4G

4G, short for fourth generation, is the fourth generation of mobile telecommunications

technology, succeeding 3G and preceding 5G. A 4G system, in addition to the usual

voice and other services of 3G, provides mobile broadband Internet access, for example

to laptops with wireless modems, to smartphones, and to other mobile devices. Potential

and current applications include amended mobile web access, IP telephony, gaming

services, high-definition mobile TV, video conferencing, 3D television, and cloud

computing.

Two 4G candidate systems are commercially deployed: the Mobile WiMAX standard

(first used in South Korea in 2007), and the first-release Long Term Evolution (LTE)

standard (in Oslo, Norway and Stockholm, Sweden since 2009). It has however been

debated if these first-release versions should be considered to be 4G or not, as discussed

in the technical definition section below.

In the United States, Sprint (previously Clearwire) has deployed Mobile WiMAX

networks since 2008, while MetroPCS became the first operator to offer LTE service in

2010. USB wireless modems were among the first devices able to access these networks,

with WiMAX smartphones becoming available during 2010, and LTE smartphones

arriving in 2011. 3G and 4G equipment made for other continents are not always

compatible, because of different frequency bands. Mobile WiMAX is currently (April

2012) not available for the European market.

Technical understanding[edit]

In March 2008, the International Telecommunications Union-Radio communications

sector (ITU-R) specified a set of requirements for 4G standards, named the International

Mobile Telecommunications Advanced (IMT-Advanced) specification, setting peak

speed requirements for 4G service at 100 megabits per second (Mbit/s) for high mobility

communication (such as from trains and cars) and 1 gigabit per second (Gbit/s) for low

mobility communication (such as pedestrians and stationary users).[1]

Since the first-release versions of Mobile WiMAX and LTE support much less than 1

Gbit/s peak bit rate, they are not fully IMT-Advanced compliant, but are often branded

4G by service providers. According to operators, a generation of network refers to the

deployment of a new non-backward-compatible technology. On December 6, 2010, ITU-

R recognized that these two technologies, as well as other beyond-3G technologies that

do not fulfill the IMT-Advanced requirements, could nevertheless be considered "4G",

provided they represent forerunners to IMT-Advanced compliant versions and "a

substantial level of improvement in performance and capabilities with respect to the

initial third generation systems now deployed".[2]

Mobile WiMAX Release 2 (also known as WirelessMAN-Advanced or IEEE 802.16m')

and LTE Advanced (LTE-A) are IMT-Advanced compliant backwards compatible

versions of the above two systems, standardized during the spring 2011,[citation needed]

and promising speeds in the order of 1 Gbit/s. Services were expected in 2013.[needs

update]

As opposed to earlier generations, a 4G system does not support traditional circuit-

switched telephony service, but all-Internet Protocol (IP) based communication such as

IP telephony. As seen below, the spread spectrum radio technology used in 3G systems,

is abandoned in all 4G candidate systems and replaced by OFDMA multi-carrier

transmission and other frequency-domain equalization (FDE) schemes, making it

possible to transfer very high bit rates despite extensive multi-path radio propagation

(echoes). The peak bit rate is further improved by smart antenna arrays for multiple-input

multiple-output (MIMO) communications.

§Background[edit]

The nomenclature of the generations generally refers to a change in the fundamental

nature of the service, non-backwards-compatible transmission technology, higher peak

bit rates, new frequency bands, wider channel frequency bandwidth in Hertz, and higher

capacity for many simultaneous data transfers (higher system spectral efficiency in

bit/second/Hertz/site).

New mobile generations have appeared about every ten years since the first move from

1981 analogue (1G) to digital (2G) transmission in 1992. This was followed, in 2001, by

3G multi-media support, spread spectrum transmission and at least 200 kbit/s peak bit

rate, in 2011/2012 expected to be followed by "real" 4G, which refers to all-Internet

Protocol (IP) packet-switched networks giving mobile ultra-broadband (gigabit speed)

access.

While the ITU has adopted recommendations for technologies that would be used for

future global communications, they do not actually perform the standardization or

development work themselves, instead relying on the work of other standards bodies such

as IEEE, The WiMAX Forum and 3GPP.

In the mid-1990s, the ITU-R standardization organization released the IMT-2000

requirements as a framework for what standards should be considered 3G systems,

requiring 200 kbit/s peak bit rate. In 2008, ITU-R specified the IMT-Advanced

(International Mobile Telecommunications Advanced) requirements for 4G systems.

The fastest 3G-based standard in the UMTS family is the HSPA+ standard, which is

commercially available since 2009 and offers 28 Mbit/s downstream (22 Mbit/s

upstream) without MIMO, i.e. only with one antenna, and in 2011 accelerated up to 42

Mbit/s peak bit rate downstream using either DC-HSPA+ (simultaneous use of two 5

MHz UMTS carriers)[3] or 2x2 MIMO. In theory speeds up to 672 Mbit/s are possible,

but have not been deployed yet. The fastest 3G-based standard in the CDMA2000 family

is the EV-DO Rev. B, which is available since 2010 and offers 15.67 Mbit/s downstream.

[citation needed]

§IMT-Advanced requirements[edit]

This article uses 4G to refer to IMT-Advanced (International Mobile

Telecommunications Advanced), as defined by ITU-R. An IMT-Advanced cellular

system must fulfill the following requirements:[4]

Be based on an all-IP packet switched network.

Have peak data rates of up to approximately 100 Mbit/s for high mobility such as mobile

access and up to approximately 1 Gbit/s for low mobility such as nomadic/local wireless

access.[1]

Be able to dynamically share and use the network resources to support more

simultaneous users per cell.

Using scalable channel bandwidths of 5–20 MHz, optionally up to 40 MHz.[1][5]

Have peak link spectral efficiency of 15-bit/s/Hz in the downlink, and 6.75-bit/s/Hz in the

uplink (meaning that 1 Gbit/s in the downlink should be possible over less than 67 MHz

bandwidth).

System spectral efficiency is, in indoor case, 3-bit/s/Hz/cell in downlink and

2.25-bit/s/Hz/cell in uplink.[1]

Smooth handovers across heterogeneous networks.

The ability to offer high quality of service for next generation multimedia support.

In September 2009, the technology proposals were submitted to the International

Telecommunication Union (ITU) as 4G candidates.[6] Basically all proposals are based

on two technologies:

LTE Advanced standardized by the 3GPP

802.16m standardized by the IEEE (i.e. WiMAX)

Implementations of Mobile WiMAX and first-release LTE are largely considered a

stopgap solution that will offer a considerable boost until WiMAX 2 (based on the

802.16m spec) and LTE Advanced are deployed. The latter's standard versions were

ratified in spring 2011, but are still far from being implemented.[4]

The first set of 3GPP requirements on LTE Advanced was approved in June 2008.[7]

LTE Advanced was to be standardized in 2010 as part of Release 10 of the 3GPP

specification. LTE Advanced will be based on the existing LTE specification Release 10

and will not be defined as a new specification series. A summary of the technologies that

have been studied as the basis for LTE Advanced is included in a technical report.[8]

Some sources consider first-release LTE and Mobile WiMAX implementations as pre-4G

or near-4G, as they do not fully comply with the planned requirements of 1 Gbit/s for

stationary reception and 100 Mbit/s for mobile.[citation needed]

Confusion has been caused by some mobile carriers who have launched products

advertised as 4G but which according to some sources are pre-4G versions,[citation

needed] commonly referred to as '3.9G',[citation needed] which do not follow the ITU-R

defined principles for 4G standards, but today can be called 4G according to ITU-R.[9] A

common argument for branding 3.9G systems as new-generation is that they use different

frequency bands from 3G technologies ;[citation needed] that they are based on a new

radio-interface paradigm ;[citation needed] and that the standards are not backwards

compatible with 3G,[citation needed] whilst some of the standards are forwards

compatible with IMT-2000 compliant versions of the same standards.[citation needed]

§System standards[edit]

§IMT-2000 compliant 4G standards[edit]

As of October 2010, ITU-R Working Party 5D approved two industry-developed

technologies (LTE Advanced and WirelessMAN-Advanced)[10] for inclusion in the

ITU’s International Mobile Telecommunications Advanced program (IMT-Advanced

program), which is focused on global communication systems that would be available

several years from now.

§LTE Advanced[edit]

See also: 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) below

LTE Advanced (Long Term Evolution Advanced) is a candidate for IMT-Advanced

standard, formally submitted by the 3GPP organization to ITU-T in the fall 2009, and

expected to be released in 2013. The target of 3GPP LTE Advanced is to reach and

surpass the ITU requirements.[11] LTE Advanced is essentially an enhancement to LTE.

It is not a new technology, but rather an improvement on the existing LTE network. This

upgrade path makes it more cost effective for vendors to offer LTE and then upgrade to

LTE Advanced which is similar to the upgrade from WCDMA to HSPA. LTE and LTE

Advanced will also make use of additional spectrums and multiplexing to allow it to

achieve higher data speeds. Coordinated Multi-point Transmission will also allow more

system capacity to help handle the enhanced data speeds. Release 10 of LTE is expected

to achieve the IMT Advanced speeds. Release 8 currently supports up to 300 Mbit/s of

download speeds which is still short of the IMT-Advanced standards.[12]

Advanced antenna systems[edit]

Main articles: MIMO and MU-MIMO

The performance of radio communications depends on an antenna system, termed smart

or intelligent antenna. Recently, multiple antenna technologies are emerging to achieve

the goal of 4G systems such as high rate, high reliability, and long range

communications. In the early 1990s, to cater for the growing data rate needs of data

communication, many transmission schemes were proposed. One technology, spatial

multiplexing, gained importance for its bandwidth conservation and power efficiency.

Spatial multiplexing involves deploying multiple antennas at the transmitter and at the

receiver. Independent streams can then be transmitted simultaneously from all the

antennas. This technology, called MIMO (as a branch of intelligent antenna), multiplies

the base data rate by (the smaller of) the number of transmit antennas or the number of

receive antennas. Apart from this, the reliability in transmitting high speed data in the

fading channel can be improved by using more antennas at the transmitter or at the

receiver. This is called transmit or receive diversity. Both transmit/receive diversity and

transmit spatial multiplexing are categorized into the space-time coding techniques,

which does not necessarily require the channel knowledge at the transmitter. The other

category is closed-loop multiple antenna technologies, which require channel knowledge

at the transmitter.

§Open-wireless Architecture and Software-defined radio (SDR)[edit]

One of the key technologies for 4G and beyond is called Open Wireless Architecture

(OWA), supporting multiple wireless air interfaces in an open architecture platform.

SDR is one form of open wireless architecture (OWA). Since 4G is a collection of

wireless standards, the final form of a 4G device will constitute various standards. This

can be efficiently realized using SDR technology, which is categorized to the area of the

radio convergence.

§History of 4G and pre-4G technologies[edit]

The 4G system was originally envisioned by the Defense Advanced Research Projects

Agency (DARPA).[citation needed] The DARPA selected the distributed architecture and

end-to-end Internet protocol (IP), and believed at an early stage in peer-to-peer

networking in which every mobile device would be both a transceiver and a router for

other devices in the network, eliminating the spoke-and-hub weakness of 2G and 3G

cellular systems.[31][page needed] Since the 2.5G GPRS system, cellular systems have

provided dual infrastructures: packet switched nodes for data services, and circuit

switched nodes for voice calls. In 4G systems, the circuit-switched infrastructure is

abandoned and only a packet-switched network is provided, while 2.5G and 3G systems

require both packet-switched and circuit-switched network nodes, i.e. two infrastructures

in parallel. This means that in 4G, traditional voice calls are replaced by IP telephony.

In 2002, the strategic vision for 4G—which ITU designated as IMT-Advanced—was laid

out.

In 2005, OFDMA transmission technology is chosen as candidate for the HSOPA

downlink, later renamed 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) air interface E-UTRA.

In November 2005, KT demonstrated mobile WiMAX service in Busan, South Korea.

[32]

In April 2006, KT started the world's first commercial mobile WiMAX service in Seoul,

South Korea.[33]

In mid-2006, Sprint announced that it would invest about US$5 billion in a WiMAX

technology buildout over the next few years[34] ($5.85 billion in real terms[35]). Since

that time Sprint has faced many setbacks that have resulted in steep quarterly losses. On 7

May 2008, Sprint, Imagine, Google, Intel, Comcast, Bright House, and Time Warner

announced a pooling of an average of 120 MHz of spectrum; Sprint merged its Xohm

WiMAX division with Clearwire to form a company which will take the name "Clear".

In February 2007, the Japanese company NTT DoCoMo tested a 4G communication

system prototype with 4×4 MIMO called VSF-OFCDM at 100 Mbit/s while moving, and

1 Gbit/s while stationary. NTT DoCoMo completed a trial in which they reached a

maximum packet transmission rate of approximately 5 Gbit/s in the downlink with 12×12

MIMO using a 100 MHz frequency bandwidth while moving at 10 km/h,[36] and is

planning on releasing the first commercial network in 2010.

In September 2007, NTT Docomo demonstrated e-UTRA data rates of 200 Mbit/s with

power consumption below 100 mW during the test.[37]

In January 2008, a U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) spectrum auction

for the 700 MHz former analog TV frequencies began. As a result, the biggest share of

the spectrum went to Verizon Wireless and the next biggest to AT&T.[38] Both of these

companies have stated their intention of supporting LTE.

In January 2008, EU commissioner Viviane Reding suggested re-allocation of 500–800

MHz spectrum for wireless communication, including WiMAX.[39]

On 15 February 2008, Skyworks Solutions released a front-end module for e-UTRAN.

[40][41][42]

In November 2008, ITU-R established the detailed performance requirements of IMT-

Advanced, by issuing a Circular Letter calling for candidate Radio Access Technologies

(RATs) for IMT-Advanced.[43]

In April 2008, just after receiving the circular letter, the 3GPP organized a workshop on

IMT-Advanced where it was decided that LTE Advanced, an evolution of current LTE

standard, will meet or even exceed IMT-Advanced requirements following the ITU-R

agenda.

In April 2008, LG and Nortel demonstrated e-UTRA data rates of 50 Mbit/s while

travelling at 110 km/h.[44]

On 12 November 2008, HTC announced the first WiMAX-enabled mobile phone, the

Max 4G[45]

In 15 December 2008, San Miguel Corporation, the largest food and beverage

conglomerate in southeast Asia, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Qatar

Telecom QSC (Qtel) to build wireless broadband and mobile communications projects in

the Philippines. The joint-venture formed wi-tribe Philippines, which offers 4G in the

country.[46] Around the same time Globe Telecom rolled out the first WiMAX service in

the Philippines.

On 3 March 2009, Lithuania's LRTC announcing the first operational "4G" mobile

WiMAX network in Baltic states.[47]

In December 2009, Sprint began advertising "4G" service in selected cities in the United

States, despite average download speeds of only 3–6 Mbit/s with peak speeds of 10

Mbit/s (not available in all markets).[48]

On 14 December 2009, the first commercial LTE deployment was in the Scandinavian

capitals Stockholm and Oslo by the Swedish-Finnish network operator TeliaSonera and

its Norwegian brandname NetCom (Norway). TeliaSonera branded the network "4G".

The modem devices on offer were manufactured by Samsung (dongle GT-B3710), and

the network infrastructure created by Huawei (in Oslo) and Ericsson (in Stockholm).

TeliaSonera plans to roll out nationwide LTE across Sweden, Norway and Finland.[49]

[50] TeliaSonera used spectral bandwidth of 10 MHz, and single-in-single-out, which

should provide physical layer net bitrates of up to 50 Mbit/s downlink and 25 Mbit/s in

the uplink. Introductory tests showed a TCP throughput of 42.8 Mbit/s downlink and 5.3

Mbit/s uplink in Stockholm.[51]

On 25 February 2010, Estonia's EMT opened LTE "4G" network working in test regime.

[52]

On 4 June 2010, Sprint released the first WiMAX smartphone in the US, the HTC Evo

4G.[53]

In July 2010, Uzbekistan's MTS deployed LTE in Tashkent.[54]

On 25 August 2010, Latvia's LMT opened LTE "4G" network working in test regime

50% of territory.

On November 4, 2010, the Samsung Galaxy Craft offered by MetroPCS is the first

commercially available LTE smartphone[55]

On 6 December 2010, at the ITU World Radiocommunication Seminar 2010, the ITU

stated that LTE, WiMax and similar "evolved 3G technologies" could be considered

"4G".[2]

On 12 December 2010, VivaCell-MTS launches in Armenia a 4G/LTE commercial test

network with a live demo conducted in Yerevan.[56]

On 28 April 2011, Lithuania's Omnitel opened a LTE "4G" network working in the 5

largest cities.[57]

In September 2011, all three Saudi telecom companies STC, Mobily and Zain announced

that they will offer 4G LTE for USB modem dongles, with further development for

phones by 2013.[58]

In 2011, Argentina's Claro launched a pre-4G HSPA+ network in the country.

In 2011, Thailand's Truemove-H launched a pre-4G HSPA+ network with nationwide

availability.

On March 17, 2011, the HTC Thunderbolt offered by Verizon in the U.S. was the second

LTE smartphone to be sold commercially.[59][60]

On 31 January 2012, Thailand's AIS and its subsidiaries DPC under cooperation with

CAT Telecom for 1800 MHz frequency band and TOT for 2300 MHz frequency band

launched the first field trial LTE in Thailand with authorization from NBTC.[61]

In February 2012, Ericsson demonstrated mobile-TV over LTE, utilizing the new

eMBMS service (enhanced Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service).[62]

On 10 April 2012, Bharti Airtel launched 4G LTE in Kolkata, first in India.[63]

On 20 May 2012, Azerbaijan's biggest mobile operator Azercell launched 4G LTE.[64]

On 10 October 2012, Vodacom (Vodafone South Africa) became the first operator in

South Africa to launch a commercial LTE service.

In December 2012, Telcel launches in Mexico the 4G LTE network in 9 major cities

In Kazakhstan, 4G LTE was launched on December 26, 2012 in the entire territory in the

frequency bands 1865–1885/1760–1780 MHz for the urban population and in 794-

799/835-840 MHz for those sparsely populated

India[edit]

Bharti Airtel launched India's first 4G service, using TD-LTE technology, in Kolkata on

April 10, 2012.[76] On June 2013 prior to the official launch in Kolkata, a group

consisting of China Mobile, Bharti Airtel and SoftBank Mobile came together, called

Global TD-LTE Initiative (GTI) in Barcelona, Spain and they signed the commitment

towards TD-LTE standards for the Asian region. It must be noted that Bharti Airtel's 4G

network does not support mainstream 4G phones such as Samsung Galaxy Note 3,

Samsung Galaxy S4 and others.

Bharti Airtel 4G services are available in Kolkata, Bangalore, Pune and Chandigarh

region (The Tricity or Chandigarh region consists of a major city Chandigarh, Mohali and

Panchkula).

RIL is launching 4G services through its subsidiary, Jio Infocomm. RIL 4G services are

currently available only in Jamnagar, where it is testing the new TD-LTE technology.

Reliance's 4G rollout is planned to start in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata and expand to

cover 700 cities, including 100 high-priority markets in 2015.[77]

Bharti Airtel launched 4G on mobiles in Bangalore, thus becoming the first in India to

offer such a service on 14th Feb, 2014

Bharti Airtel in July 2014, expanded 4G services to many cities in Punjab like Amritsar,

Patiala, Hoshiarpur, Ajitgarh, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Phagwara and Kapurthala.[78] Until

July 2014, Customers in these cities access 4G services through dongles and wifi

modems on Apple iPhone 5S and 5C, XOLO LT 900 and LG G2 (model D802T).

Aircel in July 2014, launched 4G in four circles Andhra Pradesh,[79] Assam, Bihar and

Odisha.[80]

India uses 2.3 GHz frequency (band 40).

Tikona Digital Networks holds broadband wireless access spectrum in the 2300 MHz

band and is waiting for the appropriate time and maturity of the 4G ecosystem before

making a foray into the space. Tikona holds 4G spectrum[81] licences in five circles in

northwest India, covering Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh (East and West) and

Himachal Pradesh.[82]

Beyond 4G research[edit]

Main article: 5G

A major issue in 4G systems is to make the high bit rates available in a larger portion of

the cell, especially to users in an exposed position in between several base stations. In

current research, this issue is addressed by macro-diversity techniques, also known as

group cooperative relay, and also by Beam-Division Multiple Access (BDMA).[254]

Pervasive networks are an amorphous and at present entirely hypothetical concept where

the user can be simultaneously connected to several wireless access technologies and can

seamlessly move between them (See vertical handoff, IEEE 802.21). These access

technologies can be Wi-Fi, UMTS, EDGE, or any other future access technology.

Included in this concept is also smart-radio (also known as cognitive radio) technology to

efficiently manage spectrum use and transmission power as well as the use of mesh

routing protocols to create a pervasive network.

3G vs. 4G: What's the Difference?

For average consumers, '3G' and '4G' are two of the most mysterious terms in the mobile

technology dictionary, but they're used relentlessly to sell phones and tablets. If you're

shopping for a new phone, the answer isn't clear-cut, and you shouldn't always go for the

higher number. Our primer will help explain which technology to pick.

3G and 4G Explained

First things first, the "G" stands for a generation of mobile technology, installed in

phones and on cellular networks. Each "G" generally requires you to get a new phone,

and for networks to make expensive upgrades. The first two were analog cell phones

(1G) and digital phones (2G). Then it got complicated.

Third-generation mobile networks, or 3G, came to the U.S. in 2003. With minimum

consistent Internet speeds of 144Kbps, 3G was supposed to bring "mobile broadband."

There are now so many varieties of 3G, though, that a "3G" connection can get you

Internet speeds anywhere from 400Kbps to more than ten times that.

New generations usually bring new base technologies, more network capacity for more

data per user, and the potential for better voice quality, too.

4G phones are supposed to be even faster, but that's not always the case. There are so

many technologies called "4G," and so many ways to implement them, that the term is

almost meaningless. The International Telecommunications Union, a standards body,

tried to issue requirements to call a network 4G but they were ignored by carriers, and

eventually the ITU backed down. 4G technologies include HSPA+ 21/42, the now

obsolete WiMAX, and LTE (although some consider LTE the only true 4G of that bunch,

and some people say none of them are fast enough to qualify.)

There's a big difference between 4G LTE and other technologies called "4G" though, and

it's most visible in upload speeds. If you upload a lot of data - posting photos or videos,

for instance - you'll find LTE's upload speeds are far better than those on HSPA.

There are many different ways to implement LTE, too, so you can't assume all LTE

speeds are the same. Carriers with more available radio spectrum for LTE can typically

run faster networks than carriers with less spectrum, for instance.

This confusion is why we run our annual Fastest Mobile Networks story, which tests 3G

and 4G networks in 30 cities nationwide. In this year's tests, we generally found that on

speed alone Verizon's 4G LTE network was the fastest, followed by T-Mobile LTE,

AT&T LTE, T-Mobile HSPA+, Sprint LTE, AT&T HSPA, Verizon 3G and finally

Sprint 3G.

Would you like to know more about LTE, the global standard for 4G? Read our primer,

What Is LTE? over at ExtremeTech.

When to Go For 4G

In 2015, almost everyone should have a 4G phone. Verizon now has nationwide 4G LTE

coverage. T-Mobile and MetroPCS have nationwide HSPA+ 42 and growing LTE

networks. AT&T has broad LTE coverage. Sprint is still building out LTE, but by next

year the carrier aims to be comprehensive.

If you like to surf the Web and especially stream video, 4G can be heaven. If you connect

a laptop to your mobile link, 4G makes a huge difference. In general, anything involving

transferring large amounts of data gets a big boost from 4G. Watch out for the data limits

on your service plan, though; it's easy to use up a lot of data very quickly with 4G.

If you have a 3G phone and you've been frustrated with slow data, 4G may be the

solution. 4G won't solve any dropped call problems, though, as all calls will be made

over older networks until carriers switch to voice-over-LTE during the next few years.

Finally, if you want to future-proof yourself, get a 4G phone. 4G coverage is only going

to get better, and that's where the carriers are spending most of their money right now.

You can assume that all 4G phones also support your carrier's 3G and 2G networks as

well.

Should You Even Consider 3G?

There are a few reasons you might still settle for a 3G phone.

If your phone is mostly for voice use, you have no need for 4G data. Save money and

save battery life by choosing a device without the high-speed network.

If you live in an area that doesn't have 4G coverage, there's no advantage to a 4G phone.

In fact, you'll have serious battery life problems if you buy an LTE phone and don't

disable 4G LTE, as the radio's search for a non-existent signal will drain your battery

quickly.

If you're strapped for cash and buying a phone off contract, you may have to settle for 3G

to save money. In that case, make sure to get the fastest 3G phone possible. On Verizon

and Sprint, you want to check that it supports "EVDO Rev A." On T-Mobile and AT&T,

you want the highest class of HSPA+ possible: if not 42 or 21, then 14.4.

4G Technology

Wireless technology has transformed our lives in many ways. Until very recently, we

needed a computer wired to a port, to get online. Even wired telephones are becoming a

thing of past. Nowadays, we use our mobile phones for banking, to check ticket

availability at a Cinema Hall, and many more. Wireless communication is the transfer of

information over a distance without the use of enhanced electrical conductors or "wires”.

And, Wireless networking refers to any kind of networking that does not involve cables.

It helps in saving the cost of cables for networking in addition to providing the mobility.

What is 4G Technology, overview

There are different types of wireless networks defined on the basis of their size, range and

data transfer rate.

· Wireless PAN - Personal area network Wireless Personal Area Networks

· Wireless LAN - Local Area Network

· Wireless MAN - Metropolitan Area Networks

· Wireless WAN- Wide Area Networks

· Mobile devices networks

Mobile networks have evolved tremendously in last 3 decades. Cellular concept was

introduced with 1G (‘G’ stands for generation) networks. Today, 4G technology is

getting ready to storm the markets. Not only that, research on 5G technology has already

begun.

Evolution of Mobile Technologies

Zero Generation Technology (0G)

0G refers to pre-cell phone mobile telephony. Being the predecessors of the first

generation of cellular telephones, these systems are called 0G (zero generation) systems.

Usually vehicle mounted, they had the transceivers mounted in the vehicle trunk and dials

& display mounted near the driver seat.

Technologies used in 0G systems included PTT (Push to Talk), MTS (Mobile Telephone

System), IMTS (Improved Mobile Telephone Service), and AMTS (Advanced Mobile

Telephone System).

First Generation Technology (1G)

1G refers to the first generation of wireless telecommunication technology, more

popularly known as cell phones. In 1G, Narrow band analogue wireless network is used;

with this we can have the voice calls. These services are provided with circuit switching.

Through 1G, a voice call gets modulated to a higher frequency of about 150MHz and up

as it is transmitted between radio towers using a technique called Frequency-Division

Multiple Access (FDMA).

Different 1G standards prevalent were AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System) in the

United States, TACS (Total Access Communications System) in the United Kingdom,

NMT (Nordic Mobile Telephone), used in Nordic countries, Eastern Europe and Russia,

etc.

Second Generation Technology

2G - 2G first appeared around late 1980’s; 2G system digitized the voice signal, as well

as the control link. It provided the facility of short message service (SMS) unlike 1G that

had its prime focus on verbal communication. Depending on the type of multiplexing

used 2G technologies can be divided into Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) based

and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). 2G system offered better quality and much

more capacity. 2G cellphone units were generally smaller than 1G units, since they

emitted less radio power.

Based on TDMA, Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) is the first

European standard & the first commercial network for use by the public for 2nd

generation mobile (2G) telephony. A typical 2G G.S.M network service uses

800/900MHz or 1800/1900 frequency spectrum. Typical average data rate of GSM is 9.6

kbps. 2G CDMA (IS-95A) uses BPSK and offers data rate upto 14.4 kbps. The

bandwidth of 2G is 30-200 KHz.

2.5G – GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) - 2.5G, which stands for "second and a half

generation," is a cellular wireless technology developed in between its predecessor, 2G,

and its successor, 3G. The term "second and a half generation" is used to describe 2G-

systems that have implemented a packet switched domain in addition to the circuit

switched domain.

‘2.5G’ is an informal term, invented solely for marketing purposes, unlike "2G" or "3G"

which are officially defined standards based on those defined by the International

Telecommunication (ITU).

GPRS (CS1 to CS4) uses GMSK modulation with symbol rate (& modulation rate) of

270 ksym/s. Typical data rate of GPRS is ~115 kbps. It can be used for services such as

Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) access, Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) and

for accessing internet.

IS-95B or cdmaOne is the evolved version of IS-95A and is also designated as 2.5G with

theoretical data rates of upto 115 kbps, with generally experienced rates of 64 kbps.

2.75 – EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution) - EDGE (EGPRS) is an

abbreviation for Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution, is a digital mobile phone

technology, invented by AT&T. EDGE technology is an extended version of GSM &

works in GSM networks. EDGE is add-on to GPRS and can function on any network

with GPRS deployed on it, provided the carrier implements the necessary upgrades. It

allows the clear and fast transmission of data. One need not install any additional

hardware and software in order to make use of EDGE Technology. Also, there are no

additional charges for utilizing this technology.

Uses 9 Modulation coding schemes (MCS1-9). MCS (1-4) uses GMSK, while MCS (5-9)

uses 8PSK modulation. 8PSK Increases throughput by 3x (8-PSK – 3 bits/symbol vs

GMSK 1 bit/symbol). Modulation bit rate is 810 kbps. It offers data rates of 384kbps,

theoretically up to 473.6kbps.

Key Components & Technologies in 4G

MIMO – OFDM

MIMO, in contrast to traditional communication systems, takes advantage of multipath

propagation to increase throughput, range/coverage, and reliability. MIMO (Multiple

Input Multiple Output) systems use spatial multiplexing, wherein multiple transmitting

antennas and multiple receiving antennas are used. It permits pparallel streams to be

transmitted simultaneously by those antennas. Because MIMO transmits multiple signals

across the communications channel,

Data rate in MIMO systems gets multiplied by the number of antennas used.

4G Technology1

2G and 3G systems used TDMA, FDMA and CDMA as channel access schemes.

However, 4G uses OFDMA and other new technologies (Single Carrier FDMA,

Interleaved FDMA, and Multi-carrier CDMA) instead of CDMA, which is used by all 3-

G systems.

In OFDM, digital signal itself is split into different narrowband frequencies, modulated

by data and then re-multiplexed to create the OFDM carrier. The main benefit of OFDM

is high spectral efficiency, high immunity to RF interference, and lower multi-path

distortion. Another key advantage of OFDM is that it dramatically reduces equalization

complexity by enabling equalization in the frequency domain.

OFDM can be implemented efficiently by using Fast Fourier transforms (FFT) at the

transmitter and receiver. FFT provides the channel response for each frequency. With

MIMO, the channel response becomes a matrix and hence, MIMO-OFDM signals can be

processed using relatively straightforward matrix algebra. Since complexity involved

with space-time equalizers for MIMO-OFDM systems is less, they are preferred. Also,

MIMO uses multipath propagation to its advantage.

IPv6 - IPv4 address exhaustion is likely to be in its final stages by the time of deployment

of IPv6. Hence, for 4G technology, IPv6 has evolved to support a large number of

devices. The packet structure for IPv6 is shown below.

IPv4 uses 32 bits and hence it is able to address 4294967269 possible addressable

devices, whereas IPv4 uses 128 bits and is able to 3.4 X 1038 possible addressable

devices

With IPv6, each device will have its own IP. Even if access point is changed, IP will

remain same. IP based backbone or IP Core will allow everything to talk to each other,

provided they follow the same protocol.

Smart Antennas

Smart or Intelligent antennas is also a multi-antenna concept which allows the radio beam

to follow the user. This is done through beam forming which temporarily improve gain.

They are also used to provide transmit and/or receive diversity.

Smart antennas in 4G Technology

Adhoc Networks

Adhoc networks refer to spontaneous self organisation of network of devices, not

necessarily connected to internet. 4G will create hybrid wireless networks using adhoc

networks. Intelligent routing to determine shortest path with least powers are used, i.e,

data packets are sent through paths with minimal power requirements.

Adaptive Modulation And Coding (AMC)

Adaptive modulation and coding mechanism reacts to instantaneous variations in channel

conditions and accordingly modify the modulation & coding formats. Based on feedback

from the receiver, response of the channel is estimated and depending upon the channel

conditions, AMC allows different data rates to be assigned to different users. Channel

statistics aid the transmitter and receiver to optimize system parameters such as

modulation, coding, bandwidth, channel estimation filters, and automatic gain control.

Adaptive Hybrid ARQ

Efficient and reliable Medium access control (MAC) layer performance is extremely

important for reliable link performance over the lossy wireless channel. TO achieve this,

an automatic retransmission and fragmentation mechanism called automatic Repeat

Request (ARQ) is used, wherein the transmitter breaks up packets received from higher

layers into smaller sub packets, which are transmitted sequentially. If a sub packet is

received incorrectly, the transmitter is requested to retransmit it. This mechanism

introduces time diversity into the system due to its capability to recover from noise,

interference, and fades.

Improved Modulation

Previous standards used Phase-shift keying, more spectrally efficient modulation schemes

such as 64-QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) is being used for 4G systems.

Software Defined Radio (SDR)

SDR is key to 4G systems. Software Defined Radio allows some of the functional

modules of radio equipment like modulation/demodulation, signal generation, coding and

link-layer protocols, that used to be traditionally implemented in special purpose

hardware to be implemented in modifiable software or firmware operating on

programmable processing technologies. Since 4G is all about convergence of diverse

wireless standards, this can be efficiently realized using SDR technology.

4-G Systems

WirelessMAN-Advanced

o IMT-A compliant version of WiMAX or WiMAX 2 based on IEEE 802.16m

o WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is an IP based,

wireless broadband access technology

o WirelessMAN is under development.

o Present implementation of WiMAX does not comply with 4G specifications

o Uses OFDM in uplink and downlink.

o Mobile WiMAX, IEEE 802.16e standard offers peak data rates of 128 Mbit/s

downlink and 56 Mbit/s uplink over 20 MHz wide channel.

4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) Advanced

· IMT-A complaint version of LTE, also referred to as E-UTRA (Evolved UMTS

Terrestrial Radio Access) or E-UTRAN(Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access

Network).

· UMTS Long Term Evolution (LTE) was introduced in 3GPP Release 8 which

supports data rates of up to 300 Mbps (4x4 MIMO) and up to 150 Mbps (2x2 MIMO) in

the downlink and up to 75 Mbps in the uplink. Release 10 of LTE is likely to approach

IMT-A, download upto 1 Gbps and upload upto 500 Mbps.

· Uses OFDMA for downlink & Uses Single Carrier Frequency Division

Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) for uplink.

· Uses 64QAM modulation

· Uses MIMO and beam forming with up to 4 antennas

· All IP Network

Moving Beyond 4G

4G is not the end of all. "5G Technology" is already in research arena and is bound to up

the data rate further.5G is going to alter the way of our usage of our cellphones; may

replace our Desktop PCs/laptops. Coupled with innovations being done in the field of

smart sensors, 5G mobile phones with extremely high data rates, IP core, and world-wide

coverage will offer features which have not imagined so far.

Currently 5G is not a term officially used for any particular specification, however, it is

being used in research papers and standardization bodies for the future wireless

standards.

4G Wireless Technology

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Fourth generation (4G) technology will offer many advancement to the wireless market,

including downlink data rates well over 100 Mbps, low latency, very efficient spectrum

use and low-cost implementations.

With impressive network capabilities, 4G enhancement promise to bring the wireless

experience to an entirely new level with impressive user applications, such as

sophisticated graphical user interfaces, high-end gaming, high-definition video and high-

performance imaging.Consumer expectations for mobile handsets and similar products

are becoming more and more sophisticated.

Consumers are demanding a better user experience along with more advanced and useful

applications on a more ergonomic device.

The current 3G devices are good, but they will have to improve in areas like imaging and

processing power to support future 4G applications like three dimensional (3D) and

holographic gaming, 16 megapixel (MPixel) smart cameras and high-definition (HD)

camcorders. Applications like these will demand more processing power than the current

3G handsets offer, requiring more efficient applications processors.

The move to 4G networks will allow service providers to offer the impressive

applications that will drive users to upgrade to the new phones. Current downlink data

rates are less than 10 megabits per second (Mbps); 4G

systems will offer downlink data rates well over 100 Mbps, an improvement of 10 times

over 3G. 4G systems will also have low latency, improving the consumer experience.

With flexible network connections, efficient use of spectrum and impressive user

applications, 4G will offer what consumers want.

What is LTE?

Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology is sometimes called 3.9G or Super 3G and has

been developed by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) as an improvement

to the current Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). By using

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), LTE will be able to provide

download rates of 150 Mbps for multi-antenna (2x2) multiple-input multiple output

(MIMO) for the highest category terminals. For these terminals upload rates in the 50

Mbps range will allow an efficient transfer of data.

LTE makes very efficient use of the available spectrum with channel bandwidths from

1.25 Megahertz (MHz) to 20 MHz The flexible “slice” will allow LTE to be more easily

implemented in countries where 5 MHz is a commonly allocated amount of spectrum.

LTE will also co-exist with legacy systems already rolled out around the world.

Latency and Efficiency

Latency in a wireless network describes the time it takes between when an action is

initiated or requested and when it actually begins. In 3.5G networks, when a phone is in

dormant mode and wants to initiate a connection, a several hundred mille seconds (ms)

delay is common. For transmission of data packets, 50 ms one-way latency is the norm.

Consumers want a connection experience like they get at their homes using a wired

broadband connection. LTE will decrease latency to just 50 ms from dormant to

connection and a 5 ms one-way latency after that, delivering connection latencies similar

to a wired connection.

A new class of mobile devices is emerging that is a convergence of the Smartphone

market with the PC market.

These new MIDs, Mobile Internet Devices, are low-power, high-performance wireless

devices, able to deliver a desktop experience on a small footprint, portable device. MIDs

deliver an intuitive user interface with touch screens, as well as full featured browser

support, high resolution displays, broadband and personal connectivity, a camera,

camcorder, navigation, media player, gaming and office productivity applications in a

small footprint that can operate all day on a single charge.

Next Generation Applications Processors

The amount of processing performance needed to deliver these new 4G applications will

be large. Integrated, multi-core architectures that deliver microprocessors and DSPs on a

single chip will be critical to 4G’s success.

Products such as TI’s OMAP applications processors enable ore sophisticated and

intuitive user’s interfaces and provide a web browsing experience similar to traditional

PCs.

Integration and Power Management

To be able to deliver the performance needed for 4G technologies, process technologies

must continue towards higher integration. The current 45 nanometer (nm) process in use

today allows up to two times the density compared to the previous 65nm process. In

addition to cost savings, the 45nm process achieves a 25% performance increase over the

65nm process. Continued integration will increase performance while decreasing costs

over time. But all this integration comes at a price, namely the need for sophisticated

power management technologies. Shrinking the process technology down to 45nm has an

exponential effect on leakage power until it becomes a significant part of a device’s total

power.

The big challenge in brining 4G to the market will be using the right applications

processors as well as modem and power management technologies to deliver the

performance, size and battery life that consumers demand. The path is clear to bring 4G

to reality and deliver compelling application and performance that will pave the way for

the future of wireless.

What is 4G? A complete guide to 4G

You've probably heard of it, but what is 4G? In short, it's the name given to the fourth

generation of mobile networks, just as the previous generation is called 3G.

Another piece of jargon, which you will see tagged onto the end of 4G is 'LTE'. This

stands for Long Term Evolution and is a type of 4G technology. It's arriving in the UK

for the first time at the end of October and will be available to around a third of the

population by Christmas 2012. See also: iPhone 5 review

4G LTE aims to offer users faster, more reliable mobile broadband internet for devices

like smartphones, tablets and laptops.

Loosely speaking, 4G is around five times faster than existing 3G services. Theoretically

it can provide download speeds of up to 100Mbps but you won't achieve this in real-

world use.

Unless you've just bought an iPhone 5, a Samsung Galaxy S3 LTE (not a regular S3) or

one of the other brand new 4G-capable smartphones, your existing handset won't work on

a 4G network.

4G networks use different frequencies to transmit data than 3G so you need a handset

which has a modem that supports these new frequencies.

Here, we'll explain everything you need to know about 4G. We'll be taking an in-depth

look at how the technology works, where and when you can get it as well as telling you

which devices support it.

EE logo

We've been able to test out the first 4G network, run by EE, formally Everything

Everywhere, so we can also reveal how fast it is and how it will benefit you in practice.

Although 4G is new to the UK and we Brits like to think we have the latest technology, it

has actually been around for many years. Two forms of 4G been developed and are in

use: WiMAX and LTE.

In fact, you may recognise the first technology, as WiMAX was trialled in the UK in

2009. However, the first WiMAX network was launched by South Korean firm KT in

2006.

The first LTE network was deployed in Scandinavia in 2009. However, it was debatable

whether the speeds on offer back then were really 4G or not.

Across the Atlantic in the US, Sprint has been using WiMAX since 2008 and MetroPCS

was the first operator to offer an LTE service in 2010. Verizon and AT&T also offer LTE

4G.

In the UK, 4G networks will use LTE technology, which is why devices such as

smartphones are already popping up with LTE suffixes to their names to show they are

4G capable.

3G has, of course, been around for a lot longer than 4G. In the UK the first 3G network

was launched by Hutchinson Telecommunications, branded as Three or '3'. Wideband

Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) was the first technical standard used for 3G.

It's now more commonly known as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System

(UMTS). More modern forms of 3G are High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and HSPA+.

The latter allows for faster speeds up to 42Mbps, twice that of HSPA. Common spectrum

used for 3G connective include: 850MHz, 900MHz, 1900MHz and 2100MHz.

4G's headline download speed is 100Mbps and a blistering 50Mbps for upload. This

makes 4G is more than twice as fast as the latest 3G technology and many more times

faster than previous versions.

Of course, these speeds are theoretical, and such speeds won't be reached in real-world

use. However, that doesn't mean 4G isn't twice as quick. In our tests, which we'll get to

later, we saw speeds around three times faster on 4G compared to 3G, and an even larger

improvement with uploads.

What does this mean in practice? The faster speeds mean websites load quicker, and that

you'll be able to stream videos and podcasts without first waiting for them to buffer.

Plus, you'll be able to download large email attachments or other content from the web

faster. Apps which need to download data, such as maps, will work more smoothly,

especially when zooming in or out as this generally requires a lot of data. The speed

differential should be akin to switching from 3G to Wi-Fi.

Taking a more demanding task like video streaming, the BBC recommends a connection

speed of 3.5Mbps for HD content. Although 3G can offer speeds in excess of this, the

average speed across all forms of 3G in the UK is around 3Mbps.

For video streaming and similar tasks, where you would typically require Wi-Fi for

smooth performance, 4G should allow you to have a 'home broadband' experience on the

move. EE expects the average speed to be between 8- and 12Mbps, potentially faster than

the 5.9Mbps average for ADSL home broadband.

Faster upload speeds will also be a boon. If you hate waiting for pictures to be posted to

Facebook or Twitter, for example, then this should be a much faster process over 4G.

What is 4G: technology

The main reason 4G is faster than 3G is because of Orthogonal Frequency-Division

Multiplexing (OFDM). It sounds complicated, but it's the same technology used in Wi-Fi,

ADSL broadband, digital TV and radio.

OFDM is a technique for squeezing more data onto the same amount of radio frequency.

It also reduces latency and interference. Data is split up and sent via small chunks of

frequency in parallel, therefore increasing the capacity of the network.

Multiple-input and multiple-output, or MIMO, is another reason 4G is able to provide

faster speeds. It is simply the use of multiple antenna arrays at both the transmitter and

receiver to improve communication performance.

This allows more data to be transferred without requiring additional bandwidth or

drawing more power. The most common configuration currently is a 2x2 MIMO, found

in many smartphones and some tablets. A 4x4 setup is also possible and promises even

faster speeds but is still a little way off making its way onto devices. Since different

setups are possible, one phone could provide faster 4G speeds than another.

With 3G handsets, most of us take roaming for granted. We take our phones travelling

around the world, and expect to be able to pick up emails and browse websites as soon as

we land. Things are different with 4G.

Although there are 4G networks in many countries around the world, your UK 4G

smartphone won't necessarily work wherever you go. The reason is that 4G doesn't

operated on the same frequencies in every country.

If your phone's 4G modem doesn't work on the same frequencies as those used in the

country you're visiting, then you'll have to live with 3G instead. Even if the numbers do

match, there needs to be a 4G roaming agreement between operators. Currently, there is

no such agreement in place and even when there is, expect data prices to be high.

What is 4G: UK frequency bands

Technology

Frequency spectrum (UK)

3G

850MHz

900MHz

1900MHz

2100MHz

4G

800MHz

1800MHz

2600MHz

Wi-Fi

2400MHz

5000MHz

Bluetooth

2400MHz

What is 4G: coverage in the UK

EE says it will provide 4G coverage in a total of 10 UK cities at launch, with 16 switched

on by Christmas. The firm says it means 20 million users will be able to get the faster

speeds before the year is over. The lucky cities to get 4G before the rest of the country

are:

Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London,

Manchester and Sheffield.

Belfast, Derby, Hull, Nottingham, Newcastle and Southampton should be 4G'd up before

2013.

EE 4G coverage 16 cities

12 cities will have wide-ranging coverage. London 4G's signal will stretch beyond the

M25, for example. The remaining four (which four haven't been announced) will have

city-centre coverage only to start with.

Don't assume that if you have good 3G coverage now you will also get good 4G coverage

when the new network launches in your area.

Ofcom - the independent regulator - has set a requirement that 98 percent of the UK must

have 4G coverage by the end of 2017. However, EE has promised the fastest ever roll-out

of a mobile network in the UK claiming it will reach 70 percent of the UK by the end of

2013. It says 98 percent of the UK will have 4G available by the end of 2014, three years

ahead of Ofcom's goal.

Definition 4G Wireless Systems

4G Wireless Systems or Fourth generation wireless system is a packet switched wireless

system with wide area coverage and high throughput. It is designed to be cost effective

and to provide high spectral efficiency . The 4g wireless uses Orthogonal Frequency

Division Multiplexing (OFDM), Ultra Wide Radio Band (UWB),and Millimeter wireless.

Data rate of 20mbps is employed. Mobile speed will be up to 200km/hr.The high

performance is achieved by the use of long term channel prediction, in both time and

frequency, scheduling among users and smart antennas combined with adaptive

modulation and power control. Frequency band is 2-8 GHz. it gives the ability for world

wide roaming to access cell anywhere.

Wireless mobile communications systems are uniquely identified by "generation

designations. Introduced in the early 1980s, first generation (1G) systems were marked

by analog frequency modulation and used primarily for voice communications. Second

generation (2G) wireless communications systems, which made their appearance in the

late 1980s, were also used mainly for voice transmission and reception The wireless

system in widespread use today goes by the name of 2.5G-an "in between " service that

serves as a stepping stone to 3G. Whereby 2G communications is generally associated

with Global System for Mobile (GSM) service, 2.5G is usually identified as being "fueled

" by General Packet Radio Services (GPRS) along with GSM. In 3G systems, making

their appearance in late 2002 and in 2003, are designed for voice and paging services, as

well as interactive media use such as teleconferencing, Internet access, and other

services. The problem with 3G wireless systems is bandwidth-these systems provide only

WAN coverage ranging from 144 kbps (for vehicle mobility applications) to 2 Mbps (for

indoor static applications). Segue to 4G, the "next dimension " of wireless

communication. The 4g wireless uses Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing

(OFDM), Ultra Wide Radio Band (UWB), and Millimeter wireless and smart antenna.

Data rate of 20mbps is employed. Mobile speed will be up to 200km/hr.Frequency band

is 2 ]8 GHz. it gives the ability for world wide roaming to access cell anywhere.

Advantages of 4G Wireless Systems:

o Support for interactive multimedia, voice, streaming video, Internet, and other

broadband services

o IP based mobile system

o High speed, high capacity, and low cost per bit

o Global access, service portability, and scalable mobile services

o Seamless switching, and a variety of Quality of Service driven services

o Better scheduling and call admission control techniques

o Ad hoc and multi hop networks (the strict delay requirements of voice make multi hop

network service a difficult problem)

o Better spectral efficiency

o Seamless network of multiple protocols and air interfaces (since 4G will be all ]IP, look

for 4G systems to be compatible with all common network technologies,

including802.11, WCDMA, Blue tooth, and Hyper LAN).

o An infrastructure to handle pre existing 3G systems along with other wireless

technologies, some of which are currently under development.

4G technologies are significant because users joining the network add mobile routers to

the network infrastructure. Because users carry much of the network with them, network

capacity and coverage is dynamically shifted to accommodate changing user patterns. As

people congregate and create pockets of high demand, they also create additional routes

for each other, thus enabling additional access to network capacity. Users will

automatically hop away from congested routes to less congested routes. This permits the

network to dynamically and automatically self-balance capacity, and increase network

utilization. What may not be obvious is that when user devices act as routers, these

devices are actually part of the network infrastructure. So instead of carriers subsidizing

the cost of user devices (e.g., handsets, PDAs, of laptop computers), consumers actually

subsidize and help deploy the network for the carrier. With a cellular infrastructure, users

contribute nothing to the network. They are just consumers competing for resources. But

in wireless ad hoc peer-to-peer networks, users cooperate - rather than compete - for

network resources. Thus, as the service gains popularity and the number of users

increases, service likewise improves for all users. And there is also the 80/20 rules.

With traditional wireless networks, about 80% of the cost is for site acquisition and

installation, and just 20% is for the technology. Rising land and labor costs means

installation costs tend to rise over time, subjecting the service providers 7 business

models to some challenging issues in the out years. With wireless peer-to-peer

networking, however, about 80% of the cost is the technology and only 20% is the

installation. Because technology costs tend to decline over time, a current viable business

model should only become more profitable over time. The devices will get cheaper, and

service providers will reach economies of scale sooner because they will be able to pass

on the infrastructure savings to consumers, which will further increase the rate of

penetration.

Benefits of 4g Wireless

4G wireless is a breakthrough technology in internet connections. With higher speeds,

mobility and security, and flexible packages, it is fast becoming the most reliable solution

for communication and internet needs. Whether at home, in the office, or out on-the-go,

you stay connected. Here are the major benefits of 4G wireless.

Benefits of 4G Wireless

Easy Installation

4G is very easy to install and to maintain. All it takes is a cell phone that is 4G capable or

a PC card or USB port that you can easily plug into a laptop. No need for modems, cords,

cables, and special software. It is perhaps simplest and easiest way to go online.

Faster Speed

4G internet connections are about 4 times faster than predecessors. For instance you can

download an entire movie in just minutes as opposed to several hours. 4G wireless gives

you the capacity to download videos, games, and music. You can also stream live videos

and shows without any interruptions. More importantly, you can conveniently and

seamlessly communicate with family and friends abroad via video chats without any

lagging or poor performance.

Better Signal

4G is the latest in internet technology so expect better signal. In fact, 4G is known to

have a more reliable signal than any other service available on the market. Everyone has

come to the realization that the Internet is a must-have tool for personal and business use

and not having a strong enough signal can be detrimental to those who have to email an

important project or document. With 4G wireless, you can rest assured that you can get

your internet connection every time you need it.

Wider Coverage

As opposed to WiFi and other wireless internet solutions, 4G has a much wider network.

WiFi limits coverage to just a few hundred feet and traveling a little further than that will

deny you access to the connection. 4G technology turns your block or city into a hotspot.

Coverage can go as far as 30 miles or more.

Better Security

4G guarantees high security. Its protocol makes use of a security plan that is the most

advanced in wireless technology. Its very strong and reliable network prevents

information from being taken or hacking to take place.

Flexible Plans

4G is ideal for any household or organization. With companies offering flexible packages

to its users, you can easily find the right service that will suit your needs. You only pay

for the services you need, whether you want access limited to your home or for outside

use. Whether you spend hours a day online or browse the web only on certain occasions,

you can find the ideal 4g wireless package that suits your needs.