The Many Faces of 3G

An anonymous reader writes "Did you ever notice how each new generation of cell-phone tech gets branded '3G,' and the previous thing is retroactively downgraded to some lesser number of Gs? An MIT engineer explains why in this brilliant essay about '3G' over the last 10 years, showing how the cell carriers have kept offering it and swiping it away to sell more stuff. He cites numerous Cingular/AT&T and Sprint press releases showing how the companies have made '3G' into a brand name ideally suited for amnesiac consumers. Meanwhile, no cell carrier is foolish enough to sell you bottom-line throughput like an ISP in 1996 — you could actually hold them to that (PDF)."

Comments

Re:4G?

[zorg50]

The Sprint HTC EVO is 4G, but the iPhone 4 is definitely not 4G. You might want to pay more attention, especially if you plan on being a sarcastic douche about it later.

Re:3G and 4G is consumer friendly

[mac.man25]

Yes, new "GSM" phones (phones that use SIM cards) use W-CDMA. That doesn't mean they use "CDMA", even if they use that modulation. Can Verizon use an iPhone? They use the same frequencies. Oh, they can't? Oh, it must not be "CDMA" then.

It is common to refer to phones that us SIM cards as "GSM" phones, because they work on networks that are GSM. And it is common to refer to phones that use no SIM cards as "CDMA", because they work on networks that are CDMA. So you're still an idiot, you may be right, but you're still an idiot.

Re:Not really...

[Gruturo]

2G was well defined, as meaning digital. 4G is also well defined, with features like an all-IP network, 100Mb/s mobile bandwidth (1Gb/s stationary), and so on. 3G is not so well defined, but it's generally understood to mean something in the same category as UMTS.

Maybe the confusion is just a US thing?

Indeed this confusion seems to be a US thing. On the other side of the pond, probably thanks to a much more uniform standard, there is no doubt about what a 3G phone is, and noone (that I'm aware of) even considered trying to pass a non-3G phone for one.

Anyway it never ceases to amaze me how much you guys let your telcos rob you blind (not claiming it doesn't happen here - far from it - but your average bill is like 3 times ours, and the dollar is weaker atm), lie to you, tie you into years of awful contracts with hefty termination fees, pull all sorts of crap (aided by mutually incompatible standards which also make your handset useless if you want to change carrier), delay upgrades by years, remove functions like tethering or data connections from phones which are created with them, etc.

AT&T is posting record revenues in times of recession and yet skimping on needed upgrades to its insufficient network, I wonder how come there isn't an angry mob at their door.