What Affect Will 4G have On The World

 

4G is the next generation of mobile communication standards, picking up where 3G drops off and delivering higher download and upload speeds. In other countries, such as the US, different technologies — such as WiMax — have been deployed to provide higher-capacity data services. In the UK, WiMax is very rare, with just a few small operators serving specific towns or cities. So in the UK, at least, the future of 4G is LTE. And LTE, like every other data communication standard, operates in a specific frequency or set of frequencies. But to add to the complexity, the UK's LTE services operate in a different band to those in the US, meaning that certain 4G-equipped devices won't work everywhere in the world.

You can think of the issue with different 4G bands in a similar way to how you used to have to check whether a phone was dual, tri or quad-band to see if it would work abroad. In the UK, LTE services will use the 800MHz, 900MHz, 1800MHz and 2.6GHz bands whereas the new iPad, for example, will only work on 4G networks that use the 700MHz or 2.1GHz frequency bands. So if you're on a trip to the US anytime soon and are considering snapping up a new 4G-equipped phone or tablet, be aware that it almost certainly won't be compatible with the UK's 4G networks.

Have you ever been out and about trying to watch a video on YouTube or stream some music and have it steadfastly refuse to playback without constant buffering? Yes? Well, that will be a thing of the past with 4G. Of course, that was the promise of 3G but it never quite seemed to be the case. Where 3G HSPA+ speeds are currently maxing out at around a theoretical 42Mbps downstream limit, 4G promises to deliver up to 100Mbps for users on the move. But it's not just for urban hipsters — 4G could also play a role in bridging the rural broadband divide in the UK.