The G in these labels simply stands for ‘generation’. 2G was the second generation of wireless data communication for mobile carriers; 3G was the third and so-on. 5G is the fastest, and minimizes latency from a phone request to receipt from the server down to about 30 milliseconds. Conversely, 2G connections were slower, with a maximum transfer speed of 40 Kbit/s, with 300-1000 milliseconds of latency. There are also lesser-know steps between the generations of wireless network connectivity, such as 2.5G, 2.75G, 3.5, 3.75, 3.9, etc., and some of these, as well as the whole numbers have alternate names. 2G was generally known as CDMA or GSM. 2.5G was widely known as GPRS, and 2.75G was otherwise known as EDGE. 4G was also known as LTE.
