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The 4G "MYTH"

Eh I doubt it. Carriers are going to milk that term for as long as they can (which should be awhile). And most people are ignorant enough to keep believing this term too.
 
Most things marketed as "turbo" don't contain turbo chargers, or even combustion engines either. 4G is just another "these go to eleven" thing, it's one better than 3G and that's all that counts for the average consumer.
 
officially 4G or not, 12mbps is a lot quicker than 1.5mbps, can't wait until they speed up the UK's mobile internet :|
 
ionekoa said:
actually that's what would make it "4G". it's a marketing thing, not a technical specification. it sounds pretty and it makes people oooh and ahh, but it doesn't really mean anything. hell, it could be slower than 3G and if it were the 4th generation it would still be 4G, that is unless the G in #G stands for gigabits or some other thing i'm unaware of, but i'm pretty sure it stands for generation.
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To be honest that what I thought it was before this "that's not real 4G" rukus started. It kind of surprised me that some group thought to lay down specifications for that. It seems like it would be like creating standards for what a given piece of software needs to have to be considered "version 2.0".

Can someone paraphrase the OP. I don't have time to read it.
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Cell companies are advertising their faster networks as 4G. Some obscure group had decided that for a network to be "4G" it must meet with a strict set of guidelines which none of the currently advertised as 4G networks meet.
 
Tangent said:
To be honest that what I thought it was before this "that's not real 4G" rukus started. It kind of surprised me that some group thought to lay down specifications for that. It seems like it would be like creating standards for what a given piece of software needs to have to be considered "version 2.0".
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It's telephony - so we're all going to communicate, standards are always required.

The defining body on this is the International Telephone Union - here's their last (so far as I know) press release concerning 4G:

ITU Newsroom - 4G Press Release October 2010

Without some standardization, we'd all be at the mercy of the marketeers.

On the subject of 4G here in the US - we already are following the marketeers, regardless of the standard's existence.

I'm not gonna get it - but here's my 4G wishlist:
  • High speed
  • No service restrictions - read: voice+data+whatever-else-we-think-of-tomorrow
  • My handset roams with voice and data anywhere in the world and I don't have to give a toot about carriers and any alphabet soup names for whatever radio is in my phone.

And - I'll be sure to let you know how that works out for me. :D
 
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