Hello,


After trolling numerous Gizmodo pages, I am becoming more and more frustrated by the loose application of the term 4G. 

T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon are each building "4G" networks, capable of "4G" speeds.  Sprint has chosen to deploy WiMax, Verizon has picked LTE and T-Mobile has decided that HSPA+ qualifies as 4G and have deployed across the country.  I've included the graphic from lifehacker below for interests sake.

Now what frustrates me is that these three carriers are all bragging about 4G networks when the speeds achieved are no higher than speeds currently available in NZ.  People bag on NZ operators all the time when in reality our speeds tend to be great.






My question is, how do these three American carriers get away with what looks like blatant false advertising.  It was my understanding that the ITU decided the industry standards for 4G not the Telco's.  To make matters worse, T-Mobile isn't even using a next-gen standard (please correct me if I'm wrong), they have deployed HSPA+!  Cheeky buggers, these are speeds and standards already implemented in NZ!  Should our Telco's start calling their networks 4G?

The American tech media has been going nuts recently about 4G but the article below is the one that inspired this rant.

http://lifehacker.com/5706644/everything-you-need-to-know-about-4g-mobile-broadband


I'd be interested in everybodies views


discuss