LTE, HSDPA & WiMax 3Gs Sold as 4G: Companies Deceiving Customers

Wireless networks started life with the 1G network. It then graduated to 2G then to the 3G we are all familiar with now. Then from 3G, we have apparently made the technological advance to 4G-or have we? With all the new companies making claims to the 4G revolution, it is easy to believe what is being said. And most of us want to believe that this "4G" these companies lay claim to does exist, so we all prattle along, not asking any questions and not caring to read between the lines. This is where the people claiming to have 4G wireless networks available have won the battle. However, I cannot allow myself to go along with the herd in good faith of what the companies claim. That said; let's take a look at this 4G for what it really is, another marketing ploy to get attention, get noticed and most of all, get rich. 4G as these companies claim it to be is, simply put, not 4G. There is no real 4G yet and there will not be a true 4G network for a ling time coming. Let me explain.

The Technical Story

The name for the accepted 4G standard is IMT-Advanced, according to the International Telecommunication Union, or ITU, an agency that sets the International standards fro all telecommunications issues, including that of 3G. The 4G recommendations must be met in order to be even apply for consideration as a designated legitimate 4G wireless network. However, before looking at the supposed 4G, let's look at what 3G really is.

Why 3G is 3G

3G, according to ITU, is part of the 2G family of standards called the IMT-2000. Both the 2G wireless and 3G wireless are part of this family. However, 3G has a higher set of performance standards within the IMT-2000 recommendations and include "evolutionary" and "revolutionary" standards. These higher standards have a set path for the evolution of 2G GSM/EDGE to 3G, and it can be found on the ITU's website. The problem is that there are many who do not recognize GSM or EDGE as a 3G technology, although it was thought GSM would become the widely accepted 3G standard at the time. As difficult as it was for the ITU to set a 3G standard apart form 2G, now the problem they have is setting apart 3G from the 4G technologies since the 3G was an evolution of 2G and not a strict standard itself. The ITU is quoted as concluding that before any 4G standard is set, 3G must first completely develop itself.

What is 4G?

So then, what exactly is 4G? The companies offering 4G service lay claims to better performance and faster wireless speeds and these claims in fact are true. However, these companies are not taking into account the ITU's recommendations for a 4G wireless network. The standards set for the IMT-Advanced clearly show that this so-called 4G is not 4G, but an evolution of 3G, which the ITU-R is calling pre-4G. However, it is not marketed as such. Who is going to pay for a "pre-4G" service when there are other companies claiming to have actual 4G?

Pre-4G's LTE & WiMax

LTE and Wi-Max services are in fact some of the fastest around today, as well as the HSDPA, the technologies that the mobile broadband carrier companies are claiming are in fact 4G service. The truth of the matter is, however, that none of these technologies meets the qualifications as designated by the IUT as a 4G technology. Yes, HSDPA, LTE and WiMax beat the original 3G speeds and performance for uploading and downloading by well over a whopping 10 Mbit/s, and sometimes more. Nevertheless, they are not still not considered 4G because they are not officially designated by the ITU as such. A true 4G network will offer up to over 100 times that speed and LTE and WiMax do not yet the companies continue to confuse the public by calling it 4G.

The only one of these two technologies that has an edge on the other is the LTE, which has developed LTE-Advanced, and this technology is the first to meet the requirements of the ITU-R for a 4G network and the developers of the network have applied for its consideration by the ITU as true 4G service. However, even the LTE-Advanced is not yet considered 4G as it is not set to be accepted and designated by the agency until sometime in late 2011, more than a year from now. This fact alone make it obvious that 4G as we know it today is not really 4G.

What About Todays Society?

Well, for one it means that the people of the world are letting the big companies take them for fools once again. The original company to announce their real 4G service, and the first ever in the world, came from TeliaSonera in Sweden. Then came Sprint and now Clear. They all offer "True 4G services" and they all fail at delivering it. Not a single one of these companies offers LTE-Advanced, the only true 4G wireless network which is still not available anywhere, nor do they have the official designation of a 4G network by the ITU.

My question is this...

How is it that these companies are allowed to get away with offering service they claim as 4G when it is clearly not? Why do the ITU not step in and make them label it and market it for what it really is? Is it really this easy to let the big corporations take advantage of the people? Knowing the ITU standards apparently are not enough. Masquerading the less than 4G network as a 4G network and then selling it to millions of people, representing themselves as having something they don't is usually punished within the realms of a criminal charge, is it not?

One thing to keep in mind is that those people purchasing the 4G data plans are actually only getting a souped up version of 3G and nothing more. I for one will not allow myself to fall for the hype and refuse to purchase any of these so-called 4G network data plans. I know and understand what these companies are doing and how they are hiding behind free speech. However, it is obvious that no one wants to fight false advertising except for me. Either that or they don't know enough to care or don't care enough to learn and this is why the companies and Big Brother always win.

References:
Clearwire: The 3-6 Mbit/s "4G" service

ITU: About ITU
Rep. ITU-R M.2134 1 REPORT ITU-R M.2134: Requirements related to technical performance for IMT-Advanced radio interface(s)Tech Crunch: First 4G Mobile Network Launches
ITU-R: ITU Global Standard for IMT Advanced

ITU: What really is a Third Generation (3G) Mobile Technology
ITU-D: 2G/3G/4G
ITU-R:IMT-Advanced submission and evaluation process