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If
today's fastest smart phones deliver e-mails and Web
pages with the speed of a thoroughbred racehorse, then
the next generation of phones — now rolling onto the
runway — may feel like jet planes.
Powered
by souped-up 4G networks (that's fourth generation), new
smart phones will be more like mobile entertainment
centers, allowing users to watch live, high-definition
TV broadcasts, download entire movies in seconds and
make smooth, uninterrupted video phone calls from street
corners and hilltops alike.
But don't
burst into song quite yet: For all their high-flying
potential, 4G networks are still a long way from taking
off.
All four
major cellular providers have been touting the speed and
possibility of 4G, but the number of consumers these
embryonic networks now reach is limited, and only a few
early handsets are on the market. It could be a year or
more before the technology is widely available.
Sprint Nextel Corp.
has an early lead in the 4G race, having turned on its
new networks in a few dozen smaller cities this year.
The company plans to bring 4G capability to parts of
Los Angeles
on
Dec. 1
, and
San Francisco
a few weeks after.
Sprint's
network, based on a technology called WiMax, will offer
users average download speeds of about 3 to 6 megabits
per second — roughly four times what most 3G users get
now. At those speeds, users could download an entire
song in about 10 seconds.
But
Sprint's
4G network will cover only a fraction of the users that
it serves with its current 3G system. The company says
if you're looking to upgrade, you should first consult
online maps to see whether your home or office is
covered. If it isn't, you might end up with a flashy 4G
phone that's getting the same old 3G speeds.
Building
the networks has been slow and costly for all of the
major providers, which have spent billions retrofitting
cell towers across the country, replacing older copper
wiring with fiber-optic cable capable of carrying
thousands of times more data.
"I've
never seen a network undertaking that's as intensive as
this, including the building of the original cellular
network," said
Andy Shibley
,
AT&T's
vice president and general manager for the
Los Angeles
area, noting that the company has spent close to
$40 billion
building its network over the past two years —
including upgrading tens of thousands of cell sites
across the U.S.
"When
you start dealing with that many zeros, that's a giant
undertaking," Shibley said.
At a new
Verizon Wireless
switching center in
Los Angeles
last month,
Jim Harper
, a senior technician, walked down rows lined with
dozens of black metal cabinets containing hundreds of
circuit boards that process millions of calls and data
requests every day.
Harper
stopped at a lone white cabinet, about the size of a gym
locker. It was a 4G server that could handle as much
call traffic as fifty of the black 3G cabinets.
Verizon's
version of 4G, it says, will allow speeds of 5 to 12
megabits per second — more than twice as fast as
Sprint's
on the high end.
"The
pace that the technology moves is just exploding,"
Harper said.
Yet as
powerful as the forthcoming technology may be, the white
cabinet was still the only one in the room — a sign
that
Verizon
is still in the early days of building its network.
Verizon Wireless
hasn't turned on 4G yet. It will begin to flip the
switch in about 30 U.S. cities this year, initially
offering 4G service only to wireless accessories for
laptops. Its 4G smart phones won't come out until
sometime in the middle of 2011 (
Verizon
declined to say if whether that would include
Apple Inc.'s
iPhone), and as far as size, its 4G network won't catch
up to its existing 3G footprint until 2013.
In the
meantime, if you are wondering exactly what 4G means,
you're not alone.
The
technical definition of 4G is set by a United Nations
standards body. It has to do with the specific way data
are moved around and was created to achieve mobile
broadband close to 100 times faster than what is
available today.
The
carriers have jumped out in front of that definition,
however, adopting the 4G label even when their networks
do not fit the technical specifications.
T-Mobile,
which as recently as March was calling its grid the
"nation's fastest 3G wireless network,"
recently began referring to itself as "America's
largest 4G network" — though its technology has
not changed.
T-Mobile
uses a technology called HSPA+, an extension of 3G
networking that delivers much faster speeds. The company
contends that the technical definition doesn't much
matter to consumers, as long as they're getting faster
service.
"Consumers
don't care about how many G's are attached to the
underlying technology," said
David Gallacher
, T-Mobile's regional vice president of engineering,
noting that T-Mobile's HSPA+ network is faster than
Sprint's
4G offering. "They care about the speed and quality
of the experience."
AT&T
, the iPhone's exclusive carrier, has endured frequent
criticism about the performance of its wireless network,
which has sometimes creaked under increasing demands of
data-hungry smart phones.
Perhaps
understandably, the company has taken a more cautious
approach to the 4G debates.
AT&T
, like T-Mobile, has highlighted its faster new HSPA+
network — but unlike T-Mobile, it has not called it
4G.
AT&T
has said its HSPA+ networks, which have just begun
rolling out, will be two or three times faster than
other companies' 3G offerings.
As for
4G, the company said, it will begin rolling it out
toward the middle of next year.
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