3G phone vs. 4G phone

Phylactery

Phylactery

New Member
I can't remember having to change out my network card every time I increased the speed my internet.

However, that is the case with phones.

I'm no telemcommunications engineer but if I was a bettin man, limiting phones to not be able to pick up the newer speeds is more of a marketing move then a hardware limitation of the phone.

Does anybody know?
 
it depends really. some phones may not get an advantage from 4G (I'm guessing that's really HSUPA? What i use for mobile broadband, i get lan speeds too. ~6MBPS) but newer ones might. It all depends on the hardware.

Altough, 3G and 4G are both on the phone network. I call marketing gimmick.
 
Phylactery said:
I can't remember having to change out my network card every time I increased the speed my internet.

However, that is the case with phones.

I'm no telemcommunications engineer but if I was a bettin man, limiting phones to not be able to pick up the newer speeds is more of a marketing move then a hardware limitation of the phone.

Does anybody know?
Click to expand...

While I have no doubt that cell phone manufactures and carriers do this, limit features on phones to make the next generation of that phone more desirable, I think that in this particular instance that is not what they are doing. Incorporating a technology that is still in development into a phone in order to future proof it seems like it could go very wrong. A good example of this is when companies started manufacturing 802.11n routers and NICs before it had been standardized, and the result was compatibility issues between the network devices. If cell phone manufactures started adding 4G capability to phones before the technology is completely finished, then it is very possible that whatever technology they implement in the phone is incompatible when whatever technology the carrier decides to roll out with. The result would be a higher development and manufacturing cost with no benefit.

linkin said:
it depends really. some phones may not get an advantage from 4G (I'm guessing that's really HSUPA? What i use for mobile broadband, i get lan speeds too. ~6MBPS) but newer ones might. It all depends on the hardware.

Altough, 3G and 4G are both on the phone network. I call marketing gimmick.
Click to expand...

HSUPA is simply 3G for uploading data. The previous two generations of iPhone only had HSDPA which supported download speeds of up to 7.2Mbps, but relied on older technology for uploads which only supported 384kbps. The new iPhone with HSUPA supports upload speeds of up to 5.78Mbps.

Also, for the record, no cell phone carrier in the US has implemented any sort of 4G data service as of yet. Sprint has WiMAX which they are calling 4G, however it is not true 4G as defined by the Telecommunications Standardization Sector, and does not have anywhere near to speed and features of the current real 4G technologies in development. We are going to see a round of improved 3G technologies, probably branded as 4G, released by all of the carriers before we see any real 4G.
 
Only Sprint has 4G, AT&T and Verizon are working on an LTE network (their version of 4G).

Most phones were designed before 4G was released, and even the ones that weren't, most phones won't be able to take advantage of 4G speeds unless they are smartphones.
 
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