What is 4G today?

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One of the biggest buzz words in the wireless industry today is "4G" (also known as 4th generation wireless broadband). What is 4G and why does it seem to be the must have feature for so many wireless consumers? What are the different  types of  4G technology used today and which carrier has the best 4G? These are the questions that most of today's consumers want to know.

All four major US carriers (Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, Sprint) currently have a 4G technolgy operating on their respective wireless networks, but they use different types of technology to achieve this 4G performance. Although their are many who pose the question of what really defines 4G technology if  the ITU (International Telecommunication Union) technical definition is that of an IP based network capable of 100 Mbps downloads to mobile devices.  There is some grey area to how 4G is defined today but everyone seems to agree that 4G is really about speed and each of these shows a big performance boost over the 3G that we have been accustom to in years past.

Sprint was the first of the four to launch 4G in the US. They teamed up with and acquired a majority of Clearwire which utilizes a technology called WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) to achieve 4G speeds. The network yields real world average speeds between 3 to 5 Mbps with peaks of over 12 Mbps download speed.

Verizon Wireless, the largest US wireless carrier utilizes LTE technology for its 4G network. Verizon's LTE (Long Term Evolution) is thought to be the fastest, most advenced 4G technology in the US. This is due to the signals architecture, that holds end-to-end strength to the edge of the radio frequency more than other technologies. Verizon has been quick to tout this in their marketing campaign that states that their 4G LTE is America's fastest, most reliable 4G network which delivers average downloads around 10 Mbps down with peaks over 30 Mbps. Their networks also displays upload capabilities that far exceed any other wireless carrier in the US.

T-Mobile USA is Americas largest 4G network. Currently available in over 190 major markets, T-Mobile utilizes a technology called HSPA+ (High Speed Packet Access+). This evolved wireless technology is currently a 21Mbps theoretical type in some markets while most area markets have been upgraded to a 42 Mbps theoretical type. T-Mobiles branding of their HSPA+ technology as 4G network drew early fire from their competition and many in the wireless industry. After launching more devices that support their faster HSPA +42 capabilities many of those who did not respect T-Mobile as a viable 4G option compared to Sprint's WiMAX and Verizon's LTE are now humming a slightly different tune. The upgraded networks performance has been consistently fast, boosting average downloads around 10Mbps and peak downloads around 30 Mbps. This speed boost makes T-Mobiles 4G network just as fast as Verizon's in day to day real world usage in most major markets.

AT&T is the second largest wireless carrier in the US. Like T-Mobile, they currently operate HSPA+ for their 4G network, although they utilize a different wireless spectrum band to achieve the 21 Mbps HSPA+ theoretical 4G variety. They have also in recent weeks launched LTE 4G in 9 major cities and have plans to expand that to 15 markets by the end of 2011. This planed LTE expancion is sure to raise them to comparable speeds that Verizon and T-Mobile customers currently enjoy.

The wireless industry is very compettitive and is constantly growing and changing. Their are more people buying smartphones and taking full advandtage of 4G speeds over the air that are faster than the internet speeds in most homes. This is all due to the massive reponse to the 4G WIRELESS movement. So What is 4G to you today and furthermore, what will it be tomorrow?

*Via POPSI, SPEEDTEST.NET