July 23, 2012

See also: 4G, WIMAX, HSPA

CIMM DEFINITION: A generation of cellphone mobile communication standards, whether it is the phone itself or the network the signal is carried on.

2: The Third Generation mobile network infrastructure. As of 2007 being deployed (or already deployed) by mobile operators in most of Europe, East Asia, and North America. Supports much higher data speeds than previous mobile networks, in some cases approaching wired broadband connections. (Source: IAB)

NOTE – The higher the number next to the G, the newer, and presumably faster, is the network the device is using. (But when Apple calls a product 4G, that means it is the fourth generation of that device, but not necessarily that it works on a 4G network, although sometimes it does.) Not all 4G is created equal. Different carriers use different kinds of 4G. In terms of speed, the technologies, rated from fastest to slowest, are LTE, WiMax and HSPA+. After that come EVDO and EDGE, which are 3G. RootMetrics, a company that measures mobile network performance, tested in 42 markets and found that the fastest provider over all was Verizon (it has the most LTE), followed by AT&T, then T-Mobile and Sprint. Caveats: 1. Not every city has 4G from every carrier. 2. You need a phone that receives the 4G network and not all do. 3. The speed of a network doesn’t matter if you can’t get a signal. (Source: NYTimes.com)