What is the difference between 3G and 4G?

[golfgal]

I tried looking it up but found only technical stuff. What is the difference?

 

[Handbag Lady]

i tried looking it up but found only technical stuff. What is the difference?

1

 

[golfgal]

1

I KNEW someone would post that.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

1

 

[C.Ann]

A simplistic answer from someone who is technically challenged - LOL - more "'space" - as in memory for a computer; digital camera memory stick; etc.. (I assume you're talking about gigabytes (sp?) - right?)

 

[monkeyboy]

Its a faster data speed on networks

Yet its a "consumer term". Each carrier (Verizon sprint AT&T) has something they are doing but for ease of consumers they call it 4G.

 

[Imzadi]

1

Its a faster data speed on networks

Yet its a "consumer term". Each carrier (Verizon sprint AT&T) has something they are doing but for ease of consumers they call it 4G.

So do I have to change my home wireless router/modem thingie? I have one from back in the day before we even had 3G.

It's an 802.XXX or something of another modem thingie.

 

[rie'smom]

The camera takes better pictures- at least mine does.
more space
faster

 

[disney1990]

It's the next version of the product. After that comes 5G. Each comes with a few more bells and whistles.

 

[momrek06]

The camera takes better pictures- at least mine does.
more space
faster

I will state I know nothing about 3G or 4G but both my DS' have the IPhone, one has 3G and one has 4G. We were away on vacation over Christmas ... wow, the difference in the picture quality is amazing. The 3G is naaa. The 4G is awesome!


And speaking of G's ... what the heck is that song on the radio all the kiddos listen to "Flying like a G6" ...

 

[The Mystery Machine]

"4G is the next generation of wireless technology. Companies have to go to 4G because their old stuff is crap. So they are switching over.

ATT and Verizon have 3G BUT their 3G is faster than the 4G out there because their equipment is good.

Sprint has to go to 4G because their stuff is older than dirt & they have to replace it."

That was according to dh.....I know nothing. He said more stuff about bandwidth and other technological terms but this was the jist. Basically everyone has to amp up the wireless because soon everything will be wireless.

 

[FireDancer]

It depends on whether you are talking the technical specs of 4G or the marketing speak of 4G. If you are talking marketing speak 4G means absolutely nothing. Most of the things branded as 4G do not meet the technical requirements set forth by the ITU-R.

That is where the non-technical stuff ends because 4G is literally a technical specification by the ITU-R

Technically speaking 4G is a cellular system standard that must be fully IP based and meet a minimum speed requirement of 100 Mbit/s for high mobility solutions and 1 Gbit/s for fixed mobility solutions. There are also some spectral efficiency requirements but those will be transparent to the consumer. It is a transmission standard with a minimum speed spec and nothing more.

If you are speaking about using a 4G solution in the home you will most likely have to change your wireless router if you are going to share your bandwidth with multiple devices. True 4G will have different spectrum and bandwidth specs and therefore will need different radios. Again, this is true 4G and not the branded 4G you see with first generation LTE and Wi-Max.

If you are talking about using 4G cell phones you can't actually get a true 4G phone in the US yet. The iPhone 4G is no where close to the spec and even the Sprint 4G network isn't up to the speed specs anywhere that I have seen. The fastest data available now in the wild is HSPA+ which is offered by T-Mobile in areas they tout (again falsely from the technical spec) as 4G. T-Mobile also does the best job of not messing with their phones and allowing them to be sold as they were intended.

I think the best solution now for a smartphone is an Android device on the T-Mobile network if you are in an area that has had HSPA+ rolled out or will have it rolled out shortly. That last part is JMO.

 

[pospisil]

The newest iPhone is the iPhone 4, not iPhone 4G. It's 3G like the 2 previous iPhones. It's called the 4 because it's the 4th generation.

 

[crazelion]

One Fast speed and the Other Faster speed Okay that simple answer. LOL

 

[crazelion]

It depends on whether you are talking the technical specs of 4G or the marketing speak of 4G. If you are talking marketing speak 4G means absolutely nothing. Most of the things branded as 4G do not meet the technical requirements set forth by the ITU-R.

That is where the non-technical stuff ends because G is literally a technical specification by the ITU-R

Technically speaking 4G is a cellular system standard that must be fully IP based and meet a minimum speed requirement of 100 Mbit/s for high mobility solutions and 1 Gbit/s for fixed mobility solutions. There are also some spectral efficiency requirements but those will be transparent to the consumer. It is a transmission standard with a minimum speed spec and nothing more.

If you are speaking about using a 4G solution in the home you will most likely have to change your wireless router if you are going to share your bandwidth with multiple devices. True 4G will have different spectrum an bandwidth specs and therefore will need different radios. Again, this is true 4G and not the branded 4G you see with first generation LTE and Wi-Max.

If you are talking about using 4G cell phones you can't actually get a true 4G phone in the US yet. The iPhone 4G is no where close to the spec and even the Sprint 4G network isn't up to the speed specs anywhere that I have seen. The fastest data available now in the wild is HSPA+ which is offered by T-Mobile in areas they tout (again falsely from the technical spec) as 4G. T-Mobile also does the best job of not messing with their phones and allowing them to be sold as they were intended.

I think the best solution now for a smartphone is an Android device on the T-Mobile network if you are in an area that has had HSPA+ rolled out or will have it rolled out shortly. That last part is JMO.

Yes that is the techie answer. Great job explain the difference

 

[tvguy]

I think the best solution now for a smartphone is an Android device on the T-Mobile network if you are in an area that has had HSPA+ rolled out or will have it rolled out shortly. That last part is JMO.

The T-Mobile comment caught me off guard. Their coverage area around here is the pits....and I just looked at their coverage map, and they are honest about the huge areas of no service. But I'm in Northern California.

I'm not sure there is a perfect cell phone provider. I can't believe how many techno types that I work with that have both an iPhone on AT& T, and an Android phone on Verizon, in addition to the Sprint blackberries our company uses. Around here, Verizon has pretty good coverage, but their voicemail system is the pits (my daughter actually got a voicemail from me 3 MONTHS after I left it). A-t and T coverage is okay, but they still don't have the network capacity to handle the iphones...a coworker went home to Buffalo and never could get service. And Sprint.......we've got them at work....great price......but huge dead zones........which is why the company is switching back to Verizon next year.

 

[FireDancer]

The T-Mobile comment caught me off guard. Their coverage area around here is the pits....and I just looked at their coverage map, and they are honest about the huge areas of no service. But I'm in Northern California.

I'm in the Cleveland area and they have rolled out HSPA+ here and it really is great service as far as current cellular goes. You are right though about their lack of coverage. Your phone will still work just about everywhere because they are GSM and will use AT&T towers if need be but their data speeds will drop significantly if they are not in an HSPA+ area.

As for the voicemail issue on Verizon, if you have an Android phone you can use the Google Voice services voicemail as opposed to Verizon's. You will have your voicemails transcribed and texted to you (it is done via voice recognition so sometimes the results are comical) along with being emailed to you. You can also log into your Google account and listen to the actual voicemail from any computer. There is a Google Voice app for the iPhone and Windows Phone 7 but I am not sure how well they work as far as voicemail goes.

The best bet is to talk to some techie users in your area (general you) and you will usually come pretty close to a consensus on the best data speeds. Whether or not the best provider has the phone you really want is another issue but at least you'll go into the purchase with some knowledge.

 

[bonoriffic]

I work for a company that designs, builds, and deploys 4G wireless. I actively test these networks. For years when people ask me what I do, I say I work on WiMax and LTE which you have never heard of, but one day you will. That day has finally come!

4G is a loose technical and marketing term to describe a vastly superior wireless network. The ITU is an international standards body that nobody cares about. They made waves by inventing their own measuring stick to call 4G, and have since backed off those claims and now include Verizon, AT&T, Sprint/Clear, and even T-Mobiles new networks as 4G.

From a consumer real world usage point of view, here is what you will experience. Voice will sound the same, if not ever so slightly worse sounding. Your internet browsing, downloading, and data usage will be faster, maybe 2 times as fast as what you experience now. Your monthly fees will either stay the same, but with less data included, or increase in price. Your battery life, at least until the nation is blanketed with 4G coverage, will suffer.

Why are companies investing billions in upgrading to 4G? In the under developed world (and 50% of the world has never made a phone call) the 4G networks don't need the traditional cell towers and equipment rooms that have to be air conditioned to work. Purchasing land to build and maintain towers is a limiting factor, and throwing one of these on top of a 2 story building or even the ground in the desert and having phone and internet access is huge. 4G will help connect the rest of the world.

From a US/Europe/parts of Asia point of view, 4G is all about cost savings. There aren't as many patents that you have to pay royalties on to companies. Current phones have a huge percentage of their cost going toward these patent holders. The networks can be installed at existing sites, making them cheap and easy to setup. They are extremely efficient, from a voice and data perspective they can get more people on their network using less resources. They also will be able to provide services they couldn't before, such as home phone replacement, which comes with more fees and profit.

How fast is fast? I'm a poor judge because I use the network in a perfect environment. I can easily reach speeds over 30 megabits. Go to speedtest.net and test your connection now. It takes 2 minutes to see how fast your home internet is. The real world speeds for 4G will probably be 5 megabit to download and 1-2 megabit for upload. Not as fast as the top of the line home internet connections, but for going 60 miles an hour in a car, that certainly is much faster than anything available today in a phone.

 

[golfgal]

One Fast speed and the Other Faster speed Okay that simple answer. LOL

Thanks

So, can existing phones be converted to 4G or is this something that has to be built into a phone. For example, I have a Droid X, will there be an upgrade making it a 4G down the road?

 

[sbell111]

And speaking of G's ... what the heck is that song on the radio all the kiddos listen to "Flying like a G6" ...