How 4G changes our minds and businesses ?

 Ubiquitous, intimate computing: That is what a 4G network means to local software developer Carl Erickson, the president of Atomic Object.
Erickson was one of five mobile technology experts on a panel to discuss the implications of a 4G network at the first Mobile Monday Grand Rapids meeting at the JW Marriot.
About 100 people, with cell phones appropriately in hand, attended the event and tweeted questions and thoughts as the speakers discussed a "paradigm-shift in technology."
The event provides a space for mobile-technology lovers to hash out ideas and network in Grand Rapids.
"Hopefully more people are inspired to do something useful," said Doug Lang, of Red Pigeon. "We want MoMoGR to be about the progress of useful and meaningful mobile technology."
Lang organized the free event and admits the new Grand Rapids chapter, following Ann Arbor and Detroit, is looking for "geeks and gurus" but welcomes anyone who has a flair for technology.
As for the people who should be tapping into these meetings? Lang and Erickson said small business owners are missing out if they aren't realizing the potential of mobile devices.
"As a business person, mobile is lifeblood for us," Erickson said. "The most exciting market for us is entrepreneurs because businesses are now thinking: Is my application better on the web or mobile?"
"In 2009 the amount of revenue coming from mobile at Atomic Object was immeasurable but in 2010 it was 25 percent."
Other panelists included Jason Joseph of Spectrum Health, Joe Johnston of Universal Mind, Jonathan Engelsma of Grand Valley State University and Michael Weiden of Verizon Wireless, the sponsor of the event.
From the panelists rose some interesting questions about the nature of technology and the velocity at which it is changing: How long will broadband be relevant when "hotspots" are more useful? Should businesses be focusing on websites or mobile sites? Are next generation developers thinking ethically about privacy? How fast do our standards of connectivity change?
"The question of going to web or mobile is a very real question right now," Joseph, of Spectrum Health, said. "4G means health care delivery possibilities and access to physicians and patients."
Joseph described the barriers that hospitals face in the wake of new technology and the costs of deciding how to connect.
"Infrastructure in hospitals usually includes thick walls, old buildings and sometimes lead protection shields for MRI machines, which means in the basement I don't have service. Physicians who need life-saving emergency messages need data."
Johnston, of Universal Mind, supplied presentation graphs displaying how mobile technology is predicted to surpass the desktop in the future.
"Eighty percent of the Fortune 100 companies are deploying or testing the iPad," he said.
Mobile Monday events will take place once a month and the next event is slated for August 8. The focus will be how to pitch a mobile application service as a business venture.
For those who want to follow the virtual conversation, attendants are encouraged to tweet what they think at the meetings with #MoMoGR on Twitter.
"I came because I want to hear what people are saying about the mobile space," said David Valko.

source

3G or 4G: Battery Life vs. Bandwidth

With all the hype around the advent of 4G, I thought it might be a good idea to look at the real differences between 3G and 4G devices, how they interface with 3G and 4G Wireless Networks, and offer some insights that might help you sort out what you actually need right now. Speed vs. Service … let’s consider the following:

For the record it is April 15, 2011 — This is information is time sensitive. According to Tony Malone, Verizon’s VP Network Ops, Verizon plans to cover 100 million Americans in 25 to 30 metro areas with 4G LTE by the end of 2011. It will double that coverage by early 2012 and completely cover the US by the end of 2013. Interestingly, due to its 700-MHz license, Verizon’s 4G LTE Network will cover a greater portion of the US than its 3G Network covered.

3G is a defined standard. Verizon’s EVDO (Evolution Data Optimized) Rev A provides speeds of 600Kbps-1,400Kbps Download (bursts to 3.1Mbps), 500Kbps-800Kbps Upload (bursts to 1.8Mbps) – Is that too geeky? Sorry – at its best, 3G is comparable to low-end home DSL service. I live in New York City where there is good 3G and 4G coverage. I just ran some broadband speed tests on my 3G Verizon iPhone 4. In three consecutive tests it averaged 500 Kbps down and 300 Kbps up — well below the published specification. 500 Kbps is just a little better than I used to get with my AOL dial-up account in 1996 (Geeks: Please do not write me an email or comment about 56k modems being 10x slower than 3G. A 56k modem with compression yielded approx 200Kpbs performance. There was less stuff to download in 1996 and perceived speed with about the same. As a practical matter, in an area with a substantial amount of contention, I have enjoyed 3G download speeds of under 200Kbps and so have you!)

That said, 3G email is fine, Exchange Server runs fine, Calendar runs fine, Contacts sync fine, Google is snappy, apps run great, YouTube buffers a bit, and the web is clunky, but serviceable. 3G speed is what we have become accustomed to in our modern-American mobile world.

4G, which stands for 4th Generation wireless network technology, is really a marketing term. It may sound technical, but the truth is that standards organizations, such as the International Telecommunication Union, have not officially defined 4G. Oops!

Not to worry, Verizon has done it for us. From its point of view, LTE (Long Term Evolution) is “the” 4G standard. Verizon says that 4G is six to 10 times faster than 3G. I can’t verify that, but again, from my apartment in NYC, I ran broadband speed tests on my Verizon HTC Thunderbolt. In three consecutive tests it averaged 21 Mbps down and 2.5 Mbps up. Trust me, that’s fast for a wireless device. In fact, I’d be happy if my Time Warner Road Runner Extreme Cable Modem consistently gave me this kind of performance.

If you are looking for raw wireless speed, 4G from Verizon is as fast as it gets.

But … speed is not everything. And 4G is not everywhere!

Over the past few weeks several awesome 4G devices have hit the market. AT&T introduced its 4G Motorola Atrix. Now AT&T doesn’t really have a 4G network. As I said in a previous article, if you read the fine print in AT&T’s agreement, it says: “4G speeds require a 4G device and are delivered when HSPA+ technology is combined with enhanced backhaul. 4G speeds available in limited areas with availability increasing with ongoing backhaul deployment.” As of this writing that means AT&T 4G is only available at full speed in Northern CA, Greater LA, Greater Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Charlotte NC, Baltimore, Buffalo, Boston, Providence RI and, Puerto Rico. If you are not in one of these areas, AT&T 4G is 3G.

This will change over time. AT&T also plans to cover the US with its 4G Network. But, for now, what this really means is that the 4G Atrix will fallback to a 3G when it can’t find a 4G signal. And, as you can see from reading the previous paragraph, that’s pretty much everywhere in the USA. This is also true with the Verizon HTC Thunderbolt and its new Samsung 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot SCH-LC11 and every other device on the market that calls itself 4G.

Now, as Verizon’s VP Network Ops said, Verizon has about 1/3 of the USA covered with LTE and plans to have about 2/3’s covered by early 2012 and most of the USA covered by the end of 2013. That’s just about the time your new 2-year contract is going to end. Hummm … seems like most people really won’t have 4G coverage for a while.

Just how many batteries do you need for 4G?

Sorry to bury the lead, but 4G may not be for you. Why? Battery life. 4G devices look for 4G networks. When they can’t find a 4G network, they fallback to 3G. However, unless you turn off the 4G radio, the devices keep searching for 4G signals. This absolutely eats batteries. Sadly, some devices don’t even let you turn off the 4G feature, but even those that do, require you to constantly know where you are and be conscious of the status of your network and your equipment. Yuck!

So, if you are used to popping in an extended battery and doing your 3G business all day long, you are going to need two extended batteries or four regular batteries in our current 3G/4G hybrid world. Do you really want to charge one to three extra batteries every day? Do you want to buy the extra equipment to do that? Do you want to spend the money on the batteries?

If you need the speed, and you know where you are, and you are geeky enough to always be conscious of whether your background data, 4G radio and WiFi radio are on or off, then a 4G device may be for you.

However, if you are a normal person who travels for business and is not used to constantly monitoring battery life and tweeking your device to extend it, you might want to rethink 4G.

Should you avoid 4G devices? No. Most of the 4G devices available today not only have access to the much faster 4G wireless networks, the devices themselves are significantly more powerful than their 3G counterparts. This makes the entire 4G mobile computing experience much, much more productive and enjoyable.

Should you cancel your 3G contract and rush to get a 4G device? No, unless you have a specific reason to do so. And, if you have a reason, you are not reading this article.

If your contract is up between now and the end of 2011, don’t be afraid to purchase a 3G device instead of a 4G device – you won’t absolutely need a 4G device until late 2012 and, remember – the carriers will support 3G for at least 10 more years.

Do I love my 4G smartphones? Yes, I strongly love them. Note the plural. I have not yet spent a day without four battery changes on my primary phone. (A Verizon HTC Thunderbolt). Just for a point of comparison, I had a extended battery on my Verizon 3G BlackBerry Bold 9650 which never needed charging on any business day during its service life. I don’t miss it, but I do miss the battery life.source

Movement From Voice to Data in INDIA

The question telecom experts are debating today is at what speed will the Indian consumer move from voice to data

All telecom experts today agree that Indians will increasingly start using mobile broadband services — on their smart phones, their netbooks, and their tablets. The question to which the telecom titans do not have any answer is which technological route the majority of Indian consumers will take to access mobile broadband. Will it be the 3G services being offered by the big GSM boys like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone or Idea? Or will they adopt evolution video data only (EVDO), the high speed data being offered by CDMA networks like MTS or Tata Teleservices? Or will they completely switch over to long-term evolution (LTE) technology — the 4G technology through which Mukesh Ambani wants to re-enter telecom.

That is the multi-billion dollar question. Multi-billion dollar because different players in the Indian telecom arena are betting those amounts on their chosen technologies — and hoping that they will be able to persuade the Indian consumer to choose their technology over the ones their rivals are offering.

This story actually started a good 15 years ago. In July 1995, when the first mobile phone call was made in the country from Kolkata, no one had dreamt that this would alter the communication landscape in the country forever.

At over Rs 40,000 for a handset and equally expensive talk time, mobile communication was a privilege that only a select few enjoyed and many aspired to. But as service tariffs crashed and phones became affordable within a few years, a wave of consumers, tired of waiting in queues to get a fixed line phone connection, embraced mobile communication with great alacrity. And a communication revolution was well on its way.  

MATCH POINT
PLATFORM	SPEED
GSM	9.6 Kbits/sec
GPRS	40 Kbits/sec
3G	1.8-14.4 Mbps
EVDO	3.1 Mbps
LTE	50-300 Mbps
Note: Actual speed could be much less depending on towers and number of customers

Eight years on, in 2003 to be precise, Mukesh Ambani tried to change the rules of the game by urging customers to shift from just making voice calls on the mobile phone to using data and internet on his CDMA platform. And he tried to do so through aggressive pricing. As part of his much vaunted “Monsoon Hungama” scheme, customers had to pay Rs 500 to lay their hands on a mobile phone bundled with data freebies like streaming television programmes, downloads of movie video clips and music and games to name a few.

The magic worked, but in part. Ambani did manage to rope in millions of customers. But his strategy to bring about a data revolution on the CDMA mobile platform, which would give him 30-40 per cent of his revenues, failed to take off as he gave away his telecom venture to his brother Anil after a bitter family battle.

As it turned out, for the bulk of the customers it was voice that reigned supreme. And despite over a dozen-odd mobile players in the market, real data services (excluding SMSs and caller tunes) currently contribute a mere 3 per cent to a telecom company’s revenue.

Game for more So did Mukesh Ambani misread the market? Or was he ahead of his times? In 2011, no one is asking those questions or doubting that a second revolution in telecom is well under way — with mobile broadband data ready to sweep customers off their feet. Telecom companies realise that voice is just a commodity in which margins will be under pressure. In such a scenario, the only way to arrest the decline in average revenue per user (ARPU) is to hook consumers on to data. Given that, the debate today is largely about the speed at which Indian customers will move from voice to using data on the mobile.

The change could be dramatic. Customers will soon be spoiled for choice with as many as eight operators offering them an array of technological options — 3G, 4G, LTE or EVDO — to get high speed broadband on their laptops and phones. At average speeds well above 2 mbps — nearly four times faster than what you are used to — consumers can watch live TV, make video calls, download music, make bank transactions and commercial deals, get online education lessons or discuss their problems with doctors sitting in another part of the country. Says Kanwalinder Singh, president of Qualcomm India, a key player offering technology for mobile broadband, “A data revolution, just like the voice revolution some years ago, is set to break out in India.”

More importantly, for the first time the gap in mobile technology offered by Indian companies and those abroad will be bridged completely. While customers in the country are at least four to five years behind in savouring 3G services, Indian telcos are expected to roll out 4G operations within a year of its global launch.

There are worries nonetheless. One, that the 3G services would be expensive as operators have paid staggering amounts for the spectrum — a total of Rs 67,000 crore. But if the tariffs offered by Reliance Communications and Tata DocoMo — players that have started offering services — are anything to go by, the fear seems misplaced. In fact, data tariffs that have been bundled with voice are highly affordable and even cheaper than 2G offerings for those who have higher ARPUs. The two operators have been able to rope in over two and a half lakh 3G customers in the first month of their operations despite that some killer services like video calling had not been activated for weeks due to security issues.

By October/November some of the broadband wireless access services (BWA) licensees are expected to offer 4G services through LTE technology which promises even faster data speed to many more consumers.

With Mukesh Ambani back in the game with a pan-India licence and spectrum for BWA, observers say he just might kick off another price war in the mobile data space like he did in voice in 2003. He will be at an advantage over his 3G rivals — he has got more spectrum (20 MHz) than his GSM 3G rivals (5 MHz) and at a cost that is fraction of what his rivals have paid. But he has a problem as well: The technology that he proposes to use is still under commercial deployment in some parts of the globe and its efficacy is yet to be tested unlike 3G, which is well established and has a large consumer base.

Still, to add to the good news for the consumer, if the telecom regulator and the government are able to push through things, there will be more spectrum available for auction next year for 4G services and another three to four operators can easily jump on to the speed bandwagon. Last but not the least, CDMA players like MTS are dramatically shifting their strategies by moving out of mobile voice services and pushing for data by offering EVDO dongles at high speeds that match those of the 3G players.

To make the data revolution a reality companies are together investing over Rs 1,50,000 crore. And they are doing so because they are sure there is a large market waiting to be tapped. Says Ericsson India Vice-president P Balaji, “In the next three to five years there will be a data market of 300 to 350 million subscribers. And we will see revenues from value-added services, which stand at 10 per cent currently, go up to between 25 and 30 per cent.”

Supporting the effort are device makers offering larger screens to push mobile data at affordable prices. So as Apple’s iPad made an official launch in the country last week, Samsung dropped the price of its Galaxy Tab to an attractive Rs 29,000 from a steep Rs 38,000 earlier.

Falling prices Will broadband wireless be dominated by GSM players like Bharti, Vodafone, Idea or Tata Teleservices that already have a large subscriber base? Or will the market be led by Mukesh Ambani who has no legacy issues or subscribers but a new technology that offers more speed than 3G but needs to be tested across the world? Or will it be won by incumbent CDMA players like MTS, which have the advantage of a pan-India network that others would take years to build?

LTE players have one key advantage — more spectrum at less price compared to their 3G rivals which helps keep costs lower. Says Kanwalinder Singh: “What this (more spectrum) means is that you can offer broadband to a larger number of people at speed similar to that of 3G but at a more affordable price because of the bigger volume of customers. Also it is possible for an LTE player to install a pan-India network with nearly half as many towers as would be required for 3G. And one can do that quickly by just leasing out capacity from large tower companies that have spare capacity rather than build it from the scratch.

But they also have many disadvantages — mobile devices on LTE are still not available around the world and most telcos are offering only dongles. Also consumers looking to use the device for voice won’t be able to do so. Until, of course, government changes policy and allows voice over internet protocol telephony between a PSTN (public switched telephone network) network and a LTE device. Currently, only device to device internet calls are allowed.

More importantly, prices of LTE devices, unlike 3G phones, will be steep — as high as Rs 25,000 which would be out of reach for most customers. In contrast prices of 3G devices are falling. Qualcomm, which makes 3G chipsets, is already working on smart phones below Rs 5,000. For sub-Rs 5,000 3G feature phones with speed of 3.2 mbps, Qualcomm has joined hands with companies like Micromax and Spice Mobile that offer such products.

Qualcomm’s Singh says that with more operators going in for LTE, the price of such devices should fall to, say, Rs 13,000. Also companies like Qualcomm are working on chipsets for mobile phones in which you can move seamlessly from 2G to 3G and LTE. The expectation is that the 5 MHZ spectrum with 3G operators is not enough and there will be congestion in such networks within a few years if not months. So 3G operators might have no option but to tie up with LTE operators especially in larger cities so that they can offer their customers high speed data services without a glitch.

Winners & losers But GSMA operators say they have at least a two-year head start over the BWA players. Says Samaresh Parida, strategy director at Vodafone-Essar, “BWA on LTE is still some distance away.” More importantly, they also believe that with more spectrum expected to be available in 2012 for auctioning in 4G, BWA players will cease to enjoy any special advantage.

3G operators are already honing their strategies to woo customers. Parida says that one large market which they will tap for 3G comprises PC users — over 35 million who use either laptops or desktops. It is also the market which Tata Teleservices is planning to concentrate on in the belief that at least 60-70 per cent of the initial revenue in 3G will come from dongles. Most of the dongle market is currently in the gri  ps of CDMA players as GSM was not able to offer high speeds in 2G. But with 3G that has changed. To top it all, prices for dongles are sliding — it has crashed from Rs 5,000 to Rs 2,500 already.

Vodafone-Essar’s Parida says new markets will open up — one such comprises customers who want to use 3G devices but communicate in their regional language. With phone devices now available with virtual key boards on the screen, it’s easy to create key boards in different languages.

But 3G players are already facing a tough challenge from CDMA players who are increasingly shifting to data. Sistema Shyam which sells under the MTS brand, for instance, has dedicated half its spectrum to data and is pushing sales of EVDO dongles rather than just go for voice. The strategy is clear, says Vsevolod Rozanov, president and CEO of company. “Currently 10 per cent of our revenues come from data; we expect that to go up to 25 per cent by the year end. We have 4.5 lakh dongle customers already.”

Can he take on 3G operators? Rozanov says that he might not have the 3G spectrum but that does not bother customers because he ensures he offers them similar average speed. He also points out that he is well ahead of his 3G competitors in terms of network roll out. “We have four times the number of BTSs (base transceiver station or cell site) that 3G operators have. It will take competitors time to build a similar pan-India network.” Plus he is now coming up with MTS-branded smart phones which will be within Rs 5,000 for customers to do data on the move.

Surely, for mobile operators facing margin pressures, data revenues could change the game in 2011. And for Indian consumers the mobile data revolution could fundamentally alter the way they live and work.source

Plan to PostPone 4G

India's telecom watchdog (TRAI)Telecom Regulatory Authority of India  must postpone the consultation paper on 4G (LTE) considering the current financial health of domestic telecom industry.
None of India's telecom operators will be able to spend funds to buy 4G spectrum if the government decides to release spectrum through an auction. Most of the operators have burnt their fingers following the heavily contested 3G and BWA auctions last year.
Since operators spent $23 billion to buy 3G and BWA spectrum, most of the operators are yet to commence 3G services due to paucity of additional funds. Companies such as Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices, BSNL and MTNL have launched 3G in select circles only. BWA launch by private operators will take more time. Telecom equipment vendors are concerned about the delay. Further delay will result into less support for GDP growth. If India is looking for regaining the 9+ per cent GDP growth, a part can come from the broadband-driven economy.
Scarcity of spectrum and the auction format had forced all telecom majors to place extremely high bids at the BWA auction and many withdrew later. If the government is looking at LTE auction in 2011-12, it will be not be a good idea. At this point of time, TRAI must consult with the industry to assess the priorities of operators. Operators should be looking for bringing down cost, recoup from 3G licence fees, improve profit margins, increase mobile broadband through different technologies and rural expansion.
Operators grabbed 3G spectrum at exorbitant prices as it was the last effort to get some spectrum from the government. There's no appetite left with the operators. Instead of a consultation paper, TRAI can get views from the industry on the preparedness of operators. Let us watch the 3G and BWA space. Operators will take 3-4 years to break even after launching wireless broadband services. Cash starved telecom equipment vendors, especially from Europe and the US, are not in a position to bail out Indian operators if they go wrong.
India's 4G spectrum consultation will be attractive to few LTE operators in international markets. But without the support of Indian telecom majors, they may not be able to make a mark in Indian soil. Indian operators, who missed out on 3G and BWA, are already reeling under pressure from 2G roll out obligations. So, where's the space for LTE? I am not against LTE. India should have leapfrogged. But 3G-BWA auction put us in a bad condition. We do not want to create telecom companies which can write off bad debts at the cost of shareholders. India must rethink on LTE / 4G plans.

TRAI braces up for 4G.....

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has said that it will come out with a consultation paper on fourth generation mobile (4G) services by mid-2011.

4G aims to provide a wide range of data rates up to ultra-broadband (gigabit-speed) Internet access to mobile as well as stationary users. TRAI Chairman J S Sarma told reporters, "I expect 4G to come in India next year. TRAI will bring out a consultation paper on 4G in the middle of this year." source

4G in PIPELINE - Aircel

When most of the telecom operators in the country are struggling to put 3G services on track, Aircel has set for 4G services too.

The telecom major will commercially launch its 3G services in another 45 to 60 days depending on some government clearances, while test run for 4G is likely to start by the first quarter of the next financial year. It plans to start 4G operations commercially in eight circles by December 2011 or January 2012.

"We are planning to launch our 3G services across 13 circles where we have got the licences in another 40 to 60 days. Moreover, Aircel will be one of the first firms in the country to usher into the fourth generation era. We are planning to start 4G trials by the first or second quarter of the next financial year," said Mallikarjuna Rao, chief technology officer of Aircel, on the sidelines of Intaglio 2011, an international school meet at IIM Calcutta on Thursday.

Rao said the firm would come up with 4G facilities on all the eight circles allotted to it by December 2011 or January 2012.

On the broadband wireless access auction — for access to 4G services — held last year, Aircel got Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Assam, North-East, Jammu & Kashmir circles. While it will provide services for 3G is 13 circles — Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kolkata, Kerala, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh (East), West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Assam, North East and Jammu & Kashmir.

However, the firm has not decided on the circle which they will select for the trials.

"We have not decided on it. However, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Assam are under consideration," Rao added. He expressed hope that 3G and 4G era will force operators to have more technological tie ups.

"Since majority of the operators do not have pan-India licences, it will lead to technological tie ups like intra-circle roaming"

Meanwhile, on MTNL’s offer to share its 3G network in Delhi and Mumbai, he said, "The slots were open for two operators. Since, Aircel and Tata Teleservices are the only companies who have submitted bids, it seems we will be able to get it."

Upgrading from 3g to 4g Wireless Internet

While many people are still patting themselves on the back for mastering 3g technology, the next wave of wireless service has recently come out.  Today's fourth generation of high speed mobile internet has been the talk of the town lately, and puts those 3g phones and notebook connections to shame.  With a new 4g wireless enabled phone or computer, people are able to get high speed internet service everywhere and anywhere as long as they are in a coverage zone.  This isn't the same compromised speeds that come with 3g wireless, but speeds for both uploads and downloads that rival what many people are using at home.  Although it takes a while for a technology like this to become ‘universally available' (consider that terrestrial broadband internet is still not universally available in many parts of the US let alone the rest of the world) this latest wave of mobile technology is off to a good start.  With about 60% of the people in the United States already living in a coverage zone, like one of the initial major metropolitan areas to get coverage, there's a good chance that those who want or need this new internet service the most are already able to give it a try.

Everyone knows that 4g wireless is faster than 3g wireless, but exactly how much faster is it?  Many adverts will say that the latest generation is "four to ten" times faster than current third generation technologies, but what does that really mean?  At the end of the day, it means that download speeds will fall somewhere between 2 and 6 Mbps.  In some areas and given the speeding up of networks over time, it could peak out at 10 Mbps to 12 Mbps depending on the technology behind the connection.  The 3g phones that most people are using right now only operate at speeds of around 0.5 Mbps, if that, and get up to around 1.5 Mbps.  That's a big difference!  When it comes to checking emails and social networking there won't be much of a change right away until the mobile websites catch up with the new capabilities, but the implications for watching and sending videos are huge.  Think high definition live streamed videos anywhere and everywhere like in the car, on the bus, in line at the doctor's office or grocery store, and anywhere else you could want to go, and you've got an idea of just how convenient the world could suddenly be!

At the end of the day there are many reasons why people choose to stay with their current 3g service or switch over to 4g wireless.  The higher cost might be a factor, especially for those who don't currently use much internet on their phones anyway.  Those, however, who are chomping at the bit for better download speeds, improved data performance, and the ability to stream video, videoconference, at compete in networked gaming on the go might be ready to get in on the action right away!  Those who barely ever use their home internet subscription might also be great candidates, since they can get the same speed with ten times more mobile convenience froma  mobile carrier!

Article Source: http://business.ezinemark.com/upgrading-from-3g-to-4g-wireless-internet-1723eb02b0d.html

Breaking down 4G vs. 3G cellular networks

What is 4G?

With Sprint and Verizon Wireless launching fourth-generation high-speed networks in the Denver area this month, the term has dominated cellphone marketing recently and will continue to do so next year, when Apple is expected to release a 4G-capable iPhone.

The differences between 4G and predecessor 3G, which surfaced commercially nearly a decade ago, are fairly substantial. Sprint and network partner Clearwire have both generations of wireless technology atop a luxury high-rise near Washington Park in Denver.

The 3G cell site is the equivalent of an 8-foot- high storage cabinet filled with computer equipment. The 4G site is about half the size and consumes about five times less power.

3G networks

Clearwire operations manager Mark Severseike displays a 4G cell, with a much bulkier 3G cell in the background. Clearwire is majority-owned by Sprint. (John Prieto, The Denver Post)

carry voice and Internet traffic. 4G networks are built specifically for Internet content, so cell sites don't include equipment to route phone calls, reducing their footprint and creating energy efficiencies. That also positions 4G networks to better handle high-bandwidth activities.

"These are really key differentiators in the next generation of wireless networks," said Mark Loarie, director of technical operations in the Rockies for Clearwire.

Sprint is the majority owner of Clearwire, which is building the WiMax network that Sprint uses for its mobile broadband service.

When a user makes a call with Sprint's 4G cellphones, that traffic travels through 3G cell sites. The device uses 4G connections for Web browsing, video streaming and other Internet-related services. Clearwire has nearly 200 4G sites along the Front Range.

Of course, the most significant difference between 4G and 3G for consumers is speed. Sprint 4G offers Internet download speeds that are up to 10 times faster than 3G service, generally ranging from 3 megabits per second to 6 Mbps. Speeds can reach 12 Mbps, comparable to standard residential broadband service, depending on network congestion and how far a user is from a 4G cell site.

There are also differences between 4G technologies. Verizon's Long Term Evolution 4G service has faster average download speeds, advertised at 5 Mbps to 12 Mbps, and uses spectrum that can better penetrate buildings. Sprint and Clearwire's WiMax service uses a frequency with more capacity, allowing them to offer unlimited data plans.

Until recently, Sprint's and Verizon's networks didn't officially qualify for 4G classification, previously reserved for technology not yet commercially available.

But the International Telecommunication Union, which handles such designations for the industry, said this month that WiMax and LTE could both be recognized as 4G. The agency also said upgraded 3G networks could use the designation.

3G? 4G? 10G? Who Needs Faster Cell Service?

Not that long ago your cell phone was not considered a small mobile computer or smartphone.  It wasn’t that long ago that you could barely get a signal on your cell phone long enough to have a 2 minute conversation.  In the mobile market today, you get to hear ads regarding a 3G network, even 4G, referring to the speed of such networks.  Which company has the fastest and if you care, do you really need your network to be faster?

Your cell phone is getting smaller, smarter and faster ever signal time you upgrade.  The network that your cell phone is on is always getting faster.  But how fast is a 4G network?  Most people might not even know what 3 or 4G means, but if the number is higher it must be worth what you are paying for it.  A 4G network for your smartphone will allow you to view video and data at high speeds, very comparable to your DSL connection at your residence.

Sprint, Verizon, AT&T and other companies are hoping that you want your smartphone to watch video, stream TV or access large amount of data so that you will subscribe to there service.  The bad thing is if you are switching services, you are most likely locked in there for 2 years while you watch other networks upgrade to something better.

The standard 4G network would handle about 100MB per second, according to the ITU, but smartphone networks are showing results at only 1/10th of that speed.  Those companies are Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint.  These providers are quite a way behind what the standard is.  Does this mean your network can only get faster?

Think about what you use your smartphone for every day and think, “do I need faster cell phone service?”, and if not, don’t worry at least you won’t be paying of something that is just going to drain your battery faster than normal. by John Sukowaty