subject: Will The True 4g Please Stand Up? [print this page] Sometimes, it seems it would take an act of Congress to decide whats really 4G and whats not. In fact, a bill was introduced in Washington last year that would have required carriers to specifically spell out their 4G performance claims. But it only got as far as most U.S. legislation gets these days, that is to say, nowhere.
The industry itself has settled on a two-tiered definition of the next-generation networks that succeed 3G. Theres generic 4G, which includes a variety of enhanced 3G networks such as EVDO (evolution-data optimized) and HSPA/HSPA+ (high-speed packet access) that deliver far faster data speeds than plain-vanilla 3G.
The real gold ring, though, is 4G Long Term Evolution, or 4G LTE. Regarded as the true next-generation wireless network technology, 4G LTE requires a significantly greater capital investment for network upgrades than the largely software-driven process of enhancing an existing 3G network.
There you have it: AT&T has the nations largest 4G network. From the AT&T website.
Theoretically capable of download speeds up to 299.6 Mbps and upload rates up to 75.4 Mbps (purely theoretical)12, in practical terms LTE can deliver average download speeds of 5 to 20 Mbps, a large multiple of current 3G speeds that hover around the sub-2 Mbps range. LTE handles more data, more efficiently much more efficiently. And the faster the data moves, the more room there is for more data to go through. User experience also is improved by dramatically reduced latency itself solving one of mobile performances biggest challenges and seamless transitions as users move throughout the network.
While every carrier in the universe is marketing their "4G" networks though most of some and all of a few are still based on 3G technology every single one is also scrambling to get true LTE coverage in place. It will simply be impossible to be competitive with anything less.
No wait, lets get it "straight": T-Mobile has the nations largest 4G network. From the T-Mobile website.
In a recent "speed showdown," PC World compared 3G and 4G performance across the U.S. and found the slowest 4G LTE download time (Verizon) was nearly twice as fast as the fastest 3G time (T-Mobile). Within carriers, the difference was even more dramatic. AT&Ts 4G LTE was nearly 3.5X faster than its 3G, and Verizons 4G LTE was fully 7X faster than its 3G download.
The growing LTE footprint
Figuring out the coverage of a carriers LTE network is almost as hard as figuring out whats 4G and whats not.
In the U.S., Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile all claim to have the largest 4G network. At this writing, though, Verizon is the clear LTE leader, with its network reaching over 200 million pops, or population capable of accessing the service. While AT&Ts 4G network has similar coverage, the LTE portion is significantly lower, at 74 million pops. T-Mobile doesnt have any LTE coverage yet, but its HSPA-flavored network matches the 200 million pops coverage.
Actual LTE subscribers in the U.S. were at about 10.5 million as of May. Thats not a huge number, but not bad considering how new the networks are and how few LTE-capable devices are yet available.
Worldwide, LTE is available on 57 networks in 34 countries; thats expected to expand to 100 by year-end. A total of 22 million LTE connections are forecast for 2012, and the U.S. will account for about half the total By 2016, 428 million LTE subscribers are projected15 and expected to generate $265 billion in revenue.
An expensive and complex transition for carriers
The investment to build out LTE networks is huge. AT&T spent $20 billion overall on its networks in 2011, and expects to spend that much again in 2012; this is not an atypical investment for the major carriers. Juniper Research estimates that carriers worldwide will have to spend $840 billion over the next five years to upgrade their backhaul networks the connection from their wireless networks back to the Internet to handle the increased data.
Some of these operators dont have a good backhaul the pipes are small," says Mohammad Zaman, North American sales director for Keynote SIGOS. "You have to build a bigger pipe in the backhaul, on the network side. As use increases, theres a limit to how much you can handle."
"As you build these 4G networks, youve got to be able to do this seamless transition, seamless handoff the circuit switch fallback between these 4G and 3G networks," Zaman says. "You need tools to do that. You want to make sure that you can monitor the customer experience, the quality of service of the network, so that the user doesnt know whats going on so that its transparent to them."
Still a balancing act for site owners
No matter what new things happen in mobile, site owners cant seem to catch a break. LTE adds still another wrinkle into the complex tangle of OS/device/carrier variables that complicate mobile strategy formulation.
Theoretically, higher-speed connections are good news, enabling sites to push out more content and functionality to create a richer experience. On tablets in particular, sites could deliver desktop-type deep content enhanced for the greater interactivity tablets allow (see the Benchmark article, "Tablets in the Fast Lane"). Smartphones, too, could handle more complex, deeper content.
" For site owners, the same mobile rules and best practices apply today as they did yesterday: Create or optimize sites for the two major mobile form factors smartphones and tablets. Tailor the experience to the device. Make sure the site(s) are lean, efficient, and fast-loading over a typical 3G network. Test, monitor, tweak, repeat. Some of your lucky users will enjoy blazing LTE performance. And the rest will have an experience that meets their expectations and creates satisfaction for your brand.
