GSM 4G vs CDMA 4G

[roninld]

Although the title has iPhone 4G and EVO 4G, it's more about the different networks and how they are approaching giving more bandwidth to their users. Writer indicates that CDMA has maxed out it's data speeds, hence the need for 4G, but that GSM has not. Anyway, interesting take on 4G.

4G Apple iPhone, Sprint EVO: Worth The Hype?

 

[Vihzel]

4G has a LONG way to go.

 

[gruss]

Whoever wrote that article knows so very little about this technology that I'm wondering why anyone would quote it?

 

[dylo22]

Yeah, not a very good article. CDMA EVDO have not maxed out. There's rev B that delivers higher data speeds. The reason Verizon is moving on to LTE is because it is a lot more spectrum efficient than EVDO.

 

[milnivlek]

"4G" vs "3G" is more of a marketing thing than a technical one, in any case.

 

[kyler13]

I don't have a problem with the article so much as the title of this thread. GSM 4G is essentially LTE. What is CDMA 4g? Not WiMax. It's actually convertible to LTE. And CDMA carrier Verizon is moving to LTE. There's no 4G migration path for CDMA. And while you can squeeze another megabit out of EVDO, there's not much more scalability so it's somewhat maxed out, far more so than HSPA which will overlap well into 4G. In more simpler terms, the article does point out the vast improvent in latency with 4G which will benefit real time services like video conferencing or VoIP. The other notable is that 4G's scalability should exceed even HSPA. Oh, and for those that don't know, here's one to blow your mind. GSM 3G is generally known as UMTS which is inclusive of HSPA. HSPA is a wideband CDMA based standard. So what is this GSM vs CDMA comparison?

 

[barrister89]

Of course to take full advantage of the additional dowload speeds of 4G, you have to have phones with faster cpu/gpu, which requires more battery power and better power management.

4G sounds great for the future but at present is largely a marketing gimmick unless you're in one of the few large cities where Sprint provides coverage. For right now, I'd rather see the carriers devote more resources to expanding the capacity of their existing networks to better handle the load of all the smartphones entering the market.

I'm on a 2 year contract with my Dinc and will see what the status of 4G is in 2012. I'll be surprised if VZ has 4G in my town by then.

 

[W4LLY]

CDMA is not 4g. LTE isn't even 4g..it's 3.9g. Still, tests in Boston on VZ's LTE are supposed to be awesome.

 

[kyler13]

CDMA is not 4g. LTE isn't even 4g..it's 3.9g. Still, tests in Boston on VZ's LTE are supposed to be awesome.

I prefer pre-4G for LTE. 3.xG generation standards are incapable of achieving the 4G definition by the governing authrorities. First release LTE networks will be upgradeable to LTE Advanced (which will meet true 4G requirements) so for all intents and purposes, it is 4G compared to the worldwide HSPA and EVDO networks.

 

[kyler13]

Of course to take full advantage of the additional dowload speeds of 4G, you have to have phones with faster cpu/gpu, which requires more battery power and better power management.

That's not true at all. You'll need more battery power for the radio, but as far as speeds, my Snapdragon processor does just as well pulling 20 down and pushing 5 up on my wifi network.

The article hits the point extremely well that you and I will benefit little from 4G speeds as it pertains to web browsing and email, and that's ever so obvious in the fact that on my Incredible, there's little difference in quality of experience between 3G and Wifi. Most of the benefits to 4G will remain transparent to most of us, but will fall on the carrier side of things. A more efficient IP-based wireless network will allow better accomodation of the number of users on a given tower. This includes the latency improvement. About the biggest thing that any of us can take home from 4G is the latency improvement.

 

[amarryat]

That's not true at all. You'll need more battery power for the radio, but as far as speeds, my Snapdragon processor does just as well pulling 20 down and pushing 5 up on my wifi network.

What app are you using to benchmark that? Using Speedtest.net's app, I only get 2-3 up, and 13 down. However on my iPod Touch, I get 13 in both directions.

 

[anabsa]

What app are you using to benchmark that? Using Speedtest.net's app, I only get 2-3 up, and 13 down. However on my iPod Touch, I get 13 in both directions.

Are both using the same server for the speedtest.net app? Are both the same distance from the router? Another variable we can't account for is the difference in antena placement inside the devices.

 

[amarryat]

Are both using the same server for the speedtest.net app? Are both the same distance from the router? Another variable we can't account for is the difference in antena placement inside thce devices.

Both are using the same server, and both are side by side with full wifi signal. Symetric 35mbit service too which I achieve with a wireless N laptop.

 

[TheBiles]

The thought of a real 4G iPhone makes me laugh so hard. AT&T barely even has a 3G network, and it can barely even handle the current users.

 

[DwightShrute]

Also, Apple hasn't come out with an OFFICIAL name for the next iphone, so the "iphone 4g" is just something that the media has tagged it.

 

[JWBRAT]

The new iphone 4g stands for fourth generation. It's not a 4g device.

 

[Deleted User]

BTW, there really is no GSM 4g vs CDMA 4g. There is wimax vs LTE, neither of which are specific to GSM or CDMA.

 

[IOWA]

I don't have a problem with the article so much as the title of this thread. GSM 4G is essentially LTE. What is CDMA 4g? Not WiMax. It's actually convertible to LTE. And CDMA carrier Verizon is moving to LTE. There's no 4G migration path for CDMA. And while you can squeeze another megabit out of EVDO, there's not much more scalability so it's somewhat maxed out, far more so than HSPA which will overlap well into 4G. In more simpler terms, the article does point out the vast improvent in latency with 4G which will benefit real time services like video conferencing or VoIP. The other notable is that 4G's scalability should exceed even HSPA. Oh, and for those that don't know, here's one to blow your mind. GSM 3G is generally known as UMTS which is inclusive of HSPA. HSPA is a wideband CDMA based standard. So what is this GSM vs CDMA comparison?

Lol.......

 

[BlueCarbon]

Your question doesn't make any sense. 4G is the 4th generation (version) of GSM which uses CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) technology, opposed to the older TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) that is used with 2G and earlier. Although some carriers use a modified version of GSM.

4G uses IPv6 opposed to 3G's IPv4 which will clear the IP address limitation. 3G has a data transfer rate on 2 Mbit/s, although a hybrid system can transfer data at 14.7Mbit/s, where 4G can transfer data up to 1Gbit/s.

 

[RiverOfIce]

No device can do 4g ie 1gbps speeds. NONE!!!! They don't exist. The barely exist for fiber. About a month ago the first commercial 1gbps fiber connection was turned on in this country, wireless is a long way behind that. What we currently have is hspa+ and wimax. Hspa+ is lte. Speeds up to 14.7 mbps. The biggest problem is that it has to use a 20hz line to hit that speed. 20 hz is about all that one tower can produce. If you have two lines to one two you get only 10 hz or 7mbps. Then the add a few more connections per tower and it will drop to 3mbps. If less then 7% of the hspa+ is being used you can get over 7mbps. If less then 23%, you can get over 7mbps. If more then 23% is used you will get less then 3mbps. The limit is in the hz. LTE will have to delete voice, texting, and all other transmissions to offer you a 14mbps connection, with more then 50% used. Wimax has a lot of band width, and modulation makes it possible to offer 98% of consumers 14mbps or faster speed. When the station hit 98%, it will slow everyone down a little bit, to about 11mbps to add the final 2%. That is the difference, if you have very little users, hspa will be just as quick, but the more users you have the slower the line. LTE is will not be available until late 2015-2018. When it does come online, it will use wimax to back haul it. For the last time lte and wimax are not in a fight, there is no winner or loser, it is just to different protocols that will function together. Much like wifi and 3g do today. Just whole cities not houses.

 

[BlueCarbon]

No device can do 4g ie 1gbps speeds. NONE!!!! They don't exist. The barely exist for fiber. About a month ago the first commercial 1gbps fiber connection was turned on in this country, wireless is a long way behind that. What we currently have is hspa+ and wimax. Hspa+ is lte. Speeds up to 14.7 mbps. The biggest problem is that it has to use a 20hz line to hit that speed. 20 hz is about all that one tower can produce. If you have two lines to one two you get only 10 hz or 7mbps. Then the add a few more connections per tower and it will drop to 3mbps. If less then 7% of the hspa+ is being used you can get over 7mbps. If less then 23%, you can get over 7mbps. If more then 23% is used you will get less then 3mbps. The limit is in the hz. LTE will have to delete voice, texting, and all other transmissions to offer you a 14mbps connection, with more then 50% used. Wimax has a lot of band width, and modulation makes it possible to offer 98% of consumers 14mbps or faster speed. When the station hit 98%, it will slow everyone down a little bit, to about 11mbps to add the final 2%. That is the difference, if you have very little users, hspa will be just as quick, but the more users you have the slower the line. LTE is will not be available until late 2015-2018. When it does come online, it will use wimax to back haul it. For the last time lte and wimax are not in a fight, there is no winner or loser, it is just to different protocols that will function together. Much like wifi and 3g do today. Just whole cities not houses.

Doing a little bit of research today will show that just about everything you said here is incorrect. Also, I never said that phones could do 1gbps, I said that the 4G specifications could do it.

 

[RiverOfIce]

Doing a little bit of research today will show that just about everything you said here is incorrect. Also, I never said that phones could do 1gbps, I said that the 4G specifications could do it.

Prove it. Prove me wrong. 1.) Prove that any device using lte or wimax can reach 1gbps connection. 2.) Prove that having a tower fulling loaded can support hspa+ speeds above 3 mpbs. 3.)Prove to me that a fully loaded tower with lte can go faster then 14mbps. 4.)Prove to me that true lte, lte-a, will is or will be available anytime soon. Doing a bit of research, prove it.

 

[OutofDate1980]

Prove it. Prove me wrong. 1.) Prove that any device using lte or wimax can reach 1gbps connection. ...

One fixed wimax for business provider is claiming 1.5 Gbps.

High Capacity 20Mbps - 1.5Gbps Internet Service

Edit: Should have stated, At least one fixed wimax for business provider is claiming 1.5 Gbps.

 

[RiverOfIce]

One fixed wimax for business provider is claiming 1.5 Gbps.

High Capacity 20Mbps - 1.5Gbps Internet Service

Edit: Should have stated, At least one fixed wimax for business provider is claiming 1.5 Gbps.

Had no clue that was possible yet, you see things change daily in the wireless world.

But for the record, it is fixed wimax. It operates at 5.8, 5.4 and 3.5 GHz spectrum. It cost 500 dollars a month for 5mbps connection. Requires a 15 inch by 15 inch receiver. Most fiber based connections on servers will max out at 30mbps. I would love to see how much the actual speeds are per connection. I bet they are using mimo connections and many different data streams to add the bandwidth of 1gbps, but not offering 1gbps connection directly. Which means you can have 100 connections at 100mbps, which would equal 1gbps connection total, but each connections is limited to 100mbps.


But we are talking real world, not theoretical speeds. For example, a go cart can go 1000 miles per hour if it was strapped to a rocket, theoretically. But in the real life, it just does not offer that much.

Here is the basic problem. Currently, lte and wimax are limited to 5mhz spectrum, which limits it to about 28ish mbps, max. But that requires a open tower and no users. When you start to add users you will get between 5-12mbps.


But you are right, there is a theorical speed out there, but I have not seen any proof that we can hit 1gbps on one connection. In house, with one connection using 40mhz of bandwidth have hit 800mbps, but on a closed system, using test equipment.

 

[OutofDate1980]

... I would love to see how much the actual speeds are per connection. I bet they are using mimo connections and many different data streams to add the bandwidth of 1gbps, but not offering 1gbps connection directly. Which means you can have 100 connections at 100mbps, which would equal 1gbps connection total, but each connections is limited to 100mbps. ...

You around any of their markets ? With your reputation, I bet they would give you the run of the store to find out.