What+is+4G?+A+complete+guide+to+4G


 * What is 4G? A complete guide to 4G **

4G will be available from EE at the end of October You've probably heard of it, but what is 4G? In short, it's the name given to the fourth generation of mobile networks, just as the previous generation is called 3G. Another piece of jargon, which you will see tagged onto the end of 4G is 'LTE'. This stands for Long Term Evolution and is a type of 4G technology. It's arriving in the UK for the first time at the end of October and will be available to around a third of the population by Christmas 2012. 4G LTE aims to offer users faster, more reliable mobile broadband internet for devices like smartphones, tablets and laptops . Loosely speaking, 4G is around five times faster than existing 3G services. Theoretically it can provide download speeds of up to 100Mbps but you won't achieve this in real-world use. Unless you have just bought an iPhone 5, a Samsung Galaxy S3  LTE (not a regular S3) or one of the other brand new 4G-capable smartphones, your existing handset will not work on a 4G network. 4G networks use different frequencies to transmit data than 3G so you need a handset which has a modem that supports these new frequencies. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Here ,I will explain everything you need to know about 4G. I’'ll be taking an in-depth look at how the technology works, where and when you can get it as well as telling you which devices support it. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Although 4G is new to the UK and we Brits like to think we have the latest technology, it has actually been around for many years. Two forms of 4G been developed and are in use: WiMAX and LTE. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">In fact, you may recognise the first technology, as WiMAX was trialled in the UK in 2009. However, the first WiMAX network was launched by South Korean firm KT in 2006. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">The first LTE network was deployed in Scandinavia in 2009. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"> However, it was debatable whether the speeds on offer back then were really 4G or not. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Across the Atlantic in the US, Sprint has been using WiMAX since 2008 and MetroPCS was the first operator to offer an LTE service in 2010. Verizon and AT&T also offer LTE 4G. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">In the UK, 4G networks will use LTE technology, which is why devices such as smartphones are already popping up with LTE suffixes to their names to show they are 4G capable. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">3G has, of course, been around for a lot longer than 4G. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"> In the UK the first 3G network was launched by Hutchinson Telecommunications, branded as Three or '3'. Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) was the first technical standard used for 3G. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">It is now more commonly known as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). More modern forms of 3G are High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and HSPA+. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">The latter allows for faster speeds up to 42Mbps, twice that of HSPA. Common spectrum used for 3G connective include 850MHz, 900MHz, 1900MHz and 2100MHz. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">4G's headline download speed is 100Mbps and a blistering 50Mbps for upload. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"> This makes 4G is more than twice as fast as the latest 3G technology and many more times faster than previous versions. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Of course, these speeds are theoretical, and such speeds will not be reached in real-world use. However, that does not mean 4G isn't twice as quick. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">What does this mean in practice? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"> The faster speeds mean websites load quicker, and that you will be able to stream videos and podcasts without first waiting for them to buffer. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Plus, you will be able to download large email attachments or other content from the web faster. Apps which need to download data, such as maps, will work more smoothly, especially when zooming in or out as this generally requires a lot of data. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"> The speed differential should be akin to switching from 3G to Wi-Fi. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Taking a more demanding task like video streaming, the BBC recommends a connection speed of 3.5Mbps for HD content. Although 3G can offer speeds in excess of this, the average speed across all forms of 3G in the UK is around 3Mbps. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">For video streaming and similar tasks, where you would typically require Wi-Fi for smooth performance, 4G should allow you to have a 'home broadband' experience on the move. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">EE expects the average speed to be between 8- and 12Mbps, potentially faster than the 5.9Mbps average for ADSL home broadband. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Faster upload speeds will also be a boon. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"> If you hate waiting for pictures to be posted to Facebook or Twitter, for example, then this should be a much faster <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; text-decoration: none;">process <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"> over 4G. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">The main reason 4G is faster than 3G is because of Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM). It sounds complicated, but it's the same technology used in Wi-Fi, ADSL broadband, digital TV and radio. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">OFDM is a technique for squeezing more data onto the same amount of radio frequency. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"> It also reduces latency and interference. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Data is split up and sent via small chunks of frequency in parallel, therefore increasing the capacity of the network. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Multiple-input and multiple-output, or MIMO, is another reason 4G is able to provide faster speeds. It is simply the use of multiple antenna arrays at both the transmitter and receiver to improve communication performance. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">This allows more data to be transferred without requiring additional bandwidth or drawing more power. The most common configuration currently is a 2x2 MIMO, found in many smartphones and some tablets. A 4x4 setup is also possible and promises even faster speeds but is still a little way off making its way onto devices. Since different setups are possible, one phone could provide faster 4G speeds than another. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">With 3G handsets, most of us take roaming for granted. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">We take our phones travelling around the world, and expect to be able to pick up emails and browse websites as soon as we land. Things are different with 4G. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Although there are 4G networks in many countries around the world, your UK 4G smartphone will not necessarily work wherever you go. The reason is that 4G does not operated on the same frequencies in every country. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">If your phone's 4G modem does not work on the same frequencies as those used in the country you are visiting, then you will have to live with 3G instead. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Even if the numbers do match, there needs to be a 4G roaming agreement between operators. Currently, there is no such agreement in place and even when there is, expect data prices to be high. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">EE says it will provide 4G coverage in a total of 10 UK cities at launch, with 16 switched on by Christmas. The firm says it means 20 million users will be able to get the faster speeds before the year is over. The lucky cities to get 4G before the rest of the country are: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">12 cities will have wide-ranging coverage. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"> London 4G's signal will stretch beyond the M25, for example. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"> The remaining four (which four haven't been announced) will have city-centre coverage only to start with. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Do not assume that if you have good 3G coverage now you will also get good 4G coverage when the new network launches in your area. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Ofcom - the independent regulator - has set a requirement that 98 percent of the UK must have 4G coverage by the end of 2017. However, EE has promised the fastest ever roll-out of a mobile network in the UK claiming it will reach 70 percent of the UK by the end of 2013. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">It says 98 percent of the UK will have 4G available by the end of 2014, three years ahead of Ofcom's goal. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">You can check 4G coverage in your area on <span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">EE's website <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 18pt;">What is 4G: technology **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">What is 4G: UK frequency bands **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Technology |||||||| <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Frequency spectrum (UK) ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">3G || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">850MHz || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">900MHz || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">1900MHz || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">2100MHz ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">4G || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">800MHz || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">1800MHz || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">2600MHz ||  ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Wi-Fi || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">2400MHz || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">5000MHz ||  ||   ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Bluetooth || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">2400MHz ||  ||   ||   ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 18pt;">What is 4G: coverage in the UK **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"> and **Sheffield.**
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Belfast, Derby, Hull, Nottingham, Newcastle **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"> and **Southampton** should be 4G'd up before 2013.

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