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Is LTE the final frontier?

M

mantan

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Nov 2, 2009
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1,054
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The jump to LTE speeds is nothing short of mindblowing. This isn't an incremental jump -it's a quantum leap in the ability to stream data.

To the point you have to wonder 'what's next?' once LTE coverage is truly widespread.

A lot of the arms race from the telco's has been to fuel bigger better networks. First with voice, now with data. But LTE gives you speeds you can literally stream HD content with no buffering. What more do we really need? What could you do with 5G that you can't do now. It's similar to home brandband...at some point the pipe is plenty wide enough. There is no compelling reason to pay for 100Mb/sec down for your home network if you're getting 20 at home.

Without the push for bigger, better faster, you'd wonder if the telco's would be forced to really compete on price/service. That would truly be a boon to users.
 
LTE-Advanced:

3.3 Gbps maximum theoretical speeds
VoLTE-A
Efficient spectrum/tower usage
Cheaper
New
 
We say that now - just like we said who needs 100Mbps broadband in the early naughties.
Eventually, we'll need faster speeds. May be longer time period than 3G to 4G, but it will happen.
 
Broadband/Wireless won't stop developing until you can drag and drop something like a 100gig 4K movie from a server across the world onto your phone as if it were already in there.
 
We'll always want/need bigger/better/faster. Yes LTE is fast, but in the future your Typical Youtube vid may go from 720p to 1080p, then in the future to 4K (way higher res than 1080p).

We'll want to download things faster, think of downloading an entire 2 hour movie in SECONDS. Even with LTE it wouldn't be that fast.

Worst thing is, we eventually feel entitled to some of these things, instead of simply being amazed that we even have mini computers in our pockets.
 
While LTE does improve spectrum utilization compared to previous technologies, the performance you are seeing now has a lot to do with the fact that relatively few people are using LTE yet. Going forward, the challenge will be to keep up and increase the capacity as it gets more crowded. Spectrum in the usable frequency ranges is unfortunately a rather limited and expensive resource.
 
Yes, LTE is the most final of frontiers. It is, quite literally, the end. In fact, many people don't realize that this is what the acronym "LTE" actually stands for - "Literally, the End". It is the end not just of networking, or technology, but of the world itself. You see, LTE has a tendency to amass electrons in massive amounts. That's why you see these things mounted on telephone poles. Some call them "transformers", but those in the know understand that they are really collection canisters for these LTE particles. When sufficient numbers of users are on LTE networks, these particle canisters will heat up until they pass a tipping point, creating a chain reaction among them which will quickly reach critical mass, and the very air itself will explode. So, don't use LTE. It's dangerous to the world. And, the less you use, the more bandwidth there is for me.

Or, not.
 
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