What the 4G indicator on the iPhone 4S screen really means? It means nothing – Part 2

AT&T was one of the first to criticize T-Mobile’s strategy as the Long Term Evolution or LTE is the nearest to the 4G technology with a substantial increase in the data transfer speed.

Though AT&T has its separate LTE network deployed all over the country, they have eventually started calling their HSPA+ network as 4G, and the new iOS 5.1 has adopted the moniker eventually. This is more like a marketing stunt from AT&T to introduce 4G tech to iPhone family before the launch of 2012 version of the smartphone.

The traditional 3G network works on HSPA technology, the broadband of the wireless system. Then the scientists tweaked the tech to HSPA+ to name it 4G. However, if we take into account the timeline of such evolution, it makes sense to name it 4G but that is all on the discretion of the carrier if they want to such step. Unfortunately, in the US, these carriers have taken the step. The LTE network might be called the true 4G as of yet.

It is still hard to fathom why AT&T has marketed HSPA+ as 4G when it also has LTE network laid all over the US. The reason may be to increase profitability. The company markets its LTE network as 4G LTE. They have even rolled out revised data plans to its unlimited customers, separately for 3G, 4G HSPA+ and 4G LTE.

Following is the excerpt from their brochure that highlights the new plans.

“Customers with a 3G or 4G smartphone–who also still have our unlimited data plan–will see speeds reduced if they use 3GB (gigabytes) of data or more in a billing cycle. Speeds will return to normal at the start of the next billing cycle. For context, less than 5 percent of smartphone customers use more than 3GB per month.

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Posted by Usman Khalid on Mar 13 2012. Filed under Sci-Tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.