WTF is... 4G

[Sabre]

The Reg

The great thing about standards, as some wit once said, is that there are so many to choose from. Mobile phones are afflicted worse than most technology – a multiplicity of standards, nested within one another like a messy set of Russian dolls filled with alphabet soup.
...
Existing mobile networks have two, parallel infrastructures: one, circuit-switched, for voice calls, and a separate, packet-switched layer for data traffic. 4G will be different: a pure packet-switched TCP/IP network, running everything over IPv6. Voice becomes VoIP.

By the time the ITU set its specification, two competing systems were already under development. A group called 3GPP (Third-Generation Partnership Project) developed LTE (Long Term Evolution), a successor to UMTS. Meanwhile, the totally separate 3GPP2 was working on UMB (Ultra Mobile Broadband), an upgrade to Qualcomm's CDMA2000.

Fortunately, in late 2008, Qualcomm ended work on UMB and switched its efforts to LTE. Since Qualcomm was its main supporter, UMB is now effectively dead.
...
Many of the current generation of 4G-branded phones in the US are not actually 4G, whatever their names may suggest. Some, such as HTC's Evo 4G, are actually CDMA2000 3G phones with an additional WiMAX transceiver. Others, such as Samsung's Droid Charge and HTC's ThunderBolt, are LTE devices.
...

This was one of the few concise articles I have found on this. I was really hoping that LTE would get us to 4G speeds and unify cell coverage around the world. It sounds like LTE Adv will do this. It does no one any good to have competing standards like this (where some are definitely inferior to others) and it will force even more spectrum allocation. I think that the biggest thing that is restricting phones right now is that actual lines going to the cell stations anyway. At least (real) 4G will get us to converge on the land network side of things.

[complacent]

yay stupit consumers and the devils that are in advertising.

but it has more geees!

kill yourself.

[Sabre]

^^^

They really should not have allowed Sprint to continue labeling it's service (and phones) as 4G. That was purely a political/money decision. Looking at the chart, people are going to get the wrong impression of what true 4G is about. Sprint made a mistake in pushing the 4G label because they wanted to be the first ones out the door with it. It was on them to clean it up when they were mistaken.

[Raven]

I'm glad I got a solid 3G phone so I can let this mess clean itself up over the next two years.

[PGT]

+1

I didn't care that my VZ iPhone was only 3G. After having been a member of the GSMA, I know how the industry works. One gen old is good....

[chicken n waffles]

yay stupit consumers and the devils that are in advertising.

but it has more geees!

kill yourself.

*pours one out on concrete*

[avriette]

I thought GPRS was packet-routed voice over GSM (or maybe I have that backwards)? Why is packet-routed voice new?

[PGT]

its not. Sprint PCS introduced it back in, oh, 1995.

[Sabre]

Along these lines... Eshoo bill would give consumers more info about 4G wireless plans

Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) introduced a bill Wednesday that would give consumers details on the minimum speed and reliability of 4G wireless networks when they sign up for a new data plan.

The Next Generation Wireless Disclosure Act would provide consumers with information on guaranteed minumum data speed, network reliability, coverage areas, pricing and network conditions at the point of sale and in all billing materials.

The legislation would also task the Federal Communications Commission with evaluating the speed and price of the 4G data service provided by the top 10 U.S. wireless carriers so customers have access to side-by-side comparison in their service area.

“Consumers deserve to know exactly what they’re getting for their money when they sign-up for a 4G data plan,” Eshoo said.

“But consumers need to know the truth about the speeds they’re actually getting. My legislation is simple — it will establish guidelines for understanding what 4G speed really is, and ensure that consumers have all the information they need to make an informed decision.”

[complacent]

sad when common sense and/or truth requires a law to come to light.

[zaxrex]

And if you think the FCC is actually going to sit down and test the numbers/area of each carrier independently, um... Well don't.