"UMTS 3G barely got off the ground before HSDPA was launched, and HSUPA is on the horizon," one of the managers laments. "And are mobile WiMax and FLASH-OFDM 4G, or is 4G something else entirely?"

Maybe that's not real-world barstool chit-chat, but it does reflect the maze of terms and acronyms -- and confusion -- that is accompanying new and future generations of mobile broadband service.

"There is a great confusion about what all these acronyms mean and how the different services are packaged," said Anthony Ephremides, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Maryland.

This confusion reverberates through the hallways of businesses as IT and telecom managers struggle to understand newly available mobile technologies, those that are coming soon and how to pick the best one for their enterprises. The first step is understanding what the technology currently is -- and will be.

Track 1: 3G And 3.9G