What is 4G Mobile?: Help for Newbies
- November 8th, 2010
- By Gary Roberts
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Get Ready for 4G–the next Revolution in Mobile
Expressly timed for the holiday season, the recent blitz of 4G mobile phone television commercials, newspaper and magazine ads, will have many folks flocking to the their local electronic store a malls nearest mobile phone kiosk to at least take a look at the latest super cool offerings. But before you buy it wouldn’t hurt you to understand a little about what 4G really is and whether or not you really need it or can even get all your money’s worth once you buy a 4G mobile phone or device.
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What is 4G MOBILE?
4G is the latest new wireless Internet standard that allows for greater transmission speeds lower latencies (delays in transmission) and better interoperability (works well with existing technologies and infrastructure) than its predecessors 3G and 2G. The trademark name WiMax is a term you will run across a lot when discussing 4G network technologies. It is the use of this industry standard protocol suite that enables all the various existing wireless network infrastructures and devices made by different manufactures to work in harmony( interoperability).
Other than increased speed, the major difference between the new 4G standard and the current predominate 3G and 2G technologies is that 4G is based entirely on the Internet Protocol (IP) standard packet switching. Without getting too technical this means that 4G uses packet switching to send its data, while 3G and 2G standards use packet switching and circuit switching. Circuit switching in 2G and 3G is mainly used to transmit data during phone calls, while 4G relies soley on IP standard packet switching to transmit all of its data over the Internet including phone connections.
In reality the new 4G standard is just an extension of the latest 3G technologies that uses IP and more and higher quality antennas on the mobile device (phone) and carrier (Mobile service provider) along with other new and/or improved protocol standards to increase throughput and transmission speeds.
So what does 4G mean for You?
• High usability: anytime, anywhere, and with any technology (interoperability)
• Multimedia friendly—including the ability to watch real time live video broadcast on your mobile phone—even High Definition.
• Faster download and upload speeds: average reported tested download minimum and maximum speeds = 1.3 Mbps up to 10Mbps; upload minimum and maximum speeds = 680 Kbps up to 3.8 Mbps.
• Smoother and more dependable seamless connections while moving or traveling across networks.
What You Need to Know Before Buying a 4G Phone.
The first thing you must keep in mind is that 4G is a relatively new technology: the world’s first publicly available 4G service was introduced to Scandinavia in December 2009.
The big five U.S. mobile service providers Verizon Wireless (93.2 mil subscribers); AT&T Mobility (92.8 mil. subscribers); Sprint Nextel (48.2 mil. subscribers); T-Mobile (33.6 mil. subscribers) are all just now beginning to roll out their versions of 4G phones and service areas. That means that there may be 4G phones on the market but there are very few places in America where actual 4G service is available. So before you buy that fancy new expensive 4G phone make sure that you live in an area where 4G service is available or you’ll not be able to enjoy its full capabilities.
Sprint HTC EVO 4G: My pick for the neatest 4G phone on the market.
Best 4G Phone
