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Increasingly less so. 2G to 3G was a very clear cut on the radio side (TDMA to CDMA); 4G changed both the radio side (OFDMA) and the core (no more circuit switc
by lxgr 19d ago
Increasingly less so. 2G to 3G was a very clear cut on the radio side (TDMA to CDMA); 4G changed both the radio side (OFDMA) and the core (no more circuit switching, more Internet-standards-like).
5G is already much less clear: 5G non-SA literally depends on 4G for signaling and uses 5G-NR (which itself is still OFDMA) only for user data. 5G SA changes the core network again, but isn’t even supported in many networks worldwide.
There are huge jumps in bandwidth within a generation too. 3G started out with circuit-switched-ish 384 kbit/s and ended with 40+ Mbit/s on HSPA+. The jump from that to early LTE was much smaller in comparison.
So in a way, the model of “every once in a while, the carriers and manufacturers bundle up a bunch of optional extensions and call it (n+1)” seems to be coming for 3GPP just like it already has for e.g. 802.11.
- walrus01 19d agoThe jump from what we now retrospectively call "1G" or original analog cellular to 2G GSM was also similarly huge. We went from things like AMPS analog networks that people could listen to with a hacked Oki 900 phone, broadcasting audio calls in the clear as analog radio, to actual GSM.
- mytailorisrich 19d ago5G is a big change from 4G including on the radio side (although overall the physical layer is indeed quite sinilar). The thing is that many new 5G features have not gained tractions in the marketplace, or are happening very slowly because of absence of commercial use cases or clear benefits to customers.