the end of 1997 it was available in more then 100 countries around the word and became the most popular standard for digital cellular system around the world. Today it is being used by over 2 billion people in more then 220 countries. You see, when you have the same technology around the world, it makes traveling and roaming with our cell phones a lot easier. You can travel all around the world and still have reception with your cell phone (not to mention a huge phone bill when you get back…).

Before GSM made its way to the U.S., we had used what is called TDMA technology which was very expensive to operate and made our bills very high. There weren't any attractive plans out there and every minute of use or services like text messaging was very expensive (not that today it's cheap; today they're just ripping us off…) But anyway, with GSM it became more affordable.

By the end of 1999, a new version of the standard was released that was much faster and made sending pictures from one cellular phone to another possible…Thank God. Bottom line is: GSM rocks and made all the cool features on the phones that we are using today possible. And that's only the beginning…