4G is Upon Us, But What Kind of Difference Will It Actually Make?

Today, everything hinges on being connected. If you’re not connected, you might as well be dead. Or at least shut up in a room somewhere where nobody has to put up with your pre-dated, technophobic ramblings of baffled confusion.

If you’re not Tweeting about every last miniscule movement you make, or updating your status accompanied by endless pictures of food for reasons nobody seems to be able or willing to comprehend, then you’re not part of this century my friends.

Oh no. When it comes to businesses, if you don’t have the correct, impossibly detailed, employee-sneeze monitoring dashboard software, you’ll get left slowly spooning the dust of your competitors into your tear-soaked mouth. Or something, you get the jist.

 The 3G Crawl

Having a slow internet connection can be not only infuriating, but also genuinely damaging to your business proactivity. If you can’t get to that email, view those statistics or easily calculate real-time profit margins, you’ll miss out.

With using public Wi-Fi akin to being stuck behind a never-ending procession of tractors turning an endless blind-bend on a B-road, how can we possibly be expected to rely on the crawling and undependable, network-specific 3G services to keep us going?

Well. Now we don’t have to. Or almost, anyway. Because ladies and gentlemen, 4G is finally here! Well, for some of you.

4G has Landed

Yes EE, the UK’s first 4G provider, has already released the service to the handful of major cities that are first on the hit list, and with many more to be hooked up in the coming months, the technologies rocky start is already looking to be levelling!

Image Licensed Under Attribution

Super Speed

Whilst many have speculated that 4G will run faster than many home broadband connections, it is reportedly said to at least double the capabilities of 3G. Currently 3G is supposed to hit home at around 42Mbps, whereas this fourth generation of mobile internet will allow for up to 100Mbps across its individual spectrum.

But essentially these are all just numbers, and until the service is out in the open, stable and ready to be stress tested to its fullest extent (8 million Londeners all trying to watch the same video of a cat playing the piano?) we can but speculate.

Solution for the Sticks

And speculate is what we shall do! Many tech sites have cited the imminent widespread release as one that will bridge the very outward gap that currently exists for users in rural areas unable to receive good broadband signals. With slow-loading, buffering and simple non-response a common occurrence with 3G, having all that eradicated would surely provide a suitably steadfast resolution for those out in the sticks? Revolution!

Of course, as a business person, out on the road, having access to a network that would not only allow you to view emails with ease, but to also download and view larger, more complicated files with no issue, would increase the rate of work you could accomplish away from the desk; and as we’re continually being shown, the inner workings of the business of tomorrow will take place away from such stationary islands of imprisonment.

Months Away

So when will we be able to really get to grips with 4G? If you’re not taking up EE in their jump-the-gun extravaganza, then it looks like 02, Vodafone, and the rest will be playing catch up in May, which is still a considerable length of time away. And when it comes to technology, consumers wait for no man.

The auction process has been revealed, and as each of EE’s competitors bid for a frequency upon which they may supply a stable 4G network for their customers, advertisement has already begun offering customers the chance to switch contracts for a reduced fee in May.

Can 4G be the mobile internet saviour? To say proceedings have gotten off to an uneven start would be generous, but EE are dealing with a brand new type of connection alone, and, indeed, have plenty of time to iron out the kinks. Are you excited for 4G? Will a faster mobile internet revolutionize your business? Or will you manage on snail’s pace 3G and stick to WiFi until the early-adopter issues have been stamped out?

   Rob Vicars

About the Guest Author:

This article was written by Rob Vicars on behalf of iHotdesk. For IT Support that ensures your business keeps moving whether you’re on 3G, 4G or no-G at all, give iHotdesk a call today!