A beginner's guide to 4G mobile services

4G is the name for the next (4th) generation of mobile services that are likely to be heading our way in 2013 and 2014. 

But what are these new standards and what do they mean for consumers?

Well, first and foremost, 4G will mean much faster internet connections for our mobile and wireless devices.  Initially, users will be getting mobile internet speeds  that will be comparable with current home broadband speeds (from 1Mbps up to 12Mbs) but, ultimately, 4G will reach speeds of up to 100Mbps.

This will mean that users will be able to download all types of multimedia content on-the-move: from playing on-line video games, downloading movies (and other large data files) and watching streaming high-definition video content.

The international standards are still being agreed for 4G, but currently there are three different protocols in the mix. These are: WiMAX, LTE & HSPA+.

1. WiMAX
WiMAX stands for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access.  It uses microwave technology to create a network of hotspots (very much like WiFi hotspots) that overlap to minimise black-spots/areas without a signal.  However, because it uses microwaves it has much less interference than WiFi and the range of each WiMAX transmitter can be up to 30miles.

In the US, the carrier Sprint is using WiMAX technology for its 4G services offering download speeds of up to 128Mbps.

2. LTE
LTE stands for Long Term Evolution and is a competitor standard to WiMAX.  It uses radio waves and has been described as more of a 'successor' to the current GSM-based (Global System for Mobile communications) 3G mobile phone networks that we're all used to.  It's called Long Term Evolution as it has been seen as the evolution of both land-line & wireless internet connections.

Verizon's 4G service (again in the US) is based on LTE  offering data transfer speeds of up to 100Mbps.

3. HSPA+
This stands for Evolved High-Speed Packet Access.  In essence this is an extension of the current 3G technology - and so has been dubbed near-4G.  However it's not really a new 4th generation standard.


Now it's argued that the 'battle' between WiMAX and LTE is not really a battle of completely different standards.  Being based on the same OFDM (orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing) there may be opportunities for interoperability between the two systems.  And that would be a good thing from a user perspective - as the last thing users want is the 'gamble' of choosing one technology over another - only to be left backing the wrong horse.

However, as we've seen before with standards - these tend to get branded and badged (think Blu-ray vs HD-DVD) and, ultimately, consumers will select the handsets & tariffs that offer the most from these differing technologies.

The biggest issue will be the speed that the mobile and technology companies roll-out the infrastructure to support 4G.  In the UK the mobile operators are still paying off the £21bn they spent on 3G licences and so are have been slow in moving towards 4G.  Other countries, however, such as the US and Russia.are already rolling out services. 

There's no doubt that wireless internet is the future of an 'always connected' society.  4G will bring the speeds that we're familiar with at home and will mean the creation of new services and business models that weren't previously possible.     

Apple will make NFC mass market with iPhone 5

There has been endless speculation on both the launch date (mid year, end of year?) and features of the next generation iPhone (bigger screen?, better camera?, Sony's involvement?, better resolution?, no home button?, different design?).  But one thing that appears to be pretty certain (well, 80% likely according to Mashable yesterday and Forbes last month) and that's the fact that iPhone 5 will be equipped with NFC technology.

NFC (near-field-communication) is a set of short-range wireless technologies that will allow mobile/handheld devices to communicate over very short distances (ie a couple of centimetres).  This has a great variety of uses - most importantly - allowing the mobile phone to be used as a payment card. Users simply swipe their mobile device over a special reader in-store (in much the same way as an Oyster card or some recent credit/debit card contactless payment systems).  Ultimately, the mobile phone will become a new 'digital wallet' alleviating the need to carry multiple payment or loyalty cards.

NFC is already baked-in to the new version of the Android operating system, Gingerbread, and last December Google launched the world's first NFC enabled phone, the Nexus S.  But despite the fact that NFC is already here it will be Apple's entrance into NFC technology that will make it mainstream.

Why?

Because Apple understands how to sell the benefit of technology not simply its features.  The launch of the iPod is the perfect example of this.  Of course other MP3 players existed beforehand - but iPod effectively made digital music downloads something that people could understand and, most importantly, see the benefit in doing.  And they combined the technology with the fantastic delivery channel that is iTunes.


And so with NFC, where one of the original barriers to its adoption was the lack of a clear technical standard for NFC itself.  However, recently a number of US network providers (Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T) have signed-up to the Isis NFC standard.  This means that as Isis becomes the industry standard the largest barrier remains encouraging payment issuers & retailers to adopt NFC.

This is the kind of deals that brands such as Samsung and Visa are doing.  They announced at the end of March that they will provide NFC payment services for the 2012 Olympics.

And this no doubt will be the focus of Apple's key partnership conversations over the next few months.


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 MacRumors