Thursday 12 April 2012

What is 4G (fourth-generation wireless)? (Part 1)

What is 4G?

In telecommunications, 4G is the fourth generation of cell phone mobile communications standards. It is a successor of the third generation (3G) standards. A 4G system provides mobile ultra-broadband Internet access, for example to laptops with USB wireless modems, to smartphones, and to other mobile devices.
4G, known as the ultra-broadband allows mobile phone users to surf the Internet, video conference and download music, video, IP telephony, gaming services, high-definition mobile TV, 3D television and other content at a rate several times faster than 3G services that are still being rolled out across the country.
A successor to the 3G and 2G families, 4G is expected to be five times quicker than 3G service.

4G in India

Analysts say India's rural areas offer huge market potential but erecting infrastructure to support high-speed networks will be costly, making urban areas the immediate battlegrounds for customers.
Mittal said that the TD-LTE (Long Term Evolution) technology adopted by Airtel would be the platform for future broadband revolution.
"We hope that this technology would be emulated and followed by those who got Braodband Wireless Access (BWA) licenses," he said at the launch event.

Where You Get A 4G?

Bharti managed to win 4G spectrum in just four of India's 22 telecoms zones in the auction, paying Rs 3,314 crore for spectrum in the 
Maharashtra, 
Karnataka, 
Kolkata and 
Punjab zones.
After Kolkata Airtel will be launching 4G in Bangalore this month followed by Pune and in Chandigarh.
The network for rolling out Airtel's 4G LTE services in the city had been built by Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE. Airtel is the first mobile operator to launch 4G services in the country. Bharti Airtel has already awarded the contract for building and operating its 4G network in Maharashtra to Nokia Siemens Networks.

4G Cost ?

The cost of the 4G USIM  will be Rs. 49 and airtel 4G dongle will be priced at Rs7999 indoor wifi CPE @ Rs. 7750.As an Intro offer for postpaid 999 users will get discount of Rs. 167 per bill for 6 months and 1399 users will get discount of Rs. 466 per bill for 6months and there will be no 4G smartphone as of now.

Challenges

As coverage of LTE in India is expected to be poor at this stage, smartphones will not do good. Even if only 3G & 4G compatiable phones are offered it will not do good as no operators has pan India 3G spectrum and 3G coverage is still poor. Also TD-LTE requires more power than FDD-LTE. So tablets and dongles are the safe bet right now. Dongles must be multimode (2G/CDMA/3G/LTE) supported.
 

Comparison of Mobile Internet Access methods

Common
Name
Family Primary Use Radio Tech Downstream
(Mbit/s)
Upstream
(Mbit/s)
Notes
HSPA+ 3GPP Used in 4G CDMA/FDD
MIMO
21
42
84
672
5.8
11.5
22
168
HSPA+ is widely deployed. Revision 11 of the 3GPP states that HSPA+ is expected to have a throughput capacity of 672 Mbps.
LTE 3GPP General 4G OFDMA/MIMO/SC-FDMA 100 Cat3
150 Cat4
300 Cat5
(in 20 MHz FDD)
50 Cat3/4
75 Cat5
(in 20 MHz FDD)
LTE-Advanced update expected to offer peak rates up to 1 Gbit/s fixed speeds and 100 Mb/s to mobile users.

Part 2: 4G Supported Devices.

Free Hosting

Free Hosting