The wireless industry has its own buzzword: 4G.
Carriers have taken the technical-sounding term for fourth generation
and turned it into a vehicle for competing advertising claims that
could confuse consumers.
Starting with
wireless carriers have used 4G to describe a major leap in speed,
capacity and power over other networks. But operators don’t agree on
what constitutes that technological milestone. As a result, 4G has
become a marketing term almost unrelated to its technical definition,
which is determined by industry standards bodies.
Earlier this month,
said it had expanded its 4G service to six markets, adding them to a
roster of “America’s largest 4G network.” The carrier’s announcement
prompted grumbling from some of its competitors, which said T-Mobile
was trying to pass off an improved 3G network as a new 4G network.
Critics noted that the carrier itself had refrained from using “4G” to
describe its technology, called HSPA , when it was introduced.
T-Mobile is unapologetic.
“For customers, it’s setting an expectation of a significant change in their experience,” said
T-Mobile’s regional vice president of engineering and operations. “It’s
a step above and beyond the experience folks are having today. … It’s
appropriate to call it a 4G network, and we’re proud to call it that.”
The raised eyebrows over T-Mobile’s 4G announcement
underscore the ultracompetitive nature of the wireless industry, which
is hungry for revenue from mobile data services — Web surfing, video
streaming and photo sharing — that will be further enabled by the
newest network technology. Every carrier wants to show it has the best
pipelines for that data, and 4G is elegant marketing shorthand.
“To us, what it means is it’s the next generation of technology,” said
chief commercial officer. “It has to be more than just faster. … It
also has to have higher capacity, the tons of megabytes of data that we
know people want. And, finally, there has to be a breakthrough in the
cost of the technology.”
If a carrier is pitching “4G-like speeds, or
‘Yesterday I had a 3G network; today I’m going to brand it as a 4G
network,’ you’ve got to look under the hood a little bit and do a true
comparison,” said
In the wireless industry, various agencies
coordinate how the radio spectrum is used globally and set technology
standards, which are important for interoperability between
communications systems. In October, the
agency, announced its designations for “true 4G technologies.” All of
the U.S. networks touted as 4G fall short of ITU criteria.
“None of the networks today meet the ITU’s specifications for 4G,” said
“It’s like saying, “My bicycle is a car because it has wheels and has
the same (technology) roadmap to get to the automobile.'”
Still, with so much momentum behind making 4G a
household name, the carriers aren’t giving up the term. And because
there is no agency with legal authority over how 4G should be used in
advertising, carriers are free to describe their technology however
they please. This dynamic mirrors how “all natural,” for example, has
become a ubiquitous yet hazily defined term.
“It was clear this was a brand-new network. It had never been built before, and it was clearly an advanced network,” said
“Because a group of very smart people that are recognized said, ‘Hey,
this is the bar,’ does that mean it’s the bar? I say no.”
According to
not reaching consumers. A survey conducted this year showed 66 percent
of participants were unfamiliar with the term 4G. Even 3G was confusing.
“Our research shows that it made no sense to label
the technology 4G,” Nicoll said. “Over half of the consumers we
surveyed either had never heard of 3G or didn’t know what 3G was. So if
they don’t know what the baseline was, going to the next G doesn’t give
you a moving point. They could have called it anything, and the
consumer would have been just as confused.”
He said that while “the number is getting across, the message might be
lost in the number” because of competing claims over whether a network
is 3G or 4G.
“We’ve changed our message in our advertising and
out in public because it’s about the fastest mobile broadband,” Fine
said. “Do you want the fastest mobile broadband network or do you want
G’s? We want to simplify the message to the consumer.”
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COMPARING 4G CARRIERS:
—Coverage: Early adopters may find they have just
one or two operators with 4G service in their city, and it will be
several years before all the operators have nationwide coverage.
—Speed: Speeds will vary by location and other
factors, but 4G speeds are supposed to be at least three times faster
than 3G. Operators say the difference should feel like moving from
dial-up to a broadband Internet connection.
—Latency: A 4G data connection should feel
significantly more real-time. This means audio and video should be
synced while streaming a TV show or holding a live videoconference.
Latency is important for online game players.
—Devices:
offers two 4G smart phones. T-Mobile sells 4G-ready devices optimized
for the upgraded network, but many of its 3G phones are also compatible
with its 4G technology. A greater variety of phones, as well as
netbooks and tablet computers, is expected to hit the market as
operators roll out their networks.
—Price: Carriers may experiment with different
plans, with some offering unlimited packages while others introduce
tiered pricing. Users of
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(c) 2010, Chicago Tribune.
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