4G has been a hot topic for Wireless Networks recently. With all those ads coming from the States that talk about 4G, where is Canada? Fourth Generation networks are very complicating because, according to certain groups who standardise wireless generations, most “4G” networks that are currently operating for the public are actually not real 4G. Read on in this article to understand what everything is, and when we’ll get REAL 4G.
First of all, lets talk about where all this 4G information is coming from. Sprint, one of the 4 biggest carriers in the United States, traditionally runs a CDMA network; but they’ve recently added a WiMax network to the mix. Because it has speeds that are close to broadband, that are much faster than traditional 3G, they decided to advertise it as 4G. Sprint’s WiMax network has major limitations, however. The technology used is very different from Sprints traditional CDMA network, so the infrastructure and hardware required for the cell towers and 4G devices is completely different from CDMA, costing millions of dollars. Because of this, the network is only out in 30-or-so markets. In the past few years, devices resembling MiFi’s had been released to take advantage of 4G, but it’s taken a while to finally put a 4G chip into a Smartphone. The HTC Evo 4G was the first “4G” device. Reaching speeds around 2.5mbits per second, the network is the second fastest wireless network in the states.
However, it didn’t take long for other networks to invest in a 4G technologie. AT&T has already announced that their 4G network will use the LTE (Long-Term Evolution) standard to reach theoretical speeds of 100mbits per second (although real-life speeds will be limited to around 10mbits per second). At&t already uses a GSM/HSPA network (resembling Bell, Telus, and Rogers’s networks), so the rollout should be relatively simple compared to other’s (because LTE is based on the same 3GPP standard as GSM/HSPA). At&t hopes to rollout their new network in 2011, and will brand it as 4G.
Verizon is a CDMA carrier, like Sprint, but they decided that they would migrate to a LTE network for their 4G needs, because WiMax isn’t as standard world-wide. Unfortunately for Verizon, CDMA uses 3GPP2, which makes the switch to LTE (which uses 3GPP) much more difficult, as they must start using SIM cards. LTE on Verizon is expected to reach theoretical speeds of 100mbits per second (but real-life speeds of 10mbits per second), like At&t’s, and the rollout is is expected in 2011, and they will brand it as 4G.
Finally, there is only one more carrier left, out of the United States’s big 4, and that’s T-Mobile. T-Mobile uses the same GSM/HSPA network as Bell, Telus, and Rogers, however it uses different 3G bands known as AWS (Advances Wireless Services), making 3G devices incompatible. T-Mobile has announced, and released a HSPA+ network that they advertise to have faster speeds than Sprint’s 4G (WiMax) reaching theoretical speeds of 21.4mbits per second (real-life 3-5mbits per second). What’s great about HSPA+, is that its just a small add-on to their current 3G network, requiring little modifications, and a relatively inexpensive rollout. Unfortunately, they haven’t announced an LTE upgrade yet (or WiMax), so their network will soon be considered slow compared to At&t and Verizon. Until then, however, T-Mobiles HSPA+ network is the fastest network in the US. T-Mobile has announced that they will release a smartphone capable of HSPA+ speeds very soon, and it will be called the G2 (sucessor to the HTC G1, known as the Dream in Canada on Rogers).
So, how does all of this tie into Canada? Well, Canada is actually getting the best of all these networks. Bell, Telus, and Rogers all have HSPA networks covering 97% of the Canadian population. Plus, they also all have HSPA+ networks in most big cities. That means that what Americans consider 4G speeds, is what we call 3.5G (synonym for HSPA+). But, don’t worry, were still getting a taste of 4G. Bell and TELUS have already announced that they will release a 4G LTE network that will be capable of 100mbits per second speeds as fast as Verizon and At&t in the States. Rogers also announced they will be releasing their own identical 4G network. Both those 4G networks will likely be released to the public in mid-2011. We can expect Bell and Telus to forget about their existing CDMA networks in the near future, because their not as future-proof as their new GSM/HSPA+ network. Unfortunately, no Canadian carriers have announced plans for a HSPA+ smartphone in the future, so the only devices that can take advantage of the new network are internet cards and MiFi’s.
In the future, LTE Advanced will be finalized, and reaching theoretical speeds of 1gbps (1000mbits per second), it will be the first standard to reach actual 4G status. Current networks that are advertised as 4G are mainly called 3.75G in the technology world.
So, as you can see, we’re fairly lucky with our wireless networks, so we should stop complaining about our networks, and start complaining about the smartphone lineups in Canada.
