<P> The high connection speeds of 3G technology enabled a transformation in the industry: for the first time, media streaming of radio (and even television) content to 3G handsets became possible, with companies such as RealNetworks and Disney among the early pioneers in this type of offering . </P> <P> In the mid-2000s (decade), an evolution of 3G technology began to be implemented, namely High - Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA). It is an enhanced 3G (third generation) mobile telephony communications protocol in the High - Speed Packet Access (HSPA) family, also coined 3.5 G, 3G+ or turbo 3G, which allows networks based on Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) to have higher data transfer speeds and capacity . Current HSDPA deployments support down - link speeds of 1.8, 3.6, 7.2 and 14.0 Mbit / s . </P> <P> By the end of 2007, there were 295 million subscribers on 3G networks worldwide, which reflected 9% of the total worldwide subscriber base . About two thirds of these were on the WCDMA standard and one third on the EV - DO standard . The 3G telecoms services generated over $120 billion of revenues during 2007 and at many markets the majority of new phones activated were 3G phones . In Japan and South Korea the market no longer supplies phones of the second generation . </P> <P> Although mobile phones had long had the ability to access data networks such as the Internet, it was not until the widespread availability of good quality 3G coverage in the mid-2000s (decade) that specialized devices appeared to access the mobile web . The first such devices, known as "dongles", plugged directly into a computer through the USB port . Another new class of device appeared subsequently, the so - called "compact wireless router" such as the Novatel MiFi, which makes 3G Internet connectivity available to multiple computers simultaneously over Wi - Fi, rather than just to a single computer via a USB plug - in . </P>

When was the first hand held cell phone sold