{"id":2808,"date":"2011-07-05T17:46:02","date_gmt":"2011-07-05T16:46:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/?p=2808"},"modified":"2011-07-05T21:57:50","modified_gmt":"2011-07-05T20:57:50","slug":"what-exactly-is-a-4g-mobile-data-network","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/07\/what-exactly-is-a-4g-mobile-data-network.htm","title":{"rendered":"What exactly is a 4G mobile data network?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m not a telecoms expert but, every now and again, new technologies come along that cross over into my world. One of those is the evolution of mobile telecommunications networks and there&#8217;s a lot of talk right now about &#8220;4G&#8221;. So what is it all about? Well, I&#8217;m sure there are a lot of detailed technical references available on the &#8216;net but I recently heard <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/technology\/blog\/audio\/2011\/may\/31\/tech-weekly-e3-4g-lte-american-mcgee-audio\">Ben Roome from Nokia-Siemens Networks being interviewed on the Guardian Tech Weekly podcast<\/a> and he gave a quick overview, which I&#8217;ve reproduced here:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>First\u00c2\u00a0generation mobile networks were analogue &#8211; that is to say that the signal could vary, a bit like tuning in to get a (broadcast) radio signal.<\/li>\n<li>Second generation (2G) networks came on stream in the 1990s and used digital signals for communication.<\/li>\n<li>There were various &#8220;interim&#8221; generations (2.5G for example) to try and squeeze more data over networks but the advent of 3G allowed mobile broadband data access, although many 3G handsets still use 2G for voice communications (modern radio networks can handle 2G, 3G and 4G using the same hardware &#8211; all that is required is a software update).<\/li>\n<li>There are different standards for each generation of network, and 4G networks use LTE (Long Term Evolution) or WiMax (since the ITU relaxed standards to allow other technologies than LTE Advanced as LTE was not originally considered a fourth generation network technology but is now regarded as a sufficient improvement over 3G to be called 4G). To achieve duplex transmissions (i.e. send and receive at the same time) channels may be divided by time or spectrum (frequency) &#8211; WiMax uses time division (as do some LTE variants) and was effectively an interim 4G technology that was good for fixed wireless access (i.e. wireless connections, to a fixed location, cf. mobile networks). 4G networks have the potential to offer big improvements in latency (round trip speed between asking for something and getting a response delivered) but high speeds also need a high speed backhaul between cell towers (i.e. the core network). Most backhaul is microwave, but the core architecture does makes a difference and\u00c2\u00a0LTE networks are &#8220;flatter&#8221; (all IP from handset to cloud and back again) so they have simpler routes and improved management (hence improved latency).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Commercial 4G networks are in operation in Germany, with trials in UK. Broadband is a huge driver of economies and society\u00c2\u00a0so coverage requirements may be greater (i.e. 98% in place of 95%) when the UK governement auctions the radio\u00c2\u00a0spectrum next May as 4G is a\u00c2\u00a0technology that can genuinely offer universal access. The UK <a href=\"http:\/\/4gwirelessbroadbandtrial.co.uk\/\">4G trial in Cornwall<\/a> is intended to see if 4G offers an alternative to fixed line broadband. Fixed lines currently averages 6.4Mbps, with 3G offering 1.6Mpbs &#8211; so the question is &#8220;can 4G beat offerings and offer a solution for people in areas with poor copper infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p>Whilst the increased coverage requirements may mean that less money is raised by the spectrum auction, Ben Roome commented that those countries who are leading the world in this area make the most of the infrastructure with &#8220;beauty contests&#8221; for spectrum rather than charging. The UK has gone down the charging route &#8211; hopefully that doesn&#8217;t mean that we&#8217;ll all have to pay too much in years to come for something that people really value.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m not a telecoms expert but, every now and again, new technologies come along that cross over into my world. One of those is the evolution of mobile telecommunications networks and there&#8217;s a lot of talk right now about &#8220;4G&#8221;. So what is it all about? Well, I&#8217;m sure there are a lot of detailed &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/07\/what-exactly-is-a-4g-mobile-data-network.htm\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">What exactly is a 4G mobile data network?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[218],"tags":[255,256,257,258,253,18,254],"class_list":["post-2808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-2g","tag-3g","tag-4g","tag-broadband","tag-lte","tag-mobility","tag-wimax"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What exactly is a 4G mobile data network? - markwilson.it<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/07\/what-exactly-is-a-4g-mobile-data-network.htm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What exactly is a 4G mobile data network? - markwilson.it\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I&#8217;m not a telecoms expert but, every now and again, new technologies come along that cross over into my world. 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After the inevitable traffic chaos will\u00a0come the\u00a0cries from teenagers who can't get on the Internet. And from one or two adults too. This\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/topic\/technology"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1733,"url":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2010\/03\/5-bar-vodafone-3g-reception-with-sure-signal-eventually.htm","url_meta":{"origin":2808,"position":1},"title":"5 bar Vodafone 3G reception with Sure Signal&#8230; eventually","author":"Mark Wilson","date":"Wednesday 24 March 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Where I live, the mobile phone reception can be a little... patchy... at times.\u00c2\u00a0 Vodafone and O2 are okay, as long as I stay upstairs and away from all of the electrical interference in my home office (not too helpful when I'm working!) but for Orange I have to go\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"ADSL\"","block_context":{"text":"ADSL","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/tag\/adsl"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3556,"url":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/10\/as-amazon-fuels-the-fire-where-are-the-networks-to-deliver-our-content.htm","url_meta":{"origin":2808,"position":2},"title":"As Amazon fuels the fire, where are the networks to deliver our content?","author":"Mark Wilson","date":"Tuesday 4 October 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week saw\u00a0Amazon's announcement of the Kindle Fire\u00a0- a new tablet computer which marks the\u00a0bookstore-turned-online-warehouse-turned-cloud-infrastructure-provider's latest skirmish into the world of content provision and consumption. It's not going to be available in the UK and Ireland for a while (some of the supporting services don't yet exist here) but many\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/topic\/technology"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6675,"url":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2016\/11\/follow-me-calls-with-skype-for-business.htm","url_meta":{"origin":2808,"position":3},"title":"Follow-me calls with Skype for Business","author":"Mark Wilson","date":"Monday 21 November 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"18 months ago, I joined the team at risual - and I've been meaning to write this blog post since, well, since just about the time I joined the team at risual! In previous roles, I've used a mish-mash of communications systems that, despite the claims of Cisco et al\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/topic\/technology"},"img":{"alt_text":"Example call path using Skype for Business","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/images\/skype-diverts.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/images\/skype-diverts.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/images\/skype-diverts.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/images\/skype-diverts.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8302,"url":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2021\/06\/weeknote-22-2021-by-the-sea.htm","url_meta":{"origin":2808,"position":4},"title":"Weeknote 22\/2021: By the sea","author":"Mark Wilson","date":"Tuesday 8 June 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week, I was on a family holiday - and the sun shone too. And, for the record, it's still a holiday even if you don't go abroad. It's only a staycation if you stay in your own home. Connectivity Sadly, I've been strugging with mobile connectivity recently. I finally\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/topic\/technology"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2526,"url":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/04\/trouble-with-mobile-telcos.htm","url_meta":{"origin":2808,"position":5},"title":"Trouble with (mobile) telcos","author":"Mark Wilson","date":"Tuesday 19 April 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I wanted to start this post by asking \"How can you tell if a mobile phone salesman is lying? Because his lips move!\" but I'm slightly concerned that might be slanderous, or libellous, or something - so let me just say that I'm talking about a hypothetical salesman and it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Mobility\"","block_context":{"text":"Mobility","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/tag\/mobility"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2808"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2844,"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2808\/revisions\/2844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}