American wireless carriers have been touting 4G for over a year now, including Sprint, T-Mobile and AT&T in nearly all their advertising and even on their phones. Fact is, 4G is hardly available yet, offered solely by Verizon Wireless on a few select devices in very limited markets and speed tests aren't exactly impressive over their competitors. As most techies know, 4G is actually a term given to the next generation of wireless technology called LTE which will bring broadband speeds in the high double digits to even over 100Mbps, anywhere within coverage areas. It will be a long time before we get it. So before you buy into the Canadian hype, remember that right now
4G is a lie.
However, just recently the international Telecommunications Union lowered the standards of what defines "4G", thus making pretty much every network in North America already operating at 3G+ (HSPA+) suddenly a 4G network. It's a big fat joke. And as you've no doubt noticed, the marketing teams are milking it as much as possible!
Even LTE, which is still in its infancy and won't be widespread for at least another couple years or more, isn't quite true 4G. It's technically 3.9G. This makes the claim of current HSPA+ networks being "4G" even more silly.
On this side of the border, Bell, Telus, and other regional carriers have started the 4G marketing blitz as well. And as always, if one carrier claims it, they all start to follow like sheep.
Only Rogers, Fido, Wind, and Mobilicity have thus far resisted lying to the public about their networks. Today it was just
announced that at least Rogers is finally bowing to pressure and will be "re-branding" their network to 4G (no doubt thanks to Bellus confusing Canadian customers). I wonder if Fido will suddenly be "4G" now too, since they share the same network? And just for a refresher, here's a quote from Rogers just a couple months ago:
Finally, a note on 4G: While there is confusion about what constitutes 4G technology, we won’t use that term to refer to the HSPA+ technology that Rogers first introduced in North America in 2009. When Rogers says 4G, we mean LTE. - Keith McArthur, Senior Director of Social Media at Rogers, Feb 16, 2011
I guess he didn't really mean it. Or wait, this is ROGERS we're talking about. ;)
Considering that 4G by Rogers/Bell/Telus standards means nothing and is the same network they're already using, it's a simple task to simply find-and-replace 3G with 4G on all sales materials.
Or maybe they'll leave Fido at 3G to create the illusion that the Rogers network is somehow a
premium service and can charge more hahahaha.
Here's hoping that real 4G (LTE and beyond) is in our near future anyways, so we can finally put all this marketing hogwash to rest. Unless, of course, they try calling LTE "5G" when it really comes out. Wouldn't be surprised.
SIDE NOTE: I noticed Rogers is coining the term "4G HSPA+" instead of just "4G". This makes it a little more honest I guess. And it leaves room for future "4G LTE".
