Call it "3G" or "4G," America's networks are still slow

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Call it "3G" or "4G," America's wireless networks are still slow Increase text size By James Losey and Chiehyu Li | Last updated: 2 months ago Reduce text size Print this story If you've followed broadband discussions in Washington, DC, then you've heard that wireless is Leave a comment (94) the future of communications. The National http://arst.ch/o91 Broadband Plan offers wireless as the competitive solution to the broadband duopoly dilemma, and in the recently released White House Wireless Innovation and Infrastructure Initiative, President Obama reiterated his State of the Union commitment to helping “extend next-generation wireless services to at least 98% of Americans.”

If you watch TV, you might think this is a good thing. The whole country is moving to 4G—next generation wireless—and according to some carriers, this is our chance to beat the world in broadband. For Obama, it's a chance to Win the Future.

It will certainly help us win a future—but if this, as Obama said, is our "Sputnik moment," we are not reaching for the moon.

Defining "4G"

Trying to understand 4G can give you a bit of a headache. Some surveys show that most Americans have no idea what the term “4G” means, but many plan to upgrade anyway. It’s faster—and at times more expensive—but will the technology bring us up to the same speed as other countries? LATEST TOP STORIES

Driving adoption of next-generation technology is essential for America’s communications to catch up with the rest of the world; our broadband networks, by most standards, stand in the middle of the pack on speed. However, the wireless upgrade path is not as straight as one might assume. A "Rube Goldberg theory of regulation": Net neutrality hearing gets testy The problem comes down to what “4G” really means. The buzzwords flying around the US mobile space are Long Term Evolution (LTE), HSPA+ and WiMAX. However, before this past December, the International Climate change cuts a France's worth of Union (ITU), the global standards-setting body responsible for ensuring some level of wheat out of global agriculture interoperability in mobile communications, had set the 4G standard as LTE Advanced—technology that is not Apple planning easier upgrades for iOS, expected to be deployed until 2012 at the earliest. Mac OS X

That month the ITU updated their policy, saying that "'4G,' although it is recognized that this term [is] Stopped they must be: warzones in Star undefined, may also be applied to the forerunners of these technologies, LTE and WiMAX, and to other Wars: The Old Republic evolved 3G technologies providing a substantial level of improvement in performance and capabilities with respect to the initial third generation systems now deployed.” Meet DOCSIS, Part 1: the unsung hero of high-speed cable access

In other words, the term 4G can be applied to LTE and WiMAX, the leading technologies currently rolling out Anonymous: Sony is incompetent (and in the US and globally—even though they are technically still 3G or (in marketing speak) 3.9G HSPA+, we don't steal credit cards) which might otherwise be more accurately defined as 3.5G. Barnes & Noble SEC filing reveals plans Getting beat abroad for new e-reader soon Everyone drops, everyone fights: Section Comparing wireless networks globally on the basis of 4G can be like comparing apples and oranges—while 8: Prejudice on PC 3G begets 4G, not all 4G is created equal. The real leap forward for next-generation deployments is defined not so much by technology but by speeds. Certainly, in this context, the 4G-branded service available in the Pandora: now with George Carlin United States does not compete with 4G service offered elsewhere. Papers 2: your new best OS X research management app? That's not to say wireless speeds in the United States aren't improving; indeed, they are beginning to match the speeds of lower-end broadband connections. Verizon, claiming the “Fastest, most advanced 4G network Zeroing in on efficient thermoelectric

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/02/the-wireless-generation-gap-america-in-the-slow-lane.ars[5/5/2011 5:03:20 PM] Call it "3G" or "4G," America's wireless networks are still slow

in America,” is rolling out LTE offering up to 5-12 Mbps download speeds. AT&T also claims the title of power “Fastest network” with two layers of HSPA+ and LTE. Sprint’s WiMAX network is slightly slower at 3-6 Mbps. T-Mobile has focused on HSPA+, claiming peaks of 21Mbps, although speeds realized Transistors go 3D as Intel re-invents the by users are considerably slower and T-Mobile is pushing for the claim of largest, not fastest, network. microchip CNET sued over LimeWire, blamed for While these speeds do bring next-generation mobile broadband up to the standard of wireline broadband "Internet Piracy Phenomenon" connections, the FCC found that the average wired broadband speed is between 3 and 4 Mbps. Our past research has shown that broadband in the United States is slower and pricier than service in other Microsoft tries luring iOS devs as developed countries. This gap in speeds persists with the move to 4G . Windows Phone 7 dev interest falters

Minute webOS , HP Veer 4G, For example, TeliaSonera rolled out LTE services in major Nordic and Baltic countries including Denmark, to launch on AT&T May 15 Estonia, Finland, Norway and Sweden last year with speeds that blow US 4G offerings out of the water: “In normal circumstances, the average download speed is 20-80 Mbit/s.” German mobile provider Vodafone is offering LTE service with 7Mbps speeds on the low end while also offering downloads up to 50Mbps on Disable Facebook on Ars more expensive plans.

Asian countries have made great progress in launching 4G services since 2006, including LTE and WiMAX in Japan and Taiwan. NTT DoCoMo, a Japanese major mobile service provider, launched an LTE mobile service called “Xi” in November 2010. In its coverage area of five major cities, Xi boasts maximum downlink speeds of 37Mbps.

Taiwan is also ahead of the US in 4G speeds. Mobile provider VMAX began WiMax service offering a maximum speed of 16Mbps down and 4Mbps up in Taipei City.

We can do better

President Obama threw down the gauntlet with his “Sputnik Moment” rhetoric in the State of the Union speech. The comment implicitly referenced the missile gaps and past technological races of yesteryear, but the White House Wireless Innovation and Infrastructure Initiative may fall short of those heady days of innovation.

For instance, the goal of 98 percent of American’s receiving 4G speeds may have already been met, if one believes the carrier estimates. AT&T says that it has “completed its deployment of HSPA+ to virtually 100 DON'T MISS: PROMOS & INSIGHT percent of its mobile broadband network” and it claims that 300 million people are covered. Those engaged in the effort to free up an additional 500MHz of spectrum, as the National Broadband Plan recommends, must recognize the value of connectivity through unlicensed spectrum with nearly 40 percent of smartphone connectivity through unlicensed WiFi.

By definition, a 4G roll-out alone does not bring America up to speed. The ITU has applied the term to describe capable technology but it does not define the actual service received by the consumer. Services Promo: Ars answers your burning branded 4G in the US meet the unambitious National Broadband Plan universalization goals, but they are tech questions not next-generation services when compared to speeds in other countries. Our mobile communications will suffer from a generation gap—whether the technology is called "4G" or not.

James Losey is a Policy Analyst and Chiehyu Li is a Program Associate, both with the New America Job.Ars: looking for a new job? Foundation’s Open Technology Initiative. The opinions expressed in this op-ed do not necessarily represent those of Ars Technica. Web Technology Lead at MaRS Discovery District Toronto

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