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Cutting Through the 4G Hype

Posted by kdawson on from the sitting-out-a-generation dept.

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."

11 of 283 comments (clear)

  1. Difference between 3G and 4G by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's 9.80665 newtons of force per kilogram of mass.

    1. Re:Difference between 3G and 4G by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

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

    2. Re:Difference between 3G and 4G by oiron · · Score: 4, Funny

      Is that an African sparrow or a European sparrow?

    3. Re:Difference between 3G and 4G by ducomputergeek · · Score: 4, Funny

      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.....

      --
      "The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money" - Thatcher.
  2. for optimum data speed use, look for the 4G-spot by youn · · Score: 5, Funny

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

    --
    Never antropomorphize computers, they do not like that :p
  3. Imaginary G by tepples · · Score: 5, Funny

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

    I really want an 'iG' capable iPhone.

    iG? An imaginary connection will just make things more complex.

    1. Re:Imaginary G by Santzes · · Score: 5, Funny

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

  4. Re:4G is used for what? by Joe+Tie. · · Score: 3, Funny

    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.

    --
    Everything will be taken away from you.
  5. Re:a brief experience with 4G, since november by crossmr · · Score: 4, Funny

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

  6. Re:4G? by Kenshin · · Score: 2, Funny

    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.

    --

    Does it make you happy you're so strange?

  7. Re:4G? by realityimpaired · · Score: 2, Funny

    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.