US carriers lie to Americans when they say they are 4G

An article posted on the PCWorld Magazine website analyzed the reports and data from the mobile industry and found that no wireless carrier in the United States actually has a 4G network while the companies persistently claim the opposite.

The previous month the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), a United Nations agency which creates global standards for communications technology, assessed existing networks and determined that neither WiMax, operated by Sprint Nextel and partner Clearwire, nor Long Term Evolution (LTE), soon to be launched by Verizon, could be called 4G networks. The ITU says that only LTE-Advanced and WiMax 2, which are only in the demo stage, would be considered a true 4G network.

Thus, the article notes that all American carriers are lying if they say they are 4G.

Meantime, it is very common for carriers to use new “G”, which is generation, for each new technological novelty even if it's not actually up to global 4G standards. And they will be further play-acting because in fact many Americans do not know what 3G or 4G mean, reports the Wall Street Journal.

T-Mobile justified naming its phone "myTouch 4G" by saying that although its network is technically a 3G HSPA+ network, its connection speeds are equal to that of 4G networks. And although its speed was impressive (4.5Mbps downloading and 0.66Mbps uploading in a couple of tests) the T-Mobile smartphone, featured in T-Mobile ads across the country, is still not really on a 4G network. (True 4G speeds would exceed 100Mbps for downloads, according to the ITU.)

Thus, carriers use 4G term for calling the improved version of their previous connection functionality, creating for the users the appearance of choice. Of course, users are always striving after faster speeds and, hence, they will likely choose 4G, because it's the latest and likely the fastest. Carriers know this and will claim the name whenever possible.

Meantime, the true 4G as defined by ITU won't be sold until late 2011 or 2012.