What is 4G and 4G+? Understand the differences and similarities 53656o

What is 2G, 3G, 4G and 4G+ 39z1n

Surely you are used to the abbreviations 3G, 4G and 4G+, and even the 5G has already been discussed and prepared. These abbreviations are used to denote the different generations of mobile internet technologies (the 'G' stands for Generation/Generation). In this sense, all of them have differences in relation to their technical specifications and protocol. 702x20

From the consumer's point of view, the most important difference is speed. Each new generation of mobile internet arrives to bring new heights of speed, connection stability and other improvements.

2G and 3G Internet 2t624j

2G networks were the ones that dominated mobile telephony in the 90s. This technology made its debut in 1991 and throughout the decade it received increments in the 2.5G and 2.75G standards (improvements in 2G but not yet another generation). O 2G's main specification standard is GSM (Global Sstandard for Mobile Communications), developed by European Telecommunications Standards Institute. Depending on the version, 2G internet can have speeds ranging from 40 Kbit/s to 500 Kbit/s.

Already 3G was commercially released in the early 2000s. Standard specification is IMT-2000, prepared by International Telecommunication Union. By specification, the speed of a 3G network has to be at least 200 Kbit/s, with 3.5G and 3.75G evolutions reaching several Mbit/s.

4G and 4G+ 61a3p

The 4G generation was the successor to 3G. The first commercial launch was in 2009 in Oslo, Norway. THE generation 4G is based on the LTE standard (Long-term evolution), which in turn is an evolution of the GSM / EDGE e UMTS/HSPA, latest evolutions of the third generation of mobile telephony.

In theory, on a 4G network you can reach up to 150 Mbit/s. In practice, the speed is around 20 Mbit/s. According to the latest report by the Opensignal, Claro had the network Fastest 4G in Brazil (November/2016 data) with 27.5 Mbit/s average rate.

4G+, also known as LTE Advanced ou LTE-A, is an evolution of the LTE standard to allow higher speeds and improve stability and propagation capacity (which facilitates the expansion of the operators' coverage network). At the 4G+ it is possible to reach speeds of up to 450 Mbit/s, with average rates typically around 120 Mbit/s.

In the graph above, the LTE-A network would be right after LTE, reaching the threshold of 400 Mbit/s (note that the scale of the graph is in Kbit/s, not Mbit/s). GPRS and EDGE are second generation (2G) technologies. UMTS and HSDPA are third generation (3G) technologies.

4G+ in Brazil 4l3d2q

Attila White, director of mobile engineering at vivo, informed the showmetech which there are currently about 60 cities with the technology implemented by the operator.

“What characterizes 4G+ is the aggregation of carriers to improve the and rates of a typical 4G customer. Currently, Vivo has aggregation of two and three carriers, reaching data rates up to two times higher than a conventional 3G data connection”.

Carriers are the signal waves that are modulated to transmit information.

As complemented by vivo, other evolutions adopted in 4G+ that differentiate it from 4G are: “A new form of data modulation, called 256 QAM, and 4×4 MIMO, which allows more beams to be transmitted and received from a mobile device, helping to increase data rates” .

In Brazil, TIM, Claro and Vivo started offering the service in 2016. According to Átila, “the 4G+ network uses the current frequencies of 2600 and 1800 with aggregation of two carriers. As the 700MHz frequency used for Analog TV is released, it will be used to add more bands to 4G+”

Until 5G arrives… 6vc7

Until the arrival of 5G, expected for something around 2020 4G+ will have time to expand and become more popular as carrier coverage expands and plan prices become more palatable. If you want to know how much better the 4G+ network is compared to traditional 4G, here is the explanation by Átila Branco, from Vivo, on the matter:

“The 4G+ network has two major benefits. As we are aggregating low frequencies with high frequencies, in addition to achieving higher and rates, the level of coverage improves a lot. So, in addition to covering more customers, we improve everyone's connectivity experience. Furthermore, using 700MHz and 1800MHz frequencies in 4G can help accelerate the adoption of the Internet of Things, as IoT devices tend to use these frequencies. Any customer who has a device that s these frequencies is entitled to try them. It is important that it is enabled for 4G+ functionality”.

Cities like São Paulo already have the 4G+ network. To find out if your device is compatible with the technology, click here.