Where to download The Standard¶
You can download PDF version of standards from ETSI web site. The best way I found to do this is using ETSI Standards Search:
1. Open ETSI Standards Search page in your browser.
1. Enter standard number, e.g. "04.08" in "Search for" field. Make sure that "exact expression" is selected in the radio-box on the right and all check-boxes are unchecked. You may also wish to select "All on 1 page". Then press "Search" button.
1. Search for the latest standard available. Latest GSM standards belong to so called "Phase 2+" and their name starts with "Digital cellular telecommunications system (Phase 2+)" and usually have several revisions (aka versions). Usually latest version is 7.xx.xx.
1. Click "Download" on right-up to the standard name.
1. If you haven't registered, register your e-mail (it's free!), and then you'll need to just enter your e-mail and click "Submit" - you'll be forwarded to reqested standard download page.
If you prefer MS Word files, you can get them from (in Zipped form) from 3GPP site: http://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/archive/ Archives are named like xxyy-abc.zip for the standard XX.YY with version A.B.C. E.g. for 04.07 version 7.3.0: http://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/archive/04_series/04.07/0407-730.zip
Detaied information on the version history, etc can be obtained at these pages: http://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/html-info/
E.g. page for 04.07 is at http://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/html-info/0407.htm
Especially useful (but huuuge) page is this: http://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/html-info/SpecReleaseMatrix.htm Here you can find full list of standards with their revision history.
Note: It seems that 3GPP downloads offer more recent versions for some parts of the standard. E.g. latest version of 04.08, available from ETSI is v7.7.1, while 3GPP offers v7.21.0 (see here)