4G announcement today?

iamsporticus

Being in the market for a new contract phone I read a while ago that the Orange/TMobile combined beast had a press thing planned today
Coincidentally the day before the iphone one too

Surely this is something about 4G but Id have thought it would have been leaked a bit more effectively, in fact I cant even remember where I saw the original article

Im curious to see how this pans out, which phones are enabled and at what cost before I then go and (probably) still buy a Galaxy S3 at hopefully a bit more of a discount

Gossip suggests the iphone WONT be 4G although the Nokias might - with their super cameras LOL

Im waiting to see what happens over the next 36h with interest....

iamsporticus

Crikey!
Lots of choice on phones

But I dont see myself getting a 4G Galaxy for the £26/month that would get me a 3G one

Does anyone know when you can actually buy them?

http://ee.co.uk/#section-digital-life

hisfadgesty

November has been the touted date... Sooner the better

spiro

You need to remember that USA and UK 4G will operate on different frequencies plus the USA also has 4G LTE which I think is a 'light' version of 4G.

jayme1

spiro wrote: »

You need to remember that USA and UK 4G will operate on different frequencies plus the USA also has 4G LTE which I think is a 'light' version of 4G.

That just means you can't take an LTE hadset from the US and use it in the UK and vise versa.

The actual LTE is the same on both, strictly speaking LTE is not true 4G as it is based on 3G technologies, but they (the networks, the standards authority and the world) have decided to call it 4G because it sounds better than 3.9G.
But the US networks (AT&T and T-mobile) have been calling HSPA+ 4G (because Verizon had LTE so they had to try to compete) whereas we call it 3G because it's basically lying calling it 4G.

I just have one hope about LTE in the UK and that is they offer realistic data limits, measly 500MB or even 2GB isn't going to cut it.

Also it looks like LTE handsets will be able to be used on everyones LTE networks the Nokia Lumia 920 can use LTE on LTE 800/900/1800/2100/2600 (800/1800 and 2600 are the ones we need for the UK), my biggest fear was that LTE handsets could be network bound because they didn't support all the frequencies.

buscape

LTE is proper 4G. 42Mbps HSPA+ is the 'light' 4G which US networks have been marketing as 4G when it isn't. The Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G is an example of this.

iamsporticus wrote:

Gossip suggests the iphone WONT be 4G although the Nokias might - with their super cameras

I'd be amazed if the new iPhone isn't 4G, it's too important a feature to leave out. The new Nokias will be pentaband 4G so they'll work on any 4G network in the world.

http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_lumia_920-4967.php
http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_lumia_820-4968.php

jayme1

iamsporticus wrote: »

Gossip suggests the iphone WONT be 4G although the Nokias might - with their super cameras LOL

Latest reports are that it will contain 'global' LTE, the important bands for Europe are 800/900/1800/2600 of which 1800 is EEs current LTE, I can see Apple providing LTE for Europe, but as with all US countries their top priority will be providing LTE for the US networks, meaning the 700MHz band in the GSM version for AT&T if they can't fit the 800/900/1800/2600 into the same phone then I reckon there will be 2 GSM iPhones one for the US and another for the world.

buscape wrote: »

The new Nokias will be pentaband 4G so they'll work on any 4G network in the world.

not everywhere, the USs 700/1700/1900 LTE networks aren't supported, there are 43 LTE frequencies that can be used, no phone is going to support the entire world, but it should work in all of Europe, Asia and Australia no problem.

spadoosh

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19556015

Guessing thats part of the press release

More keen for tomorrows!

buscape

jayme1 wrote: »

not everywhere, the USs 700/1700/1900 LTE networks aren't supported, there are 43 LTE frequencies that can be used, no phone is going to support the entire world, but it should work in all of Europe, Asia and Australia no problem.

Thanks for that, I was under the (misguided) impression that there were only 5 LTE bands.

diamonds

iphone 5 is meant to be LTE as China Mobile the worlds biggest network is rumoured to finally get Apple phones

Orange & T-Mobile sims/plans will NOT work with LTE phones/network & a EE plan will be needed for 4G access which no doubt will be expensive costing in internet access, which makes 3UK on 21mbps a better deal in the short term over T-Mobile/Orange plans with very limited data allowances over 3UK "all you can eat" £3 bundle.

T-Mobile/Orange brands are being upgraded to 21mbps, and EE will start showing on customers of both brands handsets in next few months & the completion of merging both networks backhaul is complete.

Frankly 3's 21mbps will do the majority of people for a upto a decade & people will continue using LTE handsets on 3G networks upto 42mbps for a long time coming ! (or EE close Orange/T-Mobile brands)

When the NEW 4G licences/operators all start building out it is going to be a interesting landscape in handsets & plans for us mere mortal consumers

It really will be a big thing compared to 3G

Orange/T-Mobile will now sell home FIBRE broadband under the EE brand & Orange Broadband brand will merge into & disappear as a broadband "provider" which given its track record publically is no bad thing. No doubt as a BT Infinity reseller, with ADSL, ADSL MAX, ADSL2+ transfered to the new EE brand.

Those customers merged/taking EE broadband will get a EE mobile plan discount.

slingo

Does anyone know what the impact of 4g will have on existing technology, i.e. will 3g devices become obsolete like VHS recorders, or will we have a two tier infrastructure? Will 3g deals become cheaper? What impact has this had in other parts of the world where 4g already exists? I'm looking to get a new contract for my wife, but I don't want to sign up for another 3g handset for two years if its going to be useless within a few months...... :sad: