Interesting Facts about 4G

4G is the 4th generation network above 3G and below 5G networks. It consists of broadband cellular network technology and provides the capabilities defined by ITU in IMT Advanced. In 2006, the first WiMAX was commercially applied in South Korea, and after that, it was spread in most parts of the world. The first commercial LTE (Long Term Evolution) standard was commercially deployed in Oslo, Norway, and Stockholm in 2009, and to date, it has spread to most parts of the world.

Interesting Facts about 4G

Wide usages: – Support interactive media, video, voice, wireless internet, and other broadband services. There is no limit to features as new features are coming every day and old ones are updated.

Global network: – Global mobility, service portability, and scalable mobile networks. 4G can be used anywhere globally as long as you are registered with an authentic service provider.

Features: – High capacity, high speed, and low cost per bit. Your 4G network can work faster at appropriate places, enabling you to download several contents. 

Techniques: – Better scheduling and call admission control techniques. Recognition of calls is made easy, and therefore there are no delays in connecting the calls. This helps a lot in emergencies. 

Performance: – Seamless switching, variety of services based on Quality of Service (QoS) requirements. 4 G offers full real-time download speeds up to around 100 Mbps.

Types of networks: – Ad hoc networks and multi-hop networks. Both ad hoc and multi-hop networks are robust and seamlessly achieved.

Range of work: – Frequency band of 2-8 GHz. 4G network has a range of wavelengths of about 10 miles. 

Accessibility: – Access to multi-carrier – CDMA or OFDM (TDMA) provides more bandwidth and more incredible speeds.

The bandwidth of operation: – Bandwidth of 5-20 MHz. With higher bandwidths, mobile device operations such as video, messaging, and mobile TV becomes easier. 

Codes implementation: – FEC Concatenated codes. Forward error correction is applied to customers’ information data at the transmit end. Typically, transmit rate range is ½ to 7/8.

Data rating: – Data rate up to 20 Mbps or more. The data rates of 4G LTE for download speed can be up to 150 Mbps, and upload can be 50 Mbps, whereas, for 4G LTE-Advanced, it could be 300 Mbps and 150 Mbps, respectively.

Modes: – Switching packet. In 4G LTE, the entire network uses packet switching with no capability for circuit-switched network support. Hence voice and SMS services are moved over to packet-switched.

High-speed operation: – Mobile top speeds 200 mph. 4G networks are five times faster than previous 3G networks as it offers download speeds of about 14 Mbps.

Communication features: – Machine to machine communication provided. M2M is an automated application that involves devices or machines communicating through a network without human intervention.

Cost of communication: – Affordable communication system through OFDMA and other new technologies such as FDMA, interleaved FDMA, and multi-carrier FDMA.

Range of usability: – High usability any time anywhere and any technology. Due to the faster data transfer speed and accessibility, 4G can be used at any place you visit, and 4G brings broadband to your phone.

Applications: – Easier access to services and applications. 4G can give ultra-high-speed internet access – email, online satellite mapping, multiple video conferencing, and many other applications can be accessed.

Synchronization standards: – Increases the level of use of synchronization. Residential LTE base stations can use PTP/NTP, and NTP is a Network Time Protocol designed to synchronize the clocks of computers and other devices to an available time reference.

Portable service: – Global access services portability and various services provided. Mobile hotspots or wi-fi services are best in giving mobile service. It is straightforward to access the internet with mobile hotspots.

Mobile data traffic: – Though 4G connections are only 3 percent of total mobile connections, they generate 30 percent of all mobile data traffic.

HTC with 4G network: – Verizon, in 2011 offered HTC Thunderbolt in the US was only the second LTE smartphone sold commercially.

4G promotions: – In December 2009, Sprint began promotions of ‘4G’ service in selected cities in the United States through the average download speed then was only 3-6 Mbits/s with peak speeds of 10 Mbits/s.

First LTE deployment: – The first commercial launch of LTE was in Stockholm, Sweden, and Oslo by Swedish-Finnish network operator TeliaSonera and its Norwegian brand name NetCom (Norway). TeliaSonera branded the network ‘4G’. 

Samsung and TeliaSonera: – The modem were manufactured by Samsung (dongle GT-B3710), Huawei and Ericsson created the network infrastructure. TeliaSonera used an exceptional bandwidth of 10 MHz, net bits rate up to 50 Mbits/s, and 25 Mbits/s in the uplink.

Introduction of LTE: – In April 2008, after the circular, the 3GPP conducted a workshop on IMT-Advanced, and in that workshop, it was decided that LTE Advanced, an evolution of current LTE standard, may succeed even IMT-Advanced requirements after the ITU-R agenda.

San Miguel Corporation: – The most prominent food and beverage in southeast Asia, San Miguel Corporation, signed a memorandum of understanding with Qatar Telecom QSC (Qtel) on 15 December 2008 to build mobile communication projects and wireless broadband in the Philippines.

History of IMT and LTE: – In 2002, the strategic plan for 4G was laid out by designating ITU as IMT Advanced, and in 2004, LTE was first suggested by NTT DoCoMo of Japan.

OFDMA technology: – In 2005, OFDMA transmission technology was chosen for HSOPA downlink and was later named 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) air interface E-UTRA. In November 2005, KT Corporation launched a mobile WiMAX service in Busan, South Korea.

Sprint and WiMAX technology: – Sprint announced plans to invest US$5 billion in WiMAX, but they faced a lot of problems that caused the company losses. Sprint then announced the pooling, Google, Imagine, Bright House, Time Warner, and Comcast on average 120 MHz of spectrum.

DoCoMo, Japan: – In February 2007, NTT DoCoMo of Japan conducted a trial of a 4G communication system prototype with 4*4 MIMO at 100 Mbits/s while moving and 1 Gbit/s while stationary. Based on the results, they announced the launch of the first commercial network in 2010.

Federal Communications Commission: – In January 2008 Federal Communications Commission, a US spectrum auction for the 700 MHz started. The most significant share of the spectrum was bagged by Verizon Wireless and the next one to AT&T, both of whom supported LTE.

e-UTRA data rates: – In April 2008, LG and Nortel demonstrated e-UTRA data rates of 50 Mbits/s while traveling at 110 km/h.

Pre 4G network: – In 2011, Argentina’s Claro and Thailand’s Truemove-H launched a pre-4G HSPA+ network with nationwide availability.

Development of LTE: – Since 2009, the LTE standard is only increasing giving rise to many operators on the global platform. You can refer to the ‘List of LTE networks’ to judge the development of LTE standards over the past few years.

A setback of 4G: – For international travelers, it is pretty challenging to get a handset that can match the frequency band and setting for the local enablement to make or receive the 4G voice calls. This needs a specific software update which makes things more difficult.

The information above underlines the importance of the key technologies for 4G, which is Open Wireless Architecture (OWA), supporting multiple wireless air interfaces in an open architecture.

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