Cutting Through the 4G Hype

crimeandpunishment writes "Cell phone companies are about to bombard us with advertising for the next big thing — 4G access. The first 4G phone, Sprint Nextel's EVO, comes out this week. But just how big a deal is 4G? Is it fast enough to warrant the hype, or are consumers better off waiting a while? AP technology writer Peter Svensson looks at the differences between 4G and 3G technologies."

Difference between 3G and 4G

[Anonymous Coward]

It's 9.80665 newtons of force per kilogram of mass [wikipedia.org].

for optimum data speed use, look for the 4G-spot

[youn]

difficult to find at first, but when you find it, reactivity is good, data flow takes off

Re:Difference between 3G and 4G

[Anonymous Coward]

That begs the question, how far could a sparrow travel with a coconut under the influence of 2G?

Re:Difference between 3G and 4G

[oiron]

Is that an African sparrow or a European sparrow?

Re:Difference between 3G and 4G

[ducomputergeek]

Well, if it were an european swallow, it would be running GSM. But you see it is sprint, which uses CDMA based technology and so.....

Imaginary G

[tepples]

I hope Apple takes a shot at 'simplifying' the terminology.

I really want an 'iG' capable iPhone.

iG? An imaginary [wikipedia.org] connection will just make things more complex.

Re:Imaginary G

[Santzes]

Imaginary connection is pretty much what you get with AT&T

Re:4G is used for what?

[Joe Tie.]

Most people are ugly and put their fat ugly faces too close to the damn camera when they do it. If we lived in some kind of logans run paradise where it was all hot 20 somethings I think videoconferencing would be far more popular.

Re:a brief experience with 4G, since november

[crossmr]

I noticed you're still waiting for a response...

Re:4G?

[Kenshin]

The post should be "Funny", not "Informative". Rogers has had 3G for a few years now. It's only Bell and Telus that have recently adopted it, and that's because they switched over their whole network away from CDMA. I regularly get "3.5G" in and around the city, as well.

Rogers had planned on covering Vancouver with 4G/LTE for the Olympics, but that appears not to have worked out.

Re:4G?

[realityimpaired]

Not entirely sure what you're smoking, but Telus, Bell, and Rogers are all now using HSPA+ 22mbit over GSM networks, and they both introduced it before any carrier in the states. (Rogers slightly before Bell and Telus, because Rogers' network was already GSM, whereas Bell/Telus have been using CDMA and had to build a sympathetic network to run alongside their existing network)

In other words: wireless/cellular data transfer is currently better coverage and faster speeds in Canada than the US. (Bell's network provides coverage to more than 90% of Canada's population). It's nowhere near as fast as the theoretical upper limit for 4G networks, but it does give both carriers the time needed to properly implement a 4G network, which, as I understand it, both Bell and Rogers are already building.