T-Mobile commits to 4G

Posted November 6, 2008 at 09:16 AM by Shawn Ingram

Section: Communications, Cellphones, Mobile

Is your G1’s 3G connection just a bit too slow for you?  7.2 Mbps moving at seemingly dial-up speeds?  T-Mobile has you covered—in at least 2 years, maybe more.  T-Mobile has announced that it will be skipping HSPA+ to go straight to 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE).  In the meantime, T-Mobile will upgrade the software to go up to 14.4 Mbps.

Okay, 4G LTE sounds impressive.  That’s 1 more G than the iPhone has, but that doesn’t mean anything unless you know what it can do.  According to a Sepember article from Reuters, when T-Mobile tested the network in a moving car on a German highway, it was able to get 170 Mbps for downloads and 50 Mbps for uploads.  To put that into perspective, the fastest I can get out of my FiOS line is 20 Mbps download and 5 Mbps upload.  Needless to say, that’s quite an upgrade.

One question about the upgrade is are we willing to wait that long for faster mobile internet?  I’d say yes.  Granted, I have yet to use a smart phone besides playing around with them at stores wishing to own one, so I don’t know how excruciating the networks can be now.  Plus, with Wi-Fi in a lot of areas, and WiMAX being rolled out in cities, a few years won’t seem that bad.  I’m sure when I finally pick up an Android phone, that will all change, but for now, T-Mobile can wait at 14.4 Mbps when that comes and then upgrade to LTE as soon as possible.

Read [Electronista]