4G, LTE, WiMax Explained
Editor’s note: With the future of mobile broadband technology looking even faster and even more confusing, Spencer Hogg from Broadband Expert explains 4G to us.
The mobile broadband service touted as 4G is presently more marketing terminology than an official technology recognized by a standards setting organization. Here are the basics of 4G, LTE, and WiMax explained.
Two main flavors of 4G are beginning a battle for subscribers around the globe. The two main camps of 4G technology are WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) and LTE (Long Term Evolution).
Technically speaking, the two standards are fundamentally similar. WiMax can be described as using a one way communications pipeline. Either the sender or receiver’s voice or data can be flowing through the pipeline at one instant, but not both. This is imperceptible to the user since the switching of data flows happens extremely fast. LTE technology on the other hand provides true two way data flow. Both Wimax and LTE have very wide pipelines to send their data through, so speed on both far exceeds 3G and CDMA options widely available now.
LTE has a wide range of channels over which to send data. Peak speeds vary depending on the channel, but can range between 140MBPS and 300MBPS. The upper end of the Wimax speed range is 72MBPS. While the top speed potential may seem to indicate an overwhelming advantage for LTE, the fasted existing rollouts of both Wimax and LTE services are on par with cable modem speeds, topping out at a maximum of approximately 60MBPS. Current mobile devices cannot adequately take advantage of even these speeds, however, since existing device battery life is compromised by faster data transmission. These limitations indicate there may be no current practical speed advantage for LTE over WiMax.
Users wishing to employ the higher speeds now available from either 4G technology may want to do an analysis of which 4g service is available in the locales where they spend the most time. Service availability may indicate what kind of 4G hardware would be the wisest purchase.
Long term, however, the speeds available for LTE and its strong marketing support may win the day. The two way communication technology of LTE would provide a speed advantage for games and video streaming. Evolution of mobile devices which can realistically take advantage of LTE maximum speeds may also contribute to LTE being the eventual victor.
From a marketing standpoint worldwide, LTE has the most support by companies with the largest market shares. In the USA, LTE is championed by Verizon, ATT and T-Mobile while Sprint and Clearwire support WiMax. Large European carriers such as TeliaSonera and Vodafone are also backing LTE. The five largest carriers in Japan, NTT DoCoMo, KDDI, Softbank Mobile and EMOBILE are currently investing in future LTE capacity expected to be available to consumers within the next five years.
Don’t totally count WiMax out, however. Korea Telecom (KT) is expecting to have WiMax service available to 85% of the population in South Korea in 2011. KT’s service will be the first to cover an entire nation with 4G capability. Taiwan’s Tatung Company, with the help of the Japanese firm NEC is currently implementing WiMax in Taiwan. The top twenty carriers around the globe currently provide WiMax service to an estimated 9 million subscribers worldwide.
Whatever the outcome of the battle for mobile standards dominance, consumers around the world will benefit from the higher speeds and more wide spread access of 4G service.
This is a guest post by Spencer Hogg. If you would like to contribute too, please contact me.
