Is this Really 4G?

Most mobile phone carriers have been advertising themselves as having the latest 3G or LTE networks. Many service providers are even marketing their products as being “4G”. What exactly does this mean to us as the consumer and what even is 3G or 4G?

3G refers to the type of network in which that particular phone or service operates.  3G stands for 3^rd Generation. All of the hardware, standards, and technology in general that make up a 3^rd generation cell phone network are referred to collectively as 3G. What this means is that if a phone is 3G capable, it makes full use and takes advantage of all of these particular technologies. As various privately owned companies build devices and networks to communicate with each other, standards are applied that ensure that all of the technology is compatible. An example is the Wi-Fi or Bluetooth standards. If there were no standards in place, each manufacturer of laptop or mobile device could have their own unique frequency’s or protocols, and nothing would be compatible. Thanks to standards such as Wi-Fi, almost anyone with a wireless card, regardless of the brand, can walk into a coffee shop and get connected. Organizations such as the ITU or International Telecommunication Union create and implement these standards.

4G on the other hand, is referring to the 4^th Generation of wireless networks, but is a little more complicated. According to the ITU, one of the requirements for a service to be 4G is that it has to provide data speeds at a minimum of 100 Mbit/second, compared to the 3G’s minimum requirement of 3.8 Mbit/second. This is fast! However, despite being marketed as 4G and being significantly faster than 3G, today’s 4G services don’t come close to this speed. They will eventually, once 4^th Generation networks converge and become more established. 4G phones in today’s marketplace are considered to be 4G due to the fact that they use a more efficient method for transporting data than the previous 3G. This technology has the potential for extremely high speeds. As these mobile communication networks continue to expand, we as consumers should start to see this type of performance increase in the future.