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I wonder what kind of technologies are behind 3G, 4G and 5G. From a consumer perspective, upgrading the number means "the same, simply better and faster". (ju

by lolive 9y ago

I wonder what kind of technologies are behind 3G, 4G and 5G. From a consumer perspective, upgrading the number means "the same, simply better and faster". (just like an iphone :) The truth is probably more complex than that. From my experience, 4G was much more reliable that 3G has ever been. May be the service providers have improved. But I have the feeling that 4G is a fundamentally different technology from 3G. In that case, is 5G fundamentally different from 4G?

Cthulhu_ 9y ago
2/3/4/5G refer to "Generation"; for 2G the technology was GPRS, for 3G it refers to UMTS, EDGE, W-CDMA and HSPA technologies, and for 4G it refers to Mobile WiMAX and LTE. These are a bit tougher for marketing than 2/3/4/5G, as I'm sure you can imagine. I'm not sure what the tech behind 5G is (yet), still seems in flux.
mdasen 9y ago
3G technologies used CDMA while LTE uses OFDM so it is a different way of encoding. However, wireless carriers in the US have often increased their number of cell sites substantially - possibly doubling. The amount of spectrum that carriers have has increased substantially - again, more than doubling in some cases. Plus, with the rise of data, consumers now have a way of testing the quality of their link (ie. a speed test) so it's easier to verify under-performing phones. That probably has an impact on device manufacturers. LTE's decreased latency can also make it seem more reliable. Slow ping times mean that downloading a web page can become tedious and seem like it's not working as a script blocks and you're waiting on a 400ms round-trip between the 3G network and getting to the server. Even things like the rise of cheap CDNs like CloudFlare mean that more content is located near you. 5G NR is still OFDM based.
- zmb_ 9y ago
  At least on the research side there has been work on GFDM (Generalized Frequency Division Multiplexing) as a possible modulation technique for 5G. I don't follow the standardization enough to know what are the chances of it making it into a standard.
kalleboo 9y ago
The "G" terms are all marketing, but generally... 1G was analog. 2G is networks originally designed primarily for calls: technologies include GSM (with GPRS+EDGE added for packet data), CDMA 1x or iDEN 3G is networks evolved for decent data speeds: technologies being UMTS (later upgraded with HSPA) or CDMA EV-DO 4G is embracing a data-only network: the technology being LTE (although some US carriers brand HSPA as "4G" to compete with WiMAX which was branding itself as 4G while having HSPA-like speeds) 5G is still kinda up in the air, but the focus (aside from faster speeds and lower latency) seems to be on more pervasive connections (better roaming between network types) or low power/IoT stuff All these definitions are contentious. Some people say the initial LTE deployments weren't real 4G, but only LTE-Advanced is, etc.

by lolive 9y ago

Cthulhu_ 9y ago

2/3/4/5G refer to "Generation"; for 2G the technology was GPRS, for 3G it refers to UMTS, EDGE, W-CDMA and HSPA technologies, and for 4G it refers to Mobile WiMAX and LTE. These are a bit tougher for marketing than 2/3/4/5G, as I'm sure you can imagine. I'm not sure what the tech behind 5G is (yet), still seems in flux.

mdasen 9y ago

3G technologies used CDMA while LTE uses OFDM so it is a different way of encoding. However, wireless carriers in the US have often increased their number of cell sites substantially - possibly doubling. The amount of spectrum that carriers have has increased substantially - again, more than doubling in some cases. Plus, with the rise of data, consumers now have a way of testing the quality of their link (ie. a speed test) so it's easier to verify under-performing phones. That probably has an impact on device manufacturers. LTE's decreased latency can also make it seem more reliable. Slow ping times mean that downloading a web page can become tedious and seem like it's not working as a script blocks and you're waiting on a 400ms round-trip between the 3G network and getting to the server. Even things like the rise of cheap CDNs like CloudFlare mean that more content is located near you. 5G NR is still OFDM based.

zmb_ 9y ago
At least on the research side there has been work on GFDM (Generalized Frequency Division Multiplexing) as a possible modulation technique for 5G. I don't follow the standardization enough to know what are the chances of it making it into a standard.

kalleboo 9y ago

The "G" terms are all marketing, but generally... 1G was analog. 2G is networks originally designed primarily for calls: technologies include GSM (with GPRS+EDGE added for packet data), CDMA 1x or iDEN 3G is networks evolved for decent data speeds: technologies being UMTS (later upgraded with HSPA) or CDMA EV-DO 4G is embracing a data-only network: the technology being LTE (although some US carriers brand HSPA as "4G" to compete with WiMAX which was branding itself as 4G while having HSPA-like speeds) 5G is still kinda up in the air, but the focus (aside from faster speeds and lower latency) seems to be on more pervasive connections (better roaming between network types) or low power/IoT stuff All these definitions are contentious. Some people say the initial LTE deployments weren't real 4G, but only LTE-Advanced is, etc.