Right after 'open' and 'unlimited' the most mis-used word or acronym in the wireless industry is 4G. HSPA+ is not 4G, LTE is not 4G and Wi-MAX most definitely is not 4G either as they are all part of the IMT-2000 family, which is 3G. Call them 3.5G, 3.9G, 3G+, 3.999G, whatever, but 4G is not correct.
But now finally the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has named the first network technology that will be part of IMT-Advanced, or, in other words, the first 4G technology. And this is 3GPP Release 10 LTE, also known as LTE-Advanced or LTE-A for short. Current deployments and activities revolve around 3GPP Release 8 LTE, which, once again, is not 4G 🙂 LTE-A is quite a number of years out and how realistic 1.2 GBit/s device classes will be in a couple of years is anyones best guess at the moment. But it's 4G 🙂
Good point, Martin!
I can’t help rolling my eyes each time I read on the newspapers that “operators in the US are rolling out their 4G networks” based on HSPA+, LTE, and other non-4G technologies.
Your clarification is very much appreciated.
Hi Martin,
So the Sprint 4G handset is NOT a 4G one? Thanks for clarifying this!
Qunfeng