At this point that really isn't possible as 4G really doesn't have a set of standards yet. We are still several years away from having a commercially operated 4G network. -Jay
You can look at the IEEE 802.20 working group for what some may call 4G. As Jay said, there are no standards yet.
3G: http://unwiredworks.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=4 3.5G: http://unwiredworks.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=21 4G:? http://unwiredworks.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=26
Some people consider WiMax, 3GPP or HSOPA and other networks like that to be 4G. Like Jay said, were years away from ever seeing a fully functional 4G network, but NTT DoCoMo is already thinking about implementing 4G in the near future.
There are no standards for 3G either. The measurement most often used for 3G is the ability to transfer both voice and data at the same time at or above a certain rate. There are many technologies that can accomplish them, some ratified by a standards body and some proprietary. A pseudo standard exists called IMT-2000 but that is really just a collection of 5 or 6 specific technologies that accomplish 3G but have no interoperability between most of them. 4G is a another term that will have no default standard, but is instead a measurement in evolution. Technologies such as WiMax and LTE are based on standards. Nobody is ever going to get together and announce that 4G will be based on X standard. The reason is quite simple, finances. A technology like WiMax can be implemented in the 2.3 to 3.5 GHz range while some technologies such as LTE can be used in much lower frequency bands. Both are amazingly similar at their core but can be offered in two distinctly different places. It is highly unlikely a carrier will have frequency in both bands, and highly unlikely that one technology would get the all important marketing term of 4G while the other technology that is 90% the same is left out. That said, we are a lot closer than most think to large scale 4G networks. There are already several US cities that have WiMax networks, at least one European city, and several about to go live in Asia and S. America. I've been using WiMax to access the internet for months myself.
I am somewhat skeptical at the moment of WiMax being implemented on a global level as the next step beyond 3.75G technologies. For any technology to become the dominant global standard it is going to have to get the backing of certain large networks, and at the moment two of those networks, DoCoMo and Vodafone, do not appear to be interested in adopting WiMax as a 4G technology.
The single biggest driver for WiMax will be when Intel starts shipping laptops with WiMax built in. By 2008 they plan on having 14 million laptops shipped. Between now and then companies will be evaluating WiMax and other similar technologies. Nobody has to commit to WiMax today, many companies are conducting trials with equipment providers. I know Vodafone had a WiMax demonstration given to them just the other day so they are clearly interested in it and DoCoMo's main competition in Japan has already launched a WiMax network test. Remember everyone is still waiting to even begin certification, mobile WiMax exists but is in its infancy.
bonoriffic; You are wrong, there are 3G standards . One is set by the 3GPP group as part of the IMT. As far as 4G WiMax is looked at by some as a 4G standard but there isn't any large scale deployment of it yet and there may never be with the developments of UMTS/HSDPA & EVDO networks that are now being rolled out.
I mentioned the IMT "standard". 3G is a marketing and industry term but nothing that is an agreed upon standard. As to large scale roll outs of WiMax, as I said it is so new that nobody has even received official certification which can't even happen until next year. There is already a wide scale deployment underway in Pakistan for several million subscribers. This is the first large scale deployment, there are plenty of small scale trials going on all over the world. Sprint has 1600 WiMax access points in the Chicago area alone. This is using basically beta software and even then companies are already buying it. I'm not saying WiMax is the answer for everything, but for emerging markets it is ideal and is generating big interest from serious players. At the latest WiMax World in Boston just a few weeks back Motorola was the first to even show a complete end to end solution actually working. Others have working solutions that combine products from different companies. It is way too new for anyone to make claims about the chances for success one way or another. But as someone who uses WiMax everyday, I know it is real and works, and has the attention of a lot of people. Other than Sprint and Clearwire I doubt it will see a lot of US providers switching, but elsewhere in the world it has the potential to be huge. (And be a huge failure)
I take your point, and I agree with you to a certain extent. However, I think part of the decision on choosing a 4G standard is going to rest upon how closely mobiles and the internet are integrated at that point. At the moment there are few mobiles that can really deliver a credible internet experience comparable to a computer. If mobiles can give credible internet experiences by that point I think there will be a much stronger case for a closer integration of computers and mobiles using the same standard. As far as I am aware Vodafone has been a bit more hesitant in its support for WiMax than T-Mobile. What I think we can say with a degree of certainty is that networks will be more cautious about upgrading their networks after the various issues encountered with 3G.
I suppose it could be. However, the thing is that the 'existing players' who make up the largest networks control a huge percentage of the global mobile market. Their sheer size makes it difficult to bypass them as whatever standard they adopt has a good chance of becoming an important standard through sheer numbers and/or global coverage.
I guess we haven't really discussed this on this forum yet, there is a new TLD (Top level domain like .com .net .org .co.uk .de etc) .mobi, this TLD is specifically for, you guessed it, mobiles. A lot of companies have started to focus in on the mobile market as there are more internet capable phones on the market than there are Televisions and Computers combined. I sincerely can see the revolution on the horizon which is why I recently acquired mface.net and mface.mobi for my project.
if u look at the service availability at this moment, 3G or 3.5G is widespread enough throughout the world. with this as the based network, increasing the data rate is a just a matter of upgrading the cell-site (in term of software revision or hardware electronics board card) - compare to building up a brand new network in WiMax scenario. some analysis available in the link: http://unwiredworks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=226 http://unwiredworks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=144 http://unwiredworks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=142 rgds,
bonoriffic, I guess you don't understand what the IMT does. The equipment manufacturers like Nokia, Ericsson, Lucent, Nortel and others use it's STANDARDS to decide what kind of equipment to build. The standards also allow interoperability between the vendors so carriers can provide services to there customers so yes there are STANDARDS
Hello guys; I am a 4G avid, but since there's no standards yet as the discussion arise. Can you give me "demand forecasting for 4G" even for 3G? Thanks
The size of the existing players has never meant anything when there is a paradigm shift. There are countless examples of this in every industry. Joel Barker, in his book about paradigm shifts, stated that most paradigm shifts do not originate with the mainstream companies, but rather on the periphery.
An interesting point, but I would still advance the argument that if the largest networks collectively implement a given standard it makes the chances of any other standard gaining dominance, in practical terms, much more difficult. There is also the point to be made that in some countries it is a given that all the networks will use the same technology e.g. the UK. It is also a given that in using a particular technology in one country, a network will almost certainly seek to have its networks in other countries use the same technology. Thus there is a knock on effect that promotes the expansion of that particular technology throughout the world.
Look at how quickly WiFi spread around the world. No major network was involved in spreading it. Intel was behind WiFi with the Centrino brand. The same thing could happen with WiMAX. Intel, by the way, is also supporting WiMAX.
But then there was nothing in the same vein for Wi-Fi to replace or compete with in the mould of how it was implemented and marketed. Wi-Fi has been implemented as a broadband solution on the move for laptops and some PDAs, not as a mobile phone standard. In that light it didn't need the backing of the networks, it could exist without them. The difference with WiMAX is that if one does look to implement it as a mobile phone standard one is going to need the backing of the networks to do so because it's the networks who will actually be funding the infrastructure and actually using the technology. Any standard for mobile phones is going to need the support of certain key players e.g. the big manufacturers and networks. Without them a standard stands much less of a chance of becoming the dominant, or even an important standard. Look at CDMA, for example, no matter if it is technicaly superior to GSM, if the big manufacturers and networks don't support it it isn't going to be a true global standard, and that is largely what we see. It is an important standard of course, but without the support of the global networks it simply doesn't have the reach. It tends to be concentrated in a few specific areas, most notably North America and South Korea. The same thing could happen to WiMAX if a handful of smaller networks decide to adopt it whilst the larger networks opt for something else.
