i got a samsung s3 with 4G and my question is what iPhone will my 4G sim card work with?I was thinking of upgrade to a iPhone so i can do my test on it.
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iphone question
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The s3 uses a Micro-SIM card. The iPhone 4s uses a Micro-SIM card. The iPhone 5, 5s and 5c uses a Nano-SIM card. You can either cut down the Micro-SIM with a SIM cutter, or go to your service provider and ask for a replacement Nano-SIM if you purchase a newer iPhone.
Care to share a screenshot of a 4S with the LTE icon in the menu bar then?
Although it's not real "4G", let's just call it what the carriers call it just to avoid confusion. All GSM carriers in the US call HSPA+ 4G and actual 4G as 4G LTE (or LTE for short).
In this regard, the iPhone 4s does support "4G" only on GSM networks, so the OP is going to need an iPhone 4s or newer.
No.
We have to go by what the carriers call it. It's not our decision to make here. You're absolutely right in that the iPhone 4S is not capable of using LTE, but if AT&T is calling their HSPA+ service 4G, then that's what it's called. You may not like that they do that, but it doesn't change the name of their service. I can't say I dislike the name AT&T and start claiming that it's called AW&W. It doesn't work that way.
I do agree that HSPA+ shouldn't be called "4G", but you're causing confusion when you're calling HSPA+ 3.5G and LTE as just 4G.
BTW, all GSM carriers in the US call HSPA+ 4G, not just AT&T.
Why worry about moving the sim card? Won't most carriers either give you one, or sell one cheap?
I was going to argue with you, but I really dislike looking like a fool in internet forums so I did my usual Google searching on this topic.
My understanding is that in 2011, the standards authorities who keep all this alphnumeric soup stuff straight relaxed the 4G standards to include HSPA+, which then allows AT&T and T-Mobile to call it 4G.
So, in the future I will be more specific and state that if you want LTE, you need an iPhone 5 or newer iPhone.
I have only ever had one carrier in the 15 years I've had a cell phone and that's been Sprint. So learning all this stuff about the other carriers is a process for me.
Now, I'm just wondering how much pressure the carriers put on the standards authorities to relax the standards so they could use 4G as a marketing ploy.
P.S. At least in the case of the CDMA carriers (Sprint, Verizon) my statement is true. You will never see a 4G or an LTE icon on a Sprint or Verizon iPhone 4s.
Probably not too much pressure was applied. HSPA+ is a significant jump in speed. Unfortunately the tech does not exist on CDMA networks. Regardless it needed to be called something, and I guess they felt since it was a good jump in speed 3.5G or 3G+ or something similar wasn't a good enough marketing name.
Sitting at my house I get decent CDMA 3G from Verizon and HSPA+ from ATT. Verizon is around 1.1 mbs down and ATT is around 7 mbs down so there is a lot more then just marketing too it.
iphone question
The ITU, International Telecommunications Union, relaxed the definition to include HSPA+ as 4G. 4G also includes WiMAXX and other advanced technologies, not just LTE. The theoretical maximum of HSPA+ is 168 Mbit/s. None of the carriers in the US meet the original definition of 4G, thus the relaxed definition. AT&T isn't the only carrier to use the term 4G with HSPA+. Other carriers world wide do also, not all.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolved_HSPA
The ITU, International Telecommunications Union, relaxed the definition to include HSPA+ as 4G. 4G also includes WiMAXX and other advanced technologies, not just LTE. The theoretical maximum of HSPA+ is 168 Mbit/s. None of the carriers in the US meet the original definition of 4G, thus the relaxed definition. AT&T isn't the only carrier to use the term 4G with HSPA+. Other carriers world wide do also, not all.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolved_HSPA
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