What is 4G really?

T-Mobile claims the largest "4G" network in the country. Verizon's launching its "4G" LTE network later this year. And Sprint loves talking about "4G" WiMax. Thing is, none of these networks are actually 4G. Not by a long shot.

Who decides what's 4G?

There's like a bajillion massive, international organizations that jockey for position to dictate a lot of what technology standards look like. When it comes to 3G/4G, there are a few major groups at play:

• The International Telecommunication Union is a United Nations agency that, among other things, sets international standards for telecommunications. This group ultimately decides if a wireless technology is 3G or 4G or, like, 9000G. To be considered 4G, a network technology has to meet a set of specs known as IMT-Advanced.

• 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) is a group of telecom standards bodies that originally got together to develop the technical specs for a 3G network. This group developed the standard for UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications), which GSM carriers use for 3G data transmission. They're also the cats behind LTE, the next-gen wireless network that GSM carriers like AT&T will migrate to. (I highly recommend reading our CDMA vs. GSM primer now if you haven't, BTW.)

• If you've ever bought a router, you're probably familiar with the number 802.11. What that weird string of digits refers to is IEEE 802.11, the set of standards for wireless local area networking, and the working group that defines them. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers does a lot of things, and one of them is set technical standards. What's relevant here is that a subset of these governing geeks, the IEEE 802.16 working group, standardizes Wireless Metropolitan Area networks—what you know better as WiMax.

None of these "4G" networks is really 4G

Right now, every major carrier in the US is touting a "4G" network that's either available or being rolled out. Sprint is pushing WiMax. AT&T and Verizon are pushing LTE (Long-Term Evolution). T-Mobile is pushing HSPA+ (High Speed Packet Access Evolved). They're all faster than the "3G" speeds than we're used to, with WiMax and HSPA+ delivering consistent, real-world speeds of anywhere from 3Mbps-12Mbps today. But a rep for the ITU told me flatly, "The fact is that there are no IMT-Advanced—or 4G—systems available or deployed at this stage." Calling their newer, faster networks "4G" is "completely marketing" by the carriers, says Gartner analyst Phil Hartman.

The ITU has actually just decided which technologies are officially designated as IMT-Advanced—"true 4G technologies" in its eyes—after looking at six candidates. The winners:LTE-Advanced (LTE Release 10)and WirelessMAN-Advanced (aka 802.16m aka WiMax Release 2). In other words, the next versions of today's LTE and WiMax. Despite sharing the names, and being developed by the same groups as their predecessors, the for-serious 4G networks will be "pretty different" at a technical level, says Hartman.

If you think top speeds of 300Mbps for LTE and 72Mbps for WiMax are impressive, true 4G makes them look downright pokey. Today's 4G is "not anywhere near what the 4G experience will be in 10-15 years," says Hartman. You're talking about speeds of "up to a gigabit a second" in a wireless LAN, and 100Mbps for fully mobile applications. In other words, true 4G is a massive leap, not a dainty skip forward. There's also little things, like full capability for voice in LTE-Advanced, which there's no standard for in the current LTE spec.

The goal of true 4G is to create a superfast, incredibly interoperable, basically ubiquitous global networks. What we've got now and in the very near future is pretty good, and definitely better than what we've had. But they're no 4G.

T-Mobile Upgrade 3G Networks

T-Mobile has announced that they're rolling out their super speedy HSPA+ network to over 100 metro areas covering 185 million people in 2010. More than half of that will be complete by the middle of the year. That's aggressive.

HSPA+ is an easier roll out than 4G, because it's overlaid over T-Mobile's existing 3G footprint. It also gets competitive speeds; its 21Mbps is three times what you're used to from current 3G technologies. And in the few regions it's currently available, like Philadelphia, it really does fly. Even better, most current T-Mobile devices are already compatible with HSPA+, meaning that customers won't need to upgrade their smartphone to get an upgraded network experience.

Products that'll get the HSPA+ treatment include a Dell Mini 10 netbook—welcome news, given that it's our favorite of the current crop. It'll only be available in limited markets to start.

There's also the T-Mobile webConnect Rocket USB Laptop Stick, available next week, which is the first HSPA+ stick available from a major carrier.

For phones, there's the Nokia Nuron, and the Cliq XT, and most enticingly the HTC HD2.

There are also plans for personal Hot Spots, although nothing concrete was announced today, and the execs were totally mum on tethering.

T-Mobile to Rollout the Nation's Fastest 3G Wireless Network with HSPA+ to More than 100 Metropolitan Areas in 2010

T-Mobile delivers home broadband-like experiences on-the-go when surfing the Web, accessing multimedia features, sharing content and more

LAS VEGAS and BELLEVUE, Wash. - March 23, 2010 - Today at International CTIA Wireless 2010, T-Mobile USA, Inc., showcased the nation's fastest 3G wireless network on its latest mobile broadband devices. The company unveiled plans to upgrade its national high-speed 3G service to the High Speed Packet Access Plus (HSPA+) technology, which will deliver customers data speeds faster than the current 3G network technology1 . By the end of 2010, T-Mobile expects to have HSPA+ deployed across the breadth of its 3G footprint, covering more than 100 metropolitan areas and 185 million people.

T-Mobile hosted live demonstrations of the home broadband-like HSPA+ data speeds on a variety of products including the new Dell™ Inspiron™ Mini 10 with T-Mobile® webConnect™ - T-Mobile's first netbook - which launches March 24 online and in T-Mobile stores in select markets.2

"Consumers want a mobile broadband experience that's easy and as good as their connection at home on the best wireless devices available," said Neville Ray, senior vice president of engineering and operations for T-Mobile USA. "This year T-Mobile will upgrade its national 3G network to HSPA+ which will support faster speeds and give customers a superior wireless data experience when they access their mobile social network, stream videos or share content. T-Mobile's network is primed to deliver the speeds that today's data users crave."

T-Mobile successfully launched its HSPA+ network service in Philadelphia last fall providing customers access to one of the fastest and most modern wireless networks in the U.S. T-Mobile now has made HSPA+ commercially available in new markets including major areas of New York City, New Jersey, Long Island and suburban Washington, D.C., with deployment in Los Angeles coming very soon.

The company will continue to aggressively expand the availability of HSPA+ in additional 3G markets, putting the necessary backhaul capacity in place to support the very fast speeds. Today, its 3G high-speed data network covers more than 206 million people.

T-Mobile's HSPA+ network is outperforming competing 3G wireless networks with speeds up to three times faster. Blazing fast actual peak download speeds3 were demonstrated today in Las Vegas using both new and current mobile broadband devices, including the T-Mobile webConnect Rocket™ USB Laptop Stick, the first HSPA+ capable device from a national U.S .wireless carrier; the Dell Inspiron Mini 10; the HTC HD2; the Motorola CLIQ XT™ and the T-Mobile myTouch® 3G.

"The webConnect Rocket and Dell Inspiron Mini 10 are the latest mobile broadband products that deliver real customer benefits with faster speeds available today," said Cole Brodman, chief technology and innovation officer for T-Mobile USA. "And the great thing about T-Mobile's 3G network evolution is its backward compatibility - most of our 3G smartphones will deliver a better mobile Web experience. Customers don't have to spend money on a device upgrade, which is a rarity in consumer electronics."

Dell Inspiron Mini 10 with T-Mobile webConnect
T-Mobile's newest mobile broadband product, the Dell Inspiron Mini 10, features built-in access to T-Mobile's 3G network, Windows® 7 - Microsoft Corp.'s latest operating system - and the Intel® Atom™ processor N450 for easy Web surfing, instant messaging, e-mail, social networking, photo sharing and superb multimedia playback in one small, ultra-portable device. The Dell Inspiron Mini 10 is small and lightweight, weighing just three pounds, and its integrated six-cell battery easily provides up to eight hours of continuous usage. The Dell Inspiron Mini 10 also comes preloaded with T-Mobile's webConnect Manager software to help customers manage usage and connections, including connecting to T-Mobile's 3G network, Wi-Fi and access to thousands of T-Mobile HotSpot network locations nationwide.

Pricing and Availability
The Dell Inspiron Mini 10 will be available tomorrow nationwide online at http://www.t-mobile.com and in T-Mobile retail locations in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and Miami for $199.99 with two-year contract and qualifying webConnect data plan.

For more information about T-Mobile's webConnect family of products, including the webConnect Rocket and Dell Inspiron Mini 10, please visit http://www.t-mobile.com/webconnect.

3G coverage is not available everywhere. For more information about T-Mobile's 3G services, mobile broadband products, device features, or the offers and services mentioned, see http://www.t-mobile.com.

T-Mobile Project Dark

We've heard plenty about Project Dark lately, including new unlimited plans, 21Mbps HSPA, and new handsets. The newest rumors, courtesy of Boy Genius Report, are whispers of Rent-A-Center style, contract-free unsubsidized phone purchasing and tiered unlimited plans. Updated.

Obviously T-mobile is attempting to expand their customer base through Project Dark, and part of the approach is to entice customers who would normally be forced to prepay monthly dues as well as full retail for a device:

"Even More Plus" will give those who would otherwise qualify for FlexPay the option to finance a phone. [...] Our sources tell us that the phones will not be subsidized and so there won't be contracts for the devices, which means you pay the full retail price over the course of a set amount of time (up to 20 months is what we're told). Not bad - for a $500 device over that time is just $25/month, as an example.

The next step is offering the "Most Affordable Unlimited Rate Plans" in three flavors:

[U]nlimited voice, unlimited voice and text, and unlimited voice/text/data all priced at $40, $50 and $60, respectively.

All unconfirmed rumors, of course, but moves like this could definitely help T-mobile leap up from fourth place in the Great Battle of the Carriers.

T-Mobile webConnect 3G/Wi-Fi USB Stick Hands-On

T-Mobile's 3G laptop USB sticks are finally here. First off is the speed test. 952kbps down and 318kbps up isn't too bad when you consider that T-Mobile's network is fairly new, and I was connecting from inside my house. The device itself is an L-shaped swivel that can hit up EDGE, 3G (HSDPA/UMTS), or Wi-Fi, if you're on a T-Mobile Hotspot. There's a slot for 8GB of microSD/SDHC memory, and comes with a male to female USB extension cable in order to avoid USB crowding. The only downside now is that it's Windows-only, with OS X support "available in the coming months." It's always good when someone releases a 3G dongle, especially T-Mobile, who can definitely use more.

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