Apple in Talks with Korea's SK Telecom for iPhone Supporting Faster LTE-Advanced Networks

[nviz22]

I feel like this is a necessary step because Samsung is already working on an LTE Advanced Galaxy S4. The tech will be here in like 2015 probably. It is beneficial for the consumers that sign 2 yr contracts to get LTE-A phones to keep up with speed boosts 2 yrs from now. I doubt the 5S will have it since it probably is in mass production right now.

 

[rmwebs]

Glad this is happening, however if its anything like the LTE rollout the UK wont see it for another 5 years.

Currently our only LTE provider ('Everything Everywhere' aka Orange & T-Mobile merged) is for idiots who are happy to pay around £40 a month for 500mb of data.

In contrast I'm with 'Three' and get unlimited (inc. tethering) 3G data for £25 a month, with their LTE rollout not due till the end of 2013 at the earliest, and even then its a slow rollout in key cities only to begin with.

I'm happy with 3G personally. I get solid 15mbps speeds around town. I'd rather they get a stable ~15mbps speed across the country (including rural areas) than spend more on faster speeds in a few areas.

 

[milan03]

There are so many inconsistencies in this article, and MacRumors doesn't really help much.

For instance:

"LTE-A supports a theoretical maximum download speed of 150 Mbps, twice as fast as the LTE standard used on the iPhone 5, although real-world speeds are in general significantly slower than theoretical maximums."

Firstly, it's not really LTE-A, it's really a Category 4 radio that Qualcomm is deploying. It does support Carrier Aggregation, but only 2x10Mhz + 2x10Mhz channels so the peak speeds are 150Mbs, the same as a single 2x20Mhz channels configuration.
Having two frequency paths in CA will drain the battery much more than 2x20Mhz on a single frequency band. Verizon is deploying 2x20Mhz in AWS (Band 4) in metro areas like NYC, and 150Mbps will be easily achievable without Carrier Aggregation. It should be live in a matter of weeks.

Secondly, this isn't "twice as fast" as the iPhone 5, since the iPhone 5 had Category 3 radio, capable of 100Mbps down and 50Mhz up. So it's 50% faster, not twice as fast.

You may wanna change your stuff there...

 

[bushido]

so you can burn through your meager 3GB in under 3 minutes??
When will the carriers understand that $10/GB for wireless data is the biggest bottleneck for most consumers??

3GB? try 200mb and stuck with 2 bars of edge half the time

 

[mikeheenan]

Unlimited data plan

Well if you're in the US and assuming this tech comes to the US, the only carrier that doesn't throttle on "unlimited" plans is Tmobile. ATT throttles after 5GB for grandfathered plans such as mine, but I'm not sure about Verizon's plan. Also, none of the US telco's offer unlimited anymore except for Tmobile and Sprint, but everywhere I read, Sprint's speeds are pretty horrendous, so one would assume they'd be equally as bad on the new tech.

 

[dugbug]

And they're standard essential too.

Which is why they have no impact. Qualcomm buys the licenses for its chips. You know about patent exhaustion?

 

[thundersteele]

Might be South Korean specific, a big finger to Samsung from Apple

The Galaxy S4 is already running on LTE-Advanced in SK...

 

[palmharbor]

Forgotten

All this speed is speed for the sake of more speed.
No money is being spent by any of the carriers to make
their VOICE system more reliable. Like twenty years ago
we still get dropped calls...no service etc.
The cell phone manufactures have forgotten we use this device to actually
talk to someone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Gasu E.]

All this speed is speed for the sake of more speed.
No money is being spent by any of the carriers to make
their VOICE system more reliable. Like twenty years ago
we still get dropped calls...no service etc.
The cell phone manufactures have forgotten we use this device to actually
talk to someone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A bold statement indeed.

 

[donutbagel]

Would this only be useful in South Korea for now, or is this something the US already has infrastructure for?

----------

All this speed is speed for the sake of more speed.
No money is being spent by any of the carriers to make
their VOICE system more reliable. Like twenty years ago
we still get dropped calls...no service etc.
The cell phone manufactures have forgotten we use this device to actually
talk to someone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's not a waste in S. Korea. You need that kind of speed for Starcraft 2.
Seriously though, I agree. I can never understand what people are saying without asking them to repeat.

 

[tongxinshe]

All this speed is speed for the sake of more speed.
No money is being spent by any of the carriers to make
their VOICE system more reliable. Like twenty years ago
we still get dropped calls...no service etc.
The cell phone manufactures have forgotten we use this device to actually
talk to someone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After over 5 years, there are still people like you don't get it -- these smartphones are designed to be more of an extremely portable computer than of a phone.

 

[zmanfx]

I don't care about peak speeds. Just give me 15, maybe 20 Mbit/s EVERYWHERE, and I'll be very happy.

I've gotten up to 30Mbps several times with Verizon in West LA. But lately it's not nearly that good. Still approaches 20Mbps from time to time.

 

[flux73]

SK Telecom has 50-51% market share in South Korea, so this would be a pretty big deal if it happens.

I'm expecting a NTT DoCoMo deal before the end of the year as well. At the end of 2012, they released a statement that they had lost over 40k subscribers to Softbank and KDDI in the final quarter because they didn't have the iPhone 5.

China Mobile will be the big contract that will catch Wall Street's attention.

 

[mrial]

All this speed is speed for the sake of more speed.
No money is being spent by any of the carriers to make
their VOICE system more reliable. Like twenty years ago
we still get dropped calls...no service etc.
The cell phone manufactures have forgotten we use this device to actually
talk to someone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

seriously ... cells call coverage and quality has gotten much better over the years. Soon HD voice will be rolled out (already on some hacked phones).

Get yourself a good flip phone and be done with it.

 

[chrmjenkins]

Which is why they have no impact. Qualcomm buys the licenses for its chips. You know about patent exhaustion?

Unfortunately that's not been a given in patent cases so far. Apple has been in court over these FRAND issues and it has come down to fair rates, not whether Apple has to license it.

 

[Chazz08]

With the speeds I was getting when visiting Texas, hey need to get LTE-A! And this was in AT&T's backyard! My 3G here in the Middle East was faster than the LTE in Texas. (I won't say all of America. I've heard of awesome speeds.)

 

[kas23]

Apple will not be putting an LTE-A chip in the 5S. Just look at the history of iPhone 3G and LTE adoption. These two were amongst the last to the market. Unless Apple decides to drastically change their habits and iPhone roadmap, which may be happening considering the changes to iOS 7, there is really nothing to discuss with this "rumor".

 

[WhiteIphone5]

Lol oh boy, sprint got a lot of catching up to do.

 

[nick_elt]

so you can burn through your meager 3GB in under 3 minutes??
When will the carriers understand that $10/GB for wireless data is the biggest bottleneck for most consumers??

unlimited data is no uncommon outside the states

 

[macs4nw]

The only hardware upgrade the 5S can have that will make me get it is not a faster LTE chip, but 'The One' LTE chip to rule them all. I want to buy one iPhone and hop between any US carrier and hopefully international that I please. Supposedly there is a Qualcomm chip that brings this close to reality and in my opinion when we see multiple colors of iPhones then this chip is inside. I doubt Apple will spread its supply chain across three variations (color, capacity, and carrier).

There is no technical reason why such a chip can't be made today. It's the carriers, who like you to be locked into their plans, who are standing in the way of such a universally usable phone, by way of threatening withdrawal of subsidies, money they have to put up front, and recoup over two years. I believe that eventually such 'universal' phones will prevail.

.....When will the carriers understand that $10/GB for wireless data is the biggest bottleneck for most consumers??

The problem is, the current infrastructure can not support unlimited bandwidth for everyone who wants it, so until major network upgrades take place, no matter how much we despise them for it, they really don't have much choice.

 

[Menel]

Apple will not be putting an LTE-A chip in the 5S. Just look at the history of iPhone 3G and LTE adoption. These two were amongst the last to the market. Unless Apple decides to drastically change their habits and iPhone roadmap, which may be happening considering the changes to iOS 7, there is really nothing to discuss with this "rumor".

They'll do it if chip specs are right, if it makes consumers happy, is cost, power, and space efficient. They will launch it.

LTE chips at the time of 4S were battery hogs.

 

[KimJongEun]

Well if you're in the US and assuming this tech comes to the US, the only carrier that doesn't throttle on "unlimited" plans is Tmobile. ATT throttles after 5GB for grandfathered plans such as mine, but I'm not sure about Verizon's plan. Also, none of the US telco's offer unlimited anymore except for Tmobile and Sprint, but everywhere I read, Sprint's speeds are pretty horrendous, so one would assume they'd be equally as bad on the new tech.

I live in South Korea

 

[theOtherGeoff]

Rather see this bandwidth for higher data plan sizes than stupidly fast rates.

I don't need my LTE to be faster than my home WiFi, if I only get 2GB a month ...

your home wifi needs to be connected to something.... and for most people, they are paying $70+ a month for cable+internet.

Consider this: If you can get 'TV Content', Internet, wireless data, and unlimited calling, all for $100/month, would you drop your Cable TV/Internet, and drop a Mifi box in your domicile?

Why? the mashup of Moore's/Metcalfe's Laws is that the cost of bits in motion between two nodes halves every XX months. You'll either get 2X the data in speed or volume at the same price.

so I figure in 3 years, you'll get 20mb/s (2x top end HSPA+ 'real' speeds) data at 1/2 the current price with the same limits as today, or 4X (40mb/s real speeds.... remember the backhaul has to keep up with the bandwidth and the congestion) at the same price.

So in 3 years, you'll start seeing that enter into the competition (in the US), as soon as someone (Verizon, ATT) sees Sprint as a Serious Competitor. Once there is a universal LTE-A iPhone, the cost of moving becomes even lower.

40mbps.... that's pretty spiffy fast. fast enough to consider a $100/month unlimited data contract for my phone, iPad, and a 'mifi' box, and cut the cableTV cord that is costing me $90 a month, on top of my current ATT contract.

So... The key is to consider the 'cut the cable' people, because at that point... wireless providers are in direct competition with cable/DSL companies. In most markets, ATT/Verizon would be in direct competition with comcast, charter, etc. with the presence of a mifi device in the home.

Which will make iTunes, NetFlix, etc. become crazy hot commodities.

3 years... Look for the long game.

----------

With the speeds I was getting when visiting Texas, hey need to get LTE-A! And this was in AT&T's backyard! My 3G here in the Middle East was faster than the LTE in Texas. (I won't say all of America. I've heard of awesome speeds.)

2 words: Backhaul network.

ATT's internal network to Internet is choked, as that's that last thing they build out (more towers, LTE on the towers, bigger pipes to their Internet Exchange.... then and only then connect bigger pipes from these towers to the Internet Exchange). In Minneapolis, it took 2 years to get 3G to work at all at 3-5pm downtown. The choke point was it's intertower backhaul network. It was almost comical.

 

[ConCat]

The UK hasn't even really got LTE yet.

Loving it here in the states. Most of the major cities have it at this point. I even got LTE out in the middle of nowhere once... I suppose there must have been something there I didn't know about for there to be LTE service though. Still, service is booming.