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Silly Question... 4G vs LTE

nidserz

nidserz

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 28, 2008
955
16
Dubai x Toronto
This may be a silly question, but is there a difference between the 2?
In Canada my iPhone 5 worked on LTE... I know here in Dubai it doesn't, but my friend's 5C is on 4G. Is that the same thing? Is it just called different things in the different parts of the world?
My iPhone 5 when I use it here has the option of turning on 4G... which obviously doesn't work since I don't have the correct band. Just curious what I should be looking out for when I purchase my next 5s/5c and want it to work on the correct band.

Thanks
 
I'm not sure how the connectivity naming works in Canada, but in the U.S. Market, HSPA+ is commonly marketed as 4G, and LTE is considered a tier higher. This of course is at odds with whatever organization sets the standards, because I think that LTE is the only standard that can reach true 4G speeds.
 
nidserz said:
This may be a silly question, but is there a difference between the 2?
In Canada my iPhone 5 worked on LTE... I know here in Dubai it doesn't, but my friend's 5C is on 4G. Is that the same thing? Is it just called different things in the different parts of the world?
My iPhone 5 when I use it here has the option of turning on 4G... which obviously doesn't work since I don't have the correct band. Just curious what I should be looking out for when I purchase my next 5s/5c and want it to work on the correct band.

Thanks
Click to expand...

http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/26/qa-the-need-for-speed/?_r=0

The 5c and 5s both have more band coverage than the iPhone 5. So, it's likely that you'll be covered wherever you go.

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Retired Cat said:
I'm not sure how the connectivity naming works in Canada, but in the U.S. Market, HSPA+ is commonly marketed as 4G, and LTE is considered a tier higher. This of course is at odds with whatever organization sets the standards, because I think that LTE is the only standard that can reach true 4G speeds.
Click to expand...
AT&T also got in a little bit of trouble a while back too for claiming that their network, which was essentially 3.5G then, was 4G.

So, a healthy dose of skepticism when it comes to what the carriers call their networks is in order.
 
I'm switching from a 4S to a 5S. Cant wait for LTE. Interested to see what speeds are like.
 
4G (commonly marketed as HSPA+ 21 and 42 in the United States) is actually a broader term than it really is, with true 4G being LTE-Advanced, achieving 1 Gigabit per second. 4G HSPA+ is a fairly fast network with pretty advanced spectrum efficiency and it is on two of the major US carriers: AT&T and T-Mobile. LTE, on the hand, is the new craze in wireless broadband and communication, with carriers all across the world deploying this new technology. LTE is theoretically faster than HSPA+ (with the exception of HSPA+ 84 and 168, both of which no one has even rolled out) and has a much lower ping time. Also, LTE is more spectrally efficient than HSPA+. Both networks are solid performers that will give you your bytes fast and effectively.
 
i think LTE has higher cap to maximize the speed over 4G

However, if your area has better 4G tower and the speed maybe faster than Some under develope LTE area
 
LTE is much much faster than 4G. Your iPhone will say 4G in the top left corner while using 4G, and LTE in the corner if using LTE. Likely in Canada you have LTE - but in Dubai they only have 4G. It also took Europe a while to adopt LTE across a large area so I doubt Dubai has it around the area yet.

But yeah they're not the same. 4G is like 1/3-1/4 the speed of LTE on average
 
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