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HSPA+ vs. LTE: 2G, 3G and 4G explained

All that confusion about mobile internet speeds and the upgrade to the 4G network has got us all excited and frustrated at the same time. I tried to explain it here before but I though this short video from HakTip should give us all a nice and simple explanation.

I have to admit I did not know EDGE’s theoretical speed could be faster than the old 3G. Though it’s been obvious from the start that Globe’s HSPA+ and Smart’s LTE aren’t really 4G, it’s just that 4G sounds better than 3.5G or 3.9G (so, okay they just rounded it up).

I’d like to stress what Jason said — the generation does not dictate the actual speed. This means 4G is no better than 3G since it’s the actual speed that’s what matters most, not the theoretical.

Abe Olandres
Abe Olandres
Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.
  1. amen to that! imagine Smart claims to have the widest network coverage and yet no 3G connection available at our hometown in Tigbauan, iloilo???

    • they say widest meaning they’ve covered data support in MOST areas. Widest doesn’t mean they’re claiming they’ve got the entire land mass of the country covered.

      Our country being a great number of islands as opposed to one giant mass of land makes it really tough to setup service in some areas.

  2. @ Abe: I didn’t know that EDGE has that theoretical speed. All along I thought it was only 384Kbps. Thanks for the post.

  3. Interesting post.. and informative. It all boils down to consistency of the bandwidth and the provider, and if your current phone meets your everyday needs.

  4. Smart and Globe really wants to make a hype and this is evident with their never ending plug with their “4G” network. But in reality, they are all crap!!!

    Anyway, this video is a nice piece of info for those hoodwinked by telecom spells.

  5. Wi-Tribe (connected to PLDT = SMart) first made a fake 4G claim with it’s broadband offer last year. As far as my research and studies I believe the technology was only WiMax. Globe only claimed WiMax connection at that time. I think Globe has more integrity when it comes to this. It is expected for 4G in PHL to be not too fast as expected since it is designed to be backward compatible with legacy devices which slows down the network.

    • correction Wi-Tribe is connected with Liberty Telecoms and not PLDT Smart – my bad

    • Wimax along with HSPA+ and LTE has been considered by ITU(International Telecommunications Union) as 4G technology despite its technical specs only qualifying for 3.9G. And Technologies such as LTE-Advanced and WiMax-advanced actually qualifying for 4G has been termed as “4G”. In short, there’s a technicality play with the words for Wi-Tribe and technically speaking, they weren’t lying..^^,)

      Just an info!^^,)

  6. thanks for the video. at least now i can understand the differences of those speeds in my phone and my internet

  7. as if these telcos make these tech jargons like 3g and 4g bandwagon better sounding when it’s not. kinda misleading..

  8. Really informative.

    However, I find the picture of the woman really freaky.

  9. blahblahblah! all this crap. They always tell about 4G but not every place has 3G coverage yet. For us consumers, reliabilty and quality of service comes first. Who cares about the maximum speed if you’ve got only an average the same of those in 2G?

  10. i remember, nagsubscribe ako sa postapid services ng GLOBE. P 1800 ang MSF ko. sinadya ko kasi gusto ko maginternet lagi gamit phone ko. sa simula, okay pa. after 4 months, di na ako makaconnnect. sabi nila nag uupgrade sila. 3G pa lng kasi noon. punyeta, ngayon, di na ako makaconnect. yong mga 3g lng ang connections, pinabayaan nila for the sake of those availing of wimax ang 4g. punyeta.

  11. I’m surprised with Edge. I’m in Chicago and currently using T-Mobile and their Edge is as fast as my 3G experience with GlobeTel with my postpaid plan with iPhone.

  12. The reason why these companies uses 4G too much is because 4G hasn’t actually been defined properly. I know that in the U.S. they are still fighting what technology will claim the “4G” title, mainly LTE and HSPA+ (i know there’s another one but can’t remember it).

    Please correct me if im wrong ^_^

    • it was passed like so last year.. where have you been?

      http://www.dailywireless.org/2010/10/21/itu-the-official-4g-standard-approved/

  13. Thats entertaining way to distinguish 3g and 4g, or better yet amusing.

  14. Providers: Just give us a decent, consistent speed and a wider coverage, and that should be enough.

  15. This is the most non-boring information video I’ve seen about this topic.

    Now, how do I +1 this?

  16. I am now using Globe superstick. It reaches 5Mbps sometimes 6mbps but I am not sure whether I am already using 4G. Since I need to put on the window of my mother’s room.

    • its still 3G or 3G+…definitely not 4G

  17. nice video but aint complete, the G based on standard does relate to the data speeds though, that’s why it kept getting up starting from 2G b/c the objective was always to increase data speeds, but then, that’s just the standard, next is the technology to implement the specs from the standard, you can always setup a network that can deliver upto 4G speeds but at the end of that day, question is, how much does a user gets, and problem will always be that what the user paid for isn’t what he/she gets :(

  18. lets use a car analogy.

    “G” is like the absolute no holds barred top speed of your car. Is this important? Yes but practically speaking other things are more important coz they determine the final speed

    * the plan offered by your ISP = the local speed limit
    * the reliability of the network = how often lanes or the entire road is closed for repair
    * cap = odd even traffic management scheme
    * congestion = traffic

    • Using the same analogy, G would stand for the gear, so u have first, second, third, fourth and possibly fifth gear where each has defined range of speed. Exactly the same as with data speeds. Plain and simple. Thing is you can’t expand the road as fast as you want unlike in wireless where it can significantly change really fast. But then carriers would have to provide more capacity and this is exactly what they limit. Increasing capacity would need more money same as you would expand a road. Capacity should be adjusted based on user demand. And not have a fix capacity and let all users have some of it regardless how little they get.

  19. HEY, Wait a minute. The video has a mistake near the end. He correctly made the distinction between LTE which is 3.9g and LTE Advanced which is 4g. He did not make the same distinction with wimax. Correct me if i’m wrong but Wimax e or 802.16e which is what smart, globe and wi-tribe have in the phils is 3.9g. Wimax only becomes 4g at M (wimax m or 802.16m) and above

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