3 announce "4G" service. But is it really?

[Guest Victor von Zeppelin]

The popular mobile operator 3 has announced that they will be rolling out a 4G network in the next year. “Whoa!” You must be thinking – “amazing data speeds and minimal latency, what standard is it?” Well that’s the problem. 3 are promoting 4G in the American style ‘not-actually-4G-but-just-better-3G’. So what you’ll be getting is HSDPA+ 42mbps.

The reason I and many others are complaining about this is because the update being rolled out isn’t true 4G. Real 4G is going to use the LTE standard here in the UK (which has already being deployed in the US incredibly quickly) and gives a significant speed boost and lower latency than 3G. Proper video chat and gaming will finally be a possibility, hopefully.

So, why are 3 branding their network as 4G? Well, it’s a tactic already employed by some American carriers that lack LTE but still need the branding to compete. What’s confusing over here though is that we don’t have any 4G networks for 3 to compete against, and their current plan is just spreading disinformation.

Take a peek below to see what 3 have to say on the matter, and click here for the full statement.

Quote

Instead it’s the leading-edge version of 3G technology – HSPA+ but running on the 42Mbps technical standard, and offering customers twice the speed potential as the 21Mbps technical standard.

HSPA+ “4G” will deliver huge benefits for our customers. The obvious one is speed, with massive improvements in both download and upload speed. Because the technology uses dual carrier equipment – meaning it can latch onto two signals at the same time and transmit and receive double the data – it will also improve capacity across the network too.

Again, for our customers, this will mean more consistent speeds especially in busy areas and at peak times of the day. As our customers use more and more data, moving to HSPA+ will help us create the capacity to continue to offer a great service.

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[Guest Simon O]

To be honest I prefer this over LTE for the time being since LTE phones aren't compatible with 3G/2G networks. So until LTE covers at least 95% of the UK, 3.5G/HSDPA+ will be more than good enough.

[Guest 3shirts]

It is very annoying that companies can be so misleading about this. Terms like 4G are technically defined so OFCOM should be able to force companies to only use these terms when they adhere strictly to the definition.

Too many companies take advantage of the fact that most people aren't technical and that just seems like exploitation.

[Guest Davidoff59]

So, just how fast is 4G?

According to the ITU, true 4G must deliver

speeds of 100 Mbps for mobile applications and

1 Gigabit per second for fixed networks, which

will make current broadband speeds look paltry

in comparison – standard Virgin Broadband

speed, for instance, is only 8 Mbps.

from this article. Good info if you would like to have a quick read.

www.knowyourmobile.com/features/821422/what_is_4g_everything_you_need_to_know.html

[Guest Victor von Zeppelin]

Hmmm, maybe my use of "true 4G" isn't accurate. Perhaps truer 4G is more like it. LTE in its current state can get to around 20 megs I guess, if you're lucky. LTE advanced is where it's at for ITU-approved 4G branding

[Guest Mark Dearlove]

not until we get LTE-Advanced will we have true 4G. Agilent demoed it last week at MWC