But the IMT-Advanced requirements go further than asking for the network to be IP-based.
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AT&T Looking to Add '4G' Network Indicator to iPhone 4S Status Bar
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But the IMT-Advanced requirements go further than asking for the network to be IP-based.
I was simply responding to your point that they asked for something aside from speed. I haven't read the requirements in a while so I don't remember everything they entail.
Looks like AT&T has already decided what is and isn't 4G. I think carriers should be required to advertise data speeds as peak and typical throughput in Mbps. That would clear up a lot of the confusion and help foster competition through consumer discretion.
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No absolutely just no no no...The iPhone did not receive any of these other bogus "half way" indicators like 3.5G, 3.75G, 2.75G whatever. Keep it "º" for GPRS/1xRTT, "E" for EDGE aka EGPRS, and 3G for CDMA2000 EvDO/WCDMA..yes HSPA+ is STILL WCDMA. You can use "4G" or "LTE" in the status bar when the phone supports the appropriate technology...not when your an eager whore for stupid marketing terms you choose to use because you don't have the $$$$$$$$$$$$$ to light up a full blown LTE network over night...
Agreed 100%. Back when EDGE was the highest GSM data service offered physically even when the iPhone was out many Blackberry users were happy with the speeds...even just a few years ago AT&T's 3G footprint was considered a "luxury" while Verizons was "a given"...I think Verizon should have done what Bell/Telus did up north and switch to a full blown HSPA+ network from CDMA2000 to cut losses before LTE came out....they would have ruined sprint, T-mo, and other guys in the process too.
Thought the "G" was just for "generation"? Theoretically then they could call any new update to their data network a new generation. Once Att, Verizon, and Sprint upgrade completely to the new LTE infrastructure, I can see them start calling that "5G".
ATT is confusing the type of network with speed. Thus, opening up many layers of confusion with customers. 3G and 4G LTE specify a type of network connectivity as well as a standard. Thus, you shouldn't be able to say that you're 4G or 4G LTE when your network connectivity is really HSPA+. If I was Apple, I would deny the use of 4G or LTE just because HSPA+ has similar speed to that of 4G or 4G LTE on ATT. However, I wish that Apple goes with using H+ or HSPA+ to specify the network connectivity.
Simply put; AT&T (among others) are eager for competition notably with Verizon and are desperate to get a 2 letter word to "impress" there customers. Basically AT&T is like "oh its 8 inches alright 
" while Verizon is like "No stop lying to yourself". If you don't get the comparison please don't ask that's borderline inapropriate but I think it gets the idea across. AT&T should stop wasting there time trying to make something bigger than it actually is.
" while Verizon is like "No stop lying to yourself". If you don't get the comparison please don't ask that's borderline inapropriate but I think it gets the idea across. AT&T should stop wasting there time trying to make something bigger than it actually is.statement from the blog of ATT's CTO.
what he says is true and they are careful to label their HSPA+ not LTE, per se, but an evolutionary process on the way to LTE.
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More Than One Acronym for Speed
John Donovan
December 01, 2010
In their haste to build LTE networks, some wireless service providers are stinging from their decision not to update their current networks. They have just one way to spell speed, and its LTE.
Theyll tell you that data is the primary mode of mobile communication today, and speed matters.
We agree.
Theyll tell you that LTE is the path to data speed.
Wed agree again, but with some important details that they tend to leave out.
We know about speed. We have the nations fastest mobile broadband network. Our largest competitors wireless network is 60 percent slower on average nationally. The closest competitor is 20 percent slower.
We also know that the best mobile broadband experience is based on consistent speed. Weve delivered five mobile broadband speed upgrades in recent years, including our HSPA+ deployment.
Our HSPA+ network and upgraded backhaul is expected to deliver speed performance similar to initial LTE deployments. That matters, because when we begin commercial deployment of LTE in mid 2011, customers on our LTE network will be able to fall back to HSPA+. As they do, theyll receive a more consistent mobile broadband experience that supports simultaneous voice and data connections and higher speeds than the others can provide outside their LTE footprint.
Customers of carriers who chose not to upgrade their current networks will move in and out of LTE coverage areas as well. But as they do, theyll experience a jarring speed degradation. If theyre online and on the phone when they move to sites that dont support simultaneous voice and data connections, theyll drop one of those connections. And if theyre watching video, its not going to be pretty
More than half of our customers use simultaneous voice and data regularly. Three in four told us that a consistently good speed experience is very important to them. Our technology path forward meets those needs and is the best path to delivering a consistently good broadband experience.
Its not sufficiently appreciated that LTE stands for Long Term Evolution. It will take a long time for LTE to be deployed broadly.
As carriers LTE footprints expand in coming years, the speed of todays networks cant be ignored because theyll play a big part in delivering the mobile Internet well into the future. To serve customers well to give them a great mobile broadband experience were making our fastest network even faster as we transition to LTE.
end quote
what he says is true and they are careful to label their HSPA+ not LTE, per se, but an evolutionary process on the way to LTE.
quote
More Than One Acronym for Speed
John Donovan
December 01, 2010
In their haste to build LTE networks, some wireless service providers are stinging from their decision not to update their current networks. They have just one way to spell speed, and its LTE.
Theyll tell you that data is the primary mode of mobile communication today, and speed matters.
We agree.
Theyll tell you that LTE is the path to data speed.
Wed agree again, but with some important details that they tend to leave out.
We know about speed. We have the nations fastest mobile broadband network. Our largest competitors wireless network is 60 percent slower on average nationally. The closest competitor is 20 percent slower.
We also know that the best mobile broadband experience is based on consistent speed. Weve delivered five mobile broadband speed upgrades in recent years, including our HSPA+ deployment.
Our HSPA+ network and upgraded backhaul is expected to deliver speed performance similar to initial LTE deployments. That matters, because when we begin commercial deployment of LTE in mid 2011, customers on our LTE network will be able to fall back to HSPA+. As they do, theyll receive a more consistent mobile broadband experience that supports simultaneous voice and data connections and higher speeds than the others can provide outside their LTE footprint.
Customers of carriers who chose not to upgrade their current networks will move in and out of LTE coverage areas as well. But as they do, theyll experience a jarring speed degradation. If theyre online and on the phone when they move to sites that dont support simultaneous voice and data connections, theyll drop one of those connections. And if theyre watching video, its not going to be pretty
More than half of our customers use simultaneous voice and data regularly. Three in four told us that a consistently good speed experience is very important to them. Our technology path forward meets those needs and is the best path to delivering a consistently good broadband experience.
Its not sufficiently appreciated that LTE stands for Long Term Evolution. It will take a long time for LTE to be deployed broadly.
As carriers LTE footprints expand in coming years, the speed of todays networks cant be ignored because theyll play a big part in delivering the mobile Internet well into the future. To serve customers well to give them a great mobile broadband experience were making our fastest network even faster as we transition to LTE.
end quote
Less than 2% of the customer base would have any idea what that means. It would clear up nothing.
3G and 4G is confusing enough. Hell, half of iPhone customers don't even know how to set up their voicemail. Don't throw confusing stuff like peak and typical throughput into the mix.
no not "4G" rather "H+"
HSPA+ does not equal 4G.
The indicator should say "H+" when connected to HSPA+ network, plain and simple.
And then, if they ever do LTE, it should say "LTE". duh. be real. What will they put on there when they have actual real 4G? 5G? This is stupid.
(too many comments to read through to know if someone already posted this).
HSPA+ does not equal 4G.
The indicator should say "H+" when connected to HSPA+ network, plain and simple.
And then, if they ever do LTE, it should say "LTE". duh. be real. What will they put on there when they have actual real 4G? 5G? This is stupid.
(too many comments to read through to know if someone already posted this).
It got pretty rough when they first got the iPhone. They way overestimated their ability to support a phone that allowed users to really use data. Interestingly, it seems Verizon was surprised too, as they had to quickly move to cap data.
Android != iOS for usability. Iphone users are actually able to use heir phones and they like to do it. It will be interesting to see if Sprint can keep their promise without sacrificing performance.
I see this story and shake my head at the total and utter laughability at this crap
You cant go an hour without several people complaining on AT&T's forum about their 3g service being atrocious. Yes, some have great 3g service...fantastic, many others do not.
Yet, here we have AT&T doing their best to convince consumers that they will get "4g" service when at first very few if any will be getting such speeds.
Done simply for PR and I am sure next year AT&T will be wanting Apple to have "5g" on the new iPhones and when Apple asks AT&T whether they have "5g"...AT&T can just say that "consumers want 5g" and that will be it.
You cant go an hour without several people complaining on AT&T's forum about their 3g service being atrocious. Yes, some have great 3g service...fantastic, many others do not.
Yet, here we have AT&T doing their best to convince consumers that they will get "4g" service when at first very few if any will be getting such speeds.
Done simply for PR and I am sure next year AT&T will be wanting Apple to have "5g" on the new iPhones and when Apple asks AT&T whether they have "5g"...AT&T can just say that "consumers want 5g" and that will be it.
I agree it is crap either way, but they did say they wanted it displayed only when customers had that speed. Every carrier in the US has maybe one small part of one or two markets where any claims of "4G" aren't complete crap anyway. You will find a lot of phones with 4G icons on pulling down far less than 14.4mbps.
I'd much rather the icon say 3G+, as it's slightly more accurate. Their fastest network isn't "4G" and should never be labeled as such. It is faster than 3G, so call it 3G+. Just as easy.
AT&T is rather like "DUDE, IT'S BLACK(resp. 4G)!!!!1111", and Verizon tells them "Well, but you're 10 years old, though(resp. HSPA+ might be 4G, but not at 14.4MBit/s. Roll out 42MBit/s, then 84MBit/s, then actually sell phones that support that data rate and THEN you might call it 4G)".Simply put; AT&T (among others) are eager for competition notably with Verizon and are desperate to get a 2 letter word to "impress" there customers. Basically AT&T is like "oh its 8 inches alright
Even Sprint's 4G WiMAX (10MBit/s) and Verizons 4G LTE (5-12MBit/s) networks aren't 4G.
84MBit/s should count as "approximately 100MBit/s".IMT-Advanced said:
How about just calling it 14.4MBit/s HSPA+, AT&T? 10MBit/s WiMAX, Sprint? 12MBit/s LTE, Verizon? That would quite suck, huh?
Besides, in areas where DSL tops out at 2MBit/s and cable is not available, 7.2MBit/s over the air is already not too shabby. Just roll out 21.2MBit/s for the iPhone 5, 48MBit/s for the iPhone 5S, etc., and some day - magically - there will be 4G speeds - even though this would be 8G or something like that according to the carriers.
4G with 1GB data cap is still just that, though - blown through in a matter of minutes, and afterwards you're left with good ol' 2(.5
)G EDGE speed.
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I don't disagree. I would just rather see AT&T and others nail down 3G around the country before promoting 4g when many can't even get 3g nor will they get 4g speeds anytime in the future.
According to the ITU, it is. It's BS, but they're the ones that set the standards.HSPA+ does not equal 4G.
Interesting as ALL of AT&T's 4G (HSPA+) Android phones use the H+ indicator, not a 4G indicator.
So I don't see why they didn't request that for the iPhone as well.