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What exactly is the difference between 4G and 4G LTE

Mega Optimus

Mega Optimus

Well-Known Member
Just wondering because I own a lg optimus f6 and my friend at work on a lg motion. I used to have a LG motion last year before I upgraded. A few months back my friend LG motion was updated and I noticed that after we ran speed test on his and mine phone we were getting about the same speeds which was about 16 megabytes. I was showing LTE in the status bar and his was only showing 4G since his is only a 4G phone
 
Technically HSPA+ is "just" 3g technology, Lte is genuine 4G.

Lte is capable of much higher speeds than HSPA+ but T-Mo's HSPA+ speeds stray Well into the area normally associated with Lte.

For the carriers to call HSPA+ 4G is more marketing whizbangery which they can get away with due to the very high speeds, into Lte realm speeds, HSPA+ Can achieve.

All things being equal signal strength wise, Lte will smoke HSPA+

That is my understanding anyway. I could of course, be wrngh. (But I wouldn't Bet on it. :D )

Bruce in Ocala, Fl
 
If you went into the about phone, of the Motion, you'd see that it was getting LTE. For what ever reason, LG programmed it to just say 4G instead of 4G LTE, or even just LTE (I've seen other phones that will say one or the other).
 
also i thought that only gsm phones could do the 4g lte. why does metro still on thier web page list some phones as 4g and some as 4g lte. I'm pretty sure when i bought my motion 4g that it was listed as 4g only
 
Mega Optimus said:
also i thought that only gsm phones could do the 4g lte. why does metro still on thier web page list some phones as 4g and some as 4g lte. I'm pretty sure when i bought my motion 4g that it was listed as 4g only
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Both CDMA and GSM phones can have LTE radios in them. LTE is independent of the CDMA/GSM radios.

When you bought the Motion, Metro did advertise it as 4G LTE.

The phones listed as 4G are HSPA+ phones while the 4G LTE are the LTE phones. Like plenty of people above mentioned, Metro, T-Mobile and everyone else will call HSPA+ 4G. It's just not LTE. Please, read so you will understand and not ask the same questions again after they've been satisfactorily answered above.
 
ah i see now, i re-read the comments and i think i understand it now. The metro 4g phones are really hspa+ phones. now I wonder what speeds the hspa+ phones from metro achhieve compared to the lte phones. I remember when i owned a optimus m and it started recieving the 3g symbol speeds were only like 400kbps, and even that was with some hack.
 
Despite the endless Internet memes and folklore, the ITU is the standards body that defines what 2G, 3G and 4G all means.

The controversy and surviving misinformation began in 2010 and the Sprint HTC EVO 4G - the world's first 4G phone, based on WiMAX.

Released before the 4G spec finalized - but designed and labeled back when it was clear that WiMAX would be the new 4G.

Except that the committee pulled the spec and sent it back for study - as they had repeatedly over the last year and more.

The other carriers countered that they were as fast as WiMAX and knowing that the public didn't know better, all claimed to be 4G.

Including LTE, which was no more 4G than WiMAX or HSPA+.

Within months the situation moved past intolerable when the ITU released the 4G spec that said -

To be 4G, you had to be on either WiMAX 2 or LTE-A and provide 100 Mbps downloads.

That was in 2010.

The industry revolted and in December 2010, the ITU capitulated on the definition - but not the actual spec -

http://www.phonearena.com/news/ITU-says-LTE-WiMax-and-HSPA--are-now-officially-4G_id15435

So, LTE officially became 4G in December 2010, right alongside HSPA+.

As to which is faster or better depends on your service area and network load vs its capacity. Lots of people get better HSPA+ performance than LTE users.

And until you start getting +100 Mbps service, it's kind of pointless to worry about what the real 4G is.

All of the current 4G services offer performance that exceeds the broadband rates most people had at home just a few years ago.

The 4G speed debate comes down to what you really need on a phone.

The max AV bit rate for a Blu-ray movie is 48 Mbps.

Then again, more people watch HD at 6 to 8 Mbps with Netflix that like most modern services, uses modern adaptive technology.

The rest of the question about the difference between the two, HSPA+ and LTE, has been answered - so now you know what 4G means. ;)

HSPA+ is as "genuine" 4G as LTE.
 
I'm not sure how hsdpa+ could be almost as fast as lte. My download speeds are over 100 times faster on average when I'm on lte. Maybe MetroPCS throttles their hsdpa+? My average download speed on hsdpa+ is less than 20kB/s and I average about 2000kB/s or more on lte.
 
Masterchief said:
I'm not sure how hsdpa+ could be almost as fast as lte. My download speeds are over 100 times faster on average when I'm on lte. Maybe MetroPCS throttles their hsdpa+? My average download speed on hsdpa+ is less than 20kB/s and I average about 2000kB/s or more on lte.
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There isn't an HSDPA+, there's HSDPA and that's often slow, and there's HSPA+.

HSDPA = 3G (enhanced, but still 3G)
HSPA+ = 4G
 
Masterchief said:
I'm not sure how hsdpa+ could be almost as fast as lte. My download speeds are over 100 times faster on average when I'm on lte. Maybe MetroPCS throttles their hsdpa+? My average download speed on hsdpa+ is less than 20kB/s and I average about 2000kB/s or more on lte.
Click to expand...

One thing I've noticed is it really depends on signal strength and location.
su9e4uve.jpg


That's what i just got while on lte at my house, but usually on lte in my same bedroom i get about half that.

When just on 4G(hspa+) i get about 5mbps.
 
If it's HSPA+ 42 you can possibly see speeds in the low 30mbps on a non congested tower but most people average in the teens with H+42
 
alfick3 said:
If you went into the about phone, of the Motion, you'd see that it was getting LTE. For what ever reason, LG programmed it to just say 4G instead of 4G LTE, or even just LTE (I've seen other phones that will say one or the other).
Click to expand...
At the time metro's only 4G was LTE so there was no need just like on VZW some phones showed 4G and some showed 4GLTE. Now on VZW though most if not all show 4GLTE since most are Global phones they're capable of HSPA.
 
This is weird as I was researching the same question today and found this thread. I'm looking into getting the LG L90, whose specs are much better, comparing to F6. The only drawback is the lack of LTE. It makes me wonder why would LG release this phone without LTE, but have it on F6. It doesn't make sense. Should I get it?
 
I don't know but here are my speeds from earlier today when i was only on 4G ( which is HSPA+)
y8e8ata8.jpg


Which is more than enough too stream video line you tube
 
XxHaimBondxX said:
This is weird as I was researching the same question today and found this thread. I'm looking into getting the LG L90, whose specs are much better, comparing to F6. The only drawback is the lack of LTE. It makes me wonder why would LG release this phone without LTE, but have it on F6. It doesn't make sense. Should I get it?
Click to expand...


It doesnt have lte cuase they can sell it cheaper then. Just like moto originally did with the moto g. The l90 is a decent phone for the price. If hspa is decent in your area theres no reason not to get it. Its a far better device than the f6. People get attached to speedtests waaay to much. On a phone you dont need 50 mbps download to do anything. Heck 3mbps download is plenty fast enough to stream music you tube even netflix. Look at it for yourself and play around with it. If you like it buy it.
 
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