4G is here and everyone’s talking about it. But what on earth is it, exactly? Boris may not know, but you can. And I’m here to give you the low down…
Here are the basics: 4G is the fourth generation mobile network. It follows on rather imaginatively from 1G, 2G and 3G.
1G powered those enormous brick-like handsets that Dom Joly carried around in Trigger Happy TV, 2G was the first network to go digital and introduced text messaging to shy admirers everywhere, and even cultivated it’s own language - R U keepin up? And then we had the game-changer that was 3G; opening a whole new world of mobile web browsing and, for me, Facebooking on the 38 bus.
But as the technology in handsets improves at a rate of knots, and we all want to watch telly on the go or battle it out at multi-player games from our Nan’s house, we need a network that can keep up.
Enter 4G.
Funnily enough, the name 4G doesn’t actually refer to a particular technology. It’s just a snappier, catch-all name for Long Term Evolution (LTE), the wireless broadband technology that supports roaming internet (other countries have their own wireless network like WiMax in the US).
To qualify as 4G, a network must be able to exchange data at a rate of up to 100Mbps. In comparison, 3G networks are sometimes as slow as 3.84Mbps. So while it’s one small step in Gs, it’s a giant leap for data speeds.
But what do all these numbers mean in real life terms? It means home broadband-like internet speeds on mobile devices. It means you can stream feature films on your phone when you’re out of the house. It means you can turn all those at-home things into on-the-way-home things.
It means things just got a whooole lot quicker. And that is exciting indeed.
So now you know exactly what it is, we want to know what 4G means to you! How will it change your day-to-day life? And what are you hoping to do with your 4G phone that you couldn't do before? Let the community know...
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