• Can 3g phone support 4g internet. Do we need LTE technology

    As soon as people got used to the concept of 3G and learned all its advantages, the active integration of a new generation of communications - 4G, in particular, LTE technology, began. Why do we need LTE and what benefits can it give us? First you need to understand what it is all about.

    LTE is a new technology wireless communication, which complies with the fourth generation standard. Under this standard all technologies are included mobile communications that provide a data transfer rate of at least 10 Mbps. LTE technology is the next evolution cellular communication. It marks the transition from CDMA (WCDMA) systems to new OFDMA systems, and also provides for the transition from a circuit switched system to an e2e IP system. In other words, packet switching (packet data transmission) occurs.

    However, with all the advantages of this technology, several factors impede the rapid transition to LTE. First, in order to take full advantage of new technology appropriate equipment and improvement of existing systems are needed. Secondly, the subscribers themselves will need such mobile devices that could work in 3G and LTE networks. This is explained by this technology only being introduced and does not cover the entire territory of the country.

    1. What is LTE for - technology development goals

    The design goals and benefits of LTE are as follows:

    • Reducing the cost of services provided;
    • Increasing the data transfer rate in wireless networks;
    • Ability to provide a wider range of services to its subscribers;
    • Increasing the flexibility of using existing systems;
    • Increasing the availability of mobile communications for subscribers.

    The main goal of the development and implementation of LTE technology is to increase the speed of information transfer. The integration of LTE technology will enable the creation of high-speed mobile communication systems that will be optimized for packet data transmission. At the same time, the data transfer rate is theoretically 300 Mbps for downlinks and about 75 Mbps for uplinks. However, this technology is still being developed and implemented, which is why the actual speed in the network coverage area differs from the theoretical one.

    Another feature of the technology is the range base station LTE, which in the optimal case is about 5 km. However, if necessary, this indicator can be increased to 30 km, and in some cases even up to 100 km (but only with a sufficient antenna height).

    For smooth transition from the third generation to the fourth there is a system of continuous signal transmission from LTE to 3G. This is necessary so that the connection is not interrupted in case of leaving the LTE coverage area. And as mentioned above, this technology is new and is just beginning to be introduced, which is why 4G communications do not cover the entire territory of the country.

    2. iPad Air + 4G/LTE in Russia = love: Video

    3. Do we need LTE?

    About the advantages of new wireless communication technology Generations of LTE has already been said above, so whether to use it or not is purely personal decision each mobile subscriber. However, it is worth considering the fact that the cost of such a connection on this moment higher than 3G. Therefore, everyone decides for himself what he needs - speed or economy. According to forecasts, in the future it is planned to reduce the cost of 4G communications, due to which in the near future LTE technology will become available to everyone.

    Another hurdle for subscribers that makes LTE less accessible is that modern phones and other mobile devices do not support this technology. This means that people need to acquire optional equipment in the form of modems and routers, or change my phones, tablets and laptops to new devices that are equipped with a built-in LTE module.

    You ask - how to use LTE? Very simple. This is a high speed technology wireless internet connections. That is, if your phone supports this technology and is able to work in LTE networks, then you just need to establish a connection with the operator that provides such services by purchasing a SIM card. Everything is the same as in 3G, except for the speed, which is several times higher.

    ), allowing you to achieve previously unseen speeds of the mobile Internet. Megafon was the first in Russia to make it possible to use 4G on smartphones (). I tried this technology - all July I had special version smartphone Samsung Galaxy S III 4G.

    In the center of Moscow, 4G operates at fantastic speeds: the average speed of receiving and transmitting is 25 Mbps,
    the maximum recorded download speed is 55 Mbps. At such speeds, it becomes possible on a smartphone to do what was usually possible only when connected via wi-fi: watch and download videos, install programs from the Market, and just any actions with the Internet begin to be performed almost instantly. Videos on Instagram are uploaded faster than they are processed, and the upload speed of photos is measured in fractions of a second.


    On Red Square, SpeedTest on different days showed speeds from 25 to 35 Mbps for reception, more than 20 Mbps for transmission.


    And here is the same speed record that was recorded on Manezhnaya Square.

    Multiple measurements in a row.

    During this month, I visited the center of Moscow five times, usually on weekends or in the evening, but once I ended up at Tretyakovskaya and Bolotnaya Square in the morning on a working day. To my surprise, the 4G speed did not exceed 5 Mbps. Most likely the reason is that many offices in the center use 4G from Megafon as a cheap working Internet.

    4G in the center works great outside, but in buildings there is often no 4G or the signal is very weak.

    In Sviblovo, the situation with 4G at Megafon is as follows: at home on the 17th floor, if you put your hand with the phone out of the window, the signal level is three “sticks” out of four (-82dBm), while the speed floats from 20 to 5 Mbps. If you move away from the window to the far end of the room, the signal level decreases to one "stick" (-114dBm), while the speed is only 2-3 Mbps. At work on one side of the building, 4G is available and works very well. high speeds, on the other hand, just where my office is located, there is neither 4G nor 3G. Only dull EDGE.

    Another problem is timing gaps. Sometimes the data transfer is interrupted for a few seconds. The screenshot clearly shows that the Internet was at first and the speed was high, and then it died, it was gone for 10-15 seconds, and then it appeared again.

    At Samsung smartphone Galaxy S III 4G cannot be forced into 4G mode. Autoselect only.


    4G only works for data transfer. When entering or outgoing call smartphone automatically switches to 3G. It happens instantly, there are no delays.

    Alas, in 4G mode and more or less active use, the battery lasts only eight hours. And with 4G, GPS, WI-FI turned off, this special version of SGS III works less than a day.

    Another interesting observation. It turns out that Megafon has excellent 3G at Moscow metro stations. On my orange line at every station from Sviblovo to the center there was 3G and speeds in the region of 5 Mbps. Despite the fact that MTS has only 2G everywhere, except for Prospekt Mira, on the same site, and it does not always work.

    A big plus of 4G in Russian conditions is that while there are not very many 4G devices, the Internet works well at mass events, where 2G and 3G are choking on the number of people who want to go online. It's great that now Megafon has exactly the same tariffs for 4G Internet as for 3G / 2G: moscow.megafon.ru/internet.

    Today, 4G on a smartphone can be very interesting for those who need to transfer large amounts of information on the way, for those who are ready to sacrifice the time of a smartphone for the sake of a very fast work the Internet, and those who want to stay with mobile internet at public events.

    Is it always great to be able to switch from 3G to LTE for a subscriber? Not everything is so simple, the author of the publication that I translated for you is sure. The problem he describes is still relevant for countries where smartphones with simultaneous support for 3G and LTE have become widespread. Where is unlimited tariff plans for 3G and no unlimited for LTE. But for Russia in the near future, the topic may become relevant to some extent, so I recommend reading what the author managed to find out.

    On the one hand, the speed of downloading data increases. But if you have a plan with a data download limit, you should keep an eye on your data consumption. In the United States, this problem has now become particularly acute. Some operators "on the sly" of the appearance new iPhone with LTE support poach subscribers from existing unlimited plans for restricted rates. The question arises - if you are going to switch from unlimited to a tariff where traffic is limited at the level of your average monthly consumption - do you need to worry that your phone payments will suddenly increase?

    It turns out that this is quite possible. And one of the main advantages of LTE can turn against you - affordable speeds. You will not even notice how much more you will be browsing the Internet. The reason is simple - pages open faster, the connection is more stable and you will simply spend more time browsing, consuming more and more data. And this is perhaps the most basic "damaging factor" that will lead to the fact that you have to pay extra for traffic.

    Apps will consume even more data too

    We tested several apps and features with the iPhone 5 to see if there's a difference between using 3G and LTE networks. We measured the traffic consumption when using applications such as Pandora, FaceTime and Netflix for 6 minutes (this is a typical usage time according to statistics). The graph shows the total traffic (received and sent data) for each application during testing.


    As you can see, there are differences - if in the case of Pandora and FaceTime they are insignificant, then Netflix is ​​a real "data devourer".

    Application application strife

    In the case of Pandora, the music was streamed with the setting " high quality". If the "reduced quality" setting was used, then the traffic would be reduced by 30% relative to the data shown in the picture. But at the same time, for my personal taste, the sound would be 50% worse. Regardless of the quality settings, the data consumption is comparable when switching from 3G to LTE.And yet, even in 6 minutes, the difference was almost 1 MB.

    Even if your plan allows you to use iOS 6 FaceTime via cellular network, you should think twice before making non-Wi-Fi calls. We've been waiting for this feature for so long. mobile phone and finally got it... along with traffic restrictions. It may be convenient to use FaceTime in 3G or LTE mode, but the application consumes a lot of data. In 6 minutes we lost 30.8 MB over LTE and 27.8 MB over 3G.

    Netflix turned out to be a real "ambush"! It was during the tests of this application that the most significant difference in the volume of traffic consumption was revealed. The reasons are simple. Netflix adjusts the picture quality according to the available video streaming speed. While you're using this service over 3G, you're getting a relatively low-quality video stream, just enough to keep the show running, with some buffering. Low-quality video is also a small data consumption, in our case in 3G mode it was 27.1 MB. But through LTE, the difference in consumption turned out to be grandiose - 79.6 MB were required for the same fragment of the film. Yes, of course, we received a higher quality video stream, with a higher image resolution. That's just to notice the difference on " small screen" mobile device almost impossible. It is clear that on the Netflix website you can turn off the function for your account. auto tuning video upload quality. But at the very least, you need to remember to do this.

    So, is there a difference?

    Even if you use your LTE-enabled device in much the same way as you used it in 3G mode, your device will consume more data. Almost all comparative tests it is shown.

    This doesn't mean you should stay on "slow 3G", but it does make sense to keep an eye on your device's data usage. And, in some situations, turn off LTE support in order to use the good old 3G. This, of course, is not the best solution, but it seems to be the only way to avoid increasing your mobile Internet costs.

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