During the past several months, there’s been some high visibility positioning between the large mobile carriers on who has the fastest network. In particular, T-Mobile and AT&T have tried to position themselves as having the “fastest broadband mobile network” or the “America’s largest 4G network” in the marketplace, effectively leveraging the term 4G. This next generation advance over the current capability of 3G download speeds is not only being technically sought after, but also prematurely marketed as well.
Apparently beside the point is the fact that none of the wireless providers, including not only T-Mobile and AT&T, but also Verizon (LTE) and Sprint (WiMax) can deliver the 100 megabits-per-second required download to be considered “4G” by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). However, the ITU does permit the term to be applied to ‘advanced’ 3G networks as the technology continues to be defined (obviously taking a Swiss based neutral approach – they’re located in Geneva after all).

Lenco Mobile
What does this all mean? Well, right now it’s just marketing-based semantics as consumers won’t see an exponential change in service since all of the large operators are only delivering speeds from 3 to 5 times that of their previous 3G networks (think around 20 Mbps). Verizon, however is claiming that its LTE network can deliver speeds ten times faster than its earlier generation. With nearly double the speed advantage, Verizon hopes to be the clear winner at least for this round. Verizon is the number one carrier in the US with more than 93 million subscribers (and is partially owned by Vodafone.)
A more interesting question will be how this affects data pricing plans. Increase speeds will mean that more data will flow through the wireless network plumbing and more traffic means more cost. With mobile apps becoming more complex and, video & gaming consumption on the rise, the requirement for richer experiences (ads included) will only continue to increase. Therefore, we’ve already seen carriers doing away with the unlimited data plans in favor of a tiered pricing structure. AT&T was the first to feel this pain when App usage exploded in 2009. And with rising smartphone ownership contributing compounding the effect, both the debate on what to call it and its necessary growth will continue. To learn more information about how this new technology will affect you, visit Lenco Mobile.