Comments on: The newest overhyped mobile industry buzzword: LTE-Advanced

By: Kevin

Kevin — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 14:47:23 +0000

Thank you for a very well written article, I learned a few things from it. I do have a small issue with your information, going by the information on your own chart, LTE release 10 is considered LTE Advanced. T-Mobile has already said that the LTE network they are launching this year in the AWS band is a release 10 network. So yes they are coming late to the party, but at least they are not really “overhyping” the network. Also, if you wanted lower prices for data, good luck with ATT and Verizon. I will be sticking with the unlimited, unthrottled and uncongested data I get at T-Mobile. Even with the HSPA network that gets so much undeserved scorn, I average over 7 mbps down, and often see 10+. There is not anything I am capable of doing with my phone that would be improved with any faster speed. It all just becomes pointless speedtest bragging rights after that.Just my two cents.

By: hi

hi — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 01:57:19 +0000

well you’re right on the misdirection from the carriers. AT&T’s “Largest 4G LTE network” (including true 3g customers) and T-Mobiles’ “Largest 4G Network” (hypothetically speaking). I’m waiting for True 3g (TM)

By: Rick

Rick — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 16:59:33 +0000

I agree, using the lowest common denominator to claim you’re bleeding edge is like a playground game of King of the Hill. It doesn’t make Broadcom (or any other offending vendor) the best, and it’s a disservice to anyone utilizing their products. I was just curious what the threshold was (if one existed, which it doesn’t- unfortunately) and asking for clarification of release vs. bandwidth.

Here’s to “LTE-Advanced capable” components. Ha.

By: Kevin Fitchard

Kevin Fitchard — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 01:02:10 +0000

Hey Rick,

You’re right. I should have been clearer. I wasn’t trying to imply that once Broadcom hits this DL or UL UE metric it will be LTE-Advanced. There are so many things in the LTE-Advanced standard, there is no set definition of when a network becomes “Advanced”. My problem is that the industry is using that as loophole to say “as soon as I meet one spec, I can call my product LTE-Advanced.” In some weird world that may be technically accurate, but I think it’s very misleading. What’s wrong with just having a damn good LTE network? Why do we have falsely imply we’ve suddenly jumped a generation of technology?

By: Rick

Rick — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 20:42:33 +0000

1) “According to the standards group that defines these things — the 3GPP — at the very least an LTE-Advanced carrier should deliver more than 300 Mbps of downlink capacity or more than 50 Mbps of uplink capacity.”
2) By your chart, Category 4 devices support 150.8 Mbps down/51.0 Mbps up.
3) “Broadcom is only halfway to even the minimum definition of LTE-Advanced’s speed specs of 300 Mbps.”

Should the first quote be “more than 300 Mbps of downlink capacity *AND* more than 50 Mbps of uplink capacity,” or is the definition of LTE vs. LTE-Advanced categorized by the Release 8/Release 10? I only ask for because by points 1 and 2 above, the Broadcom chip does meet the “or more than 50 Mbps of uplink capacity” required.

Regardless, over-marketing like this sucks, and I agree: it needs to stop.

By: Dan Warren

Dan Warren — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 13:10:29 +0000

AH Kevin, you do know how to pull at my heart strings. I have issued similar rants about ’4G’ and the bastardisation of that term. LTE-Advanced is going the same way – if someone in a company has had a flick through a R10 spec, then that makes it LTE-Advanced compatible.

Tech terms used for marketing is never a good combination. Someone always ends up upset and confused. Usually the customer.

By: Kevin Fitchard

Kevin Fitchard — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 05:09:27 +0000

Thanks Dan,

Yep, you’re right. The carrier aggregation uses for HSPA+ is different than the one used for LTE-Advanced, which bonds non-contiguous bands. But T-Mobile says the LTE network it is currently building supports that technique, which is part of Release 10 and therefore qualifies as an LTE-Advanced technology.

By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 02:51:41 +0000

Good article. Though there may be one error in the information. I don’t believe T-Mobile’s 42Mbps is true carrier aggregation as described in the LTE Advanced standard. I thought T-Mobile simply bonded two adjacent 5MHz channels (meaning side by side in the frequency domain) essentially mimicking one of the defined LTE 8 standard channel sizes. True carrier aggregation works (can bond together) with dissimilar channel sizes and with channels/frequencies bonded together from different bands with different propagation characteristics. This is a much more technically challenging feat to pull off.

By: Jill Van Nostran

Jill Van Nostran — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 15:12:38 +0000

Love this. Thanks Kevin.

By: Paul O'Flaherty

Paul O'Flaherty — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 00:24:32 +0000

I wonder if the drop in price is less a result of technological advancement, as it is the fact that there is a price above which it becomes economically unviable for people to use data on their mobile, and despite the carriers desire to do so, they simply cannot charge above those rates?