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Data transmission in fourth generation networks 4g. Types of mobile Internet - deciphering abbreviations

Good mobile internet just works. And yet, the Internet is different from the Internet. It can be designated by the symbols 3G, 4G, LTE - out of ignorance, you won’t immediately understand what the difference is. Many people have probably heard that 4G is better than 3G, but why? We will try to answer this and other questions about 4G.

I know that my smartphone supports 4G networks, but the gadget does not connect to them. What can be wrong?

If you know for sure that you are in a 4G network coverage area, then the problem may be with your phone. On iPhone you can enable 4G in settings. Go to “Cellular Data”, then to “Data Options”. Make sure the LTE switch is turned on.

On Android smartphones, you can select the network mode in the settings in the “Wireless networks” section, then select “Mobile network”, then select “Preferred network mode”, where you need to activate the “4G/3G/2G” option.

Another problem may lie in the fact that your Android smartphone can work with two SIM cards at once. Accordingly, there are two options for installing a single SIM card. However, only one of them provides mobile Internet connection. The solution is simple - move the SIM card according to the instructions for your smartphone to another place intended for it.

4G is an abbreviation for the English fourth generation. This is a general designation for several fourth-generation mobile communications technologies, the latest for today. The most common 4G technology is the LTE standard. In this sense, LTE and 4G are synonyms. The 4G standard was created to make mobile Internet faster than 3G. For a similar reason, several years ago 3G technologies replaced 2G.

What is the difference between 3G and 4G?

Calls

Through the 3G network you can make calls and connect to the mobile Internet - any smartphone allows this. However, on the MTS network, calls via 4G open up a new level of voice quality, although this is not yet supported by all smartphones. For compatibility, you need a gadget with the VoLTE function - there is a constantly updated list of smartphones with it. Conversations via 4G are already available to MTS subscribers in more than fifty Russian regions - there is a list of them. While 4G calls are not available to everyone and not everywhere, all 4G smartphones can simultaneously work in 3G networks and even 2G networks - so that you can always make a call.

Internet

For mobile Internet users, the main thing is that 4G Internet is faster than 3G. What does it mean? Pages in the browser on your smartphone or tablet load in less time, you can watch videos over the Internet with better quality, and the picture in your mobile online games does not freeze at the most crucial moment.

Faster means more expensive. So?

For users of all MTS tariffs, it makes no difference what technology you use to connect to the mobile Internet. 4G is neither cheap nor expensive. It's just faster.

Why is it important for me to understand the differences between 4G and 3G?

In order to make the right choice when buying a new gadget. Be sure to pay attention to whether it supports 4G networks. Only such a device can provide high speed mobile Internet. And speed is your comfort, your time.

However, almost all new gadgets are released with 4G support - for every taste and budget. For example, you can buy a suitable smartphone for less than 4,000 rubles.

Did you know that...

Finally, some interesting facts about 4G.

The first commercial 4G network went live in December 2009 in Sweden.
Cellular network subscribers in many countries pay more for 4G Internet than for 3G Internet. The logic is that a more modern network gives higher speed and more opportunities. In Russia, operators, as a rule, do not make separate tariffs for mobile networks of different generations.
On Android smartphones and iOS gadgets, 4G network connection indicators look different. In the first case, it is the inscription 4G. In the second - LTE.
MTS was the first of all Russian operators to launch LTE networks in all Russian regions. You can find out about 4G network coverage on the operator’s website.
5G networks will also certainly appear, and they will certainly be better than 4G. In 2019, MTS launched the first test zones with communications of the future.

Modern technologies, in particular the development of the Internet and wireless communications, have transformed the world beyond recognition. The population enjoys not only free access to all kinds of information, but also unique opportunities for communication and fun leisure activities. At the same time, the level of quality of the Internet connection, as well as the speed of data transfer, is of great importance. And in our time, the development of these technologies has reached unprecedented heights. Despite the widespread introduction of the new generation of communications, few people still know what 4G means.

1. What is 4G

4G in English means fourth generation. This is a promising generation of wireless communications, which has high data transfer speeds, as well as higher quality voice communications. This generation of communications includes such promising technologies that provide data transmission speeds over a wireless network of at least 10 Mbit/s to moving users. So what does 4G mean? This is the fourth generation of mobile communications, which has a lot of undeniable advantages.

Based on research and numerous evaluations of various 4G broadband technologies, which is known as IMT-Advenced. Based on the evaluation results, only two technologies were awarded the official title of IMT-Advenced. These are promising technologies LTE-Advenced, as well as WirelessMAN-Advenced. These two technologies today fall under the 4G standard - the fourth generation of wireless communications.

2. How 4G works

4G communication systems are based on packet data transfer protocols. This technology uses the IPv4 protocol to transmit information, but in the future it is planned to support the IPv6 protocol.

Modern 4G technology is of great importance in providing broadband Internet access in rural areas, since it is more justified to install one 4G station than to install a fiber optic connection. One station is capable of providing high-speed communications over tens of kilometers.

3. Benefits of 4G

Today it is very difficult to evaluate the advantages of high-speed fourth generation communications, since they are very numerous. Using such technologies, enormous amounts of all kinds of information become available to users. The need to wait for complex and consuming web pages to open, as well as long waits for downloading a large enough file, such as a movie, etc., are becoming a thing of the past.

It is the high speed of data transfer over a wireless network, as well as high quality voice communications, that are the main advantages of the fourth generation of 4G mobile communications. This in turn entails increased convenience and significant time savings, which is the main requirement of users. In addition, 4G mobile communications provide users with the opportunity to access the Internet absolutely anywhere (where there is 4G coverage) and at any time.

Thanks to the introduction of fourth-generation wireless communication technology, Internet television in high quality (HD) will become available to users. In addition, people will be able to create video calls as well as video conferences. 4G support for mobile devices opens up a lot of new opportunities.

4. WHAT IS 4G LTE: Video

Thanks to such technologies, many people will be able to perform certain actions remotely. For example, doctors will be able to manage robotic operating rooms while on another continent.

These days, there are several technologies that claim to be the fourth generation of mobile communications. These are technologies such as:

TD-LTE;
Mobile WiMAX;
HSPA+.

Despite this diversity, most mobile operators choose LTE technology, and it is this technology that is developing in Russia and Ukraine. Currently, the data transfer speed in 4G networks based on LTE technology is about 30 Mbit/s, but in the future this figure is planned to increase to 300 Mbit/s.

4G communications are the future of wireless networks. Many users today have the opportunity to experience all the benefits of this technology for themselves. At the same time, once you try 4G, you will never want to go back to 3G and such a slow connection.

Gradually, 4G networks are becoming as common as 3G, and mobile Internet is an integral part of the modern user of a smartphone or other mobile device. Currently, the mobile network helps us use all sorts of things, navigate the area, read news and communicate. Much less often we can afford to download audio and video files. Modern online services require rapid development of wireless technologies, increasing their speeds and quality of service. The latest and most advanced mobile communication standard introduced today is LTE technology, which belongs to the fourth generation of cellular communications (4G) and provides data transmission at speeds of up to 100 Mbit/s. Thanks to 4G, we can already use YouTube and watch videos in HD quality. Under ideal conditions, the speed of LTE networks is comparable to a wired connection. An LTE improvement - LTE Advanced with a speed of 300 Mbit/s should also be released soon. For example, 1.5 GB of data will be downloaded in a minute. The main advantage of the newest generations of cellular communications is an increase in data transfer speeds in conditions of congested radio frequency ranges. This frequency spectrum is used not only by cellular operators, but also by TV companies, satellite communication providers, and about a dozen different telecommunications businesses. LTE makes it possible to use the radio spectrum more efficiently and provides access to modern services to a larger number of users simultaneously.

Technically available speed is up to 74 Mbit/s, but in fact it will be lower depending on the location of the signal reception, network congestion and the performance of your mobile device (speed limitation due to processor capabilities). You will be able to achieve a speed of 74 Mbit/s only near base stations, and in Moscow, with normal network load, the average speed will be from 10-20 Mbit/s.

Transition to LTE standard

The transition to LTE entails the purchase of new models of mobile devices, since older smartphones and tablets cannot use the existing slots for 3G SIM cards for the 4G generation. You will have to choose a new gadget from the LTE devices officially presented in Russia, since unofficially supplied equipment may be blocked by the operator or the frequency range may not be supported. Then you will need to change your SIM card from your operator (for free) to one that supports LTE. In this case, you may have to reconnect mobile Internet banking and some other services where mobile authorization was used.

Selecting an operator and tariff

LTE technology for voice transmission (Voice over LTE) is still unavailable in Russia, and as for Internet access, the mobile operator Scartel offers unique unlimited tariffs. The most affordable tariff starts from 400 rubles/month with a maximum speed of 512 kbit/s. The price of the most expensive is 1,400 rubles per month in Moscow and St. Petersburg and 850 rubles per month in the regions. It offers speeds of up to 20 Mbps. Scartel subscribers can change their tariff plan as often as they like, and if there are no funds in their account, they can use free Internet access at speeds of up to 64 kbit/s.

MegaFon has limited traffic on its LTE network: up to 40 GB per month (20 GB each day and night). To work with LTE, you need to connect the option for data transfer with a subscription fee from 1000 to 3000 rubles per month. There are also speed restrictions: the maximum speed in inexpensive LTE options is limited to 10 Mbit/s, but in expensive tariffs there are no speed limits, compared to Scartel.

LTE network in Moscow is also provided by MTS. The tariffs of this company are somewhat more comfortable than those of MegaFon: the subscription fee ranges from 500 to 1,400 rubles per month, the maximum traffic volume is from 4 to 25 GB, and the speed is not limited. However, the coverage area of the MTS network is slightly lower than that of MegaFon/Skartel.

Beeline's 4G network also operates in Moscow, and its launch in St. Petersburg is next. To connect it, you will need to get a USIM card with LTE support. The 4G coverage of Beeline's network in Moscow is greater than that of MTS, but less than that of MegaFon.

Selecting 4G devices

The initial problems of device compatibility with Russian LTE networks, as they were previously, have now been practically resolved and Russian users have access to a good selection of gadgets: about 30 devices with LTE support, the vast majority of which are modems and smartphones.

The Scartel company offers users a proprietary USB modem and a pocket Wi-Fi router with LTE support, as well as an Internet center for connecting multiple devices. The cost of the devices is 3000, 5000 and 6000 rubles, respectively. The router has a SIM card, but you cannot use it in another device. The company also recommends a number of Sony VAIO laptop models with built-in LTE modules.

Megafon initially offered only a USB modem for 3,000 rubles. Now you can get it for free, but you need to pay for two months of access to LTE Internet. The modem is much larger in size than the analogue from Scartel, but it provides operation in both LTE, 3G and GSM networks. A little later, a pocket Wi-Fi router costing 4,500 rubles appeared, again with support for both LTE and previous technologies. Megafon provides subscribers with a significantly larger coverage area. In addition, the modem from MegaFon supports both types of LTE - FDD and TDD.

It is worth noting that through the use of full-fledged SIM cards, the range of LTE subscriber equipment available to MegaFon users is constantly expanding. Thus, Megafon presented the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 tablet and the Samsung Galaxy S III LTE smartphone. The list of phones supporting LTE-FDD in the 2.5-2.7 GHz range is also growing: HTC Evo 4G, Sony Xperia ion, Nokia Lumia 900 and iPhone 5c/5s.

MTS uses TDD technology, and its range of subscriber equipment is limited to a USB modem and a pocket Wi-Fi router manufactured by Huawei. The cost of the devices is 2000 and 4800 rubles, respectively. Last year in Moscow, MTS also deployed an LTE-FDD network.

Apple iPad Air
Apple iPhone 5s
Sony Xperia Tablet Z
Sony Xperia Z
LG G2
Nokia Lumia 925, 1020 and 1520
Samsung Galaxy S III LTE
HTC One
Samsung Galaxy S4
BlackBerry Q10
HTC One Mini
Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini

Mobile routers

Megafon Space is a convenient device for home or office use in places where a wired Internet connection cannot be established. You can connect up to 32 devices to one router via Wi-Fi, a phone via VoIP - and still stay connected at LTE-Advanced speeds (up to 300 Mbit/s). The price of the device is steep and amounts to 12,000 rubles.

The Huawei E392 4G Modem can be purchased separately, without being tied to a telecom operator. But it’s more profitable to take a branded device from MTS. It is worth noting that the modem operates in both the FDD and TDD ranges. It also has a slot for microSD memory cards and a low price of 900 rubles.

A 4G Wi-Fi router from MTS comes complete with the MTS Connect-4 tariff plan. The original name of the device is Huawei E5776s-22. It is capable of switching between 2G/3G/4G standards and distributing the Internet to ten users. Depending on the number of connected devices, the battery life can be up to ten devices.

LTE standard and its variations: LTE Advanced

While LTE networks are just being deployed, some operators are testing a new technology - LTE Advanced. The Scartel operator has created two pilot LTE Advanced zones in Moscow. The speed on this network can reach 300 Mbit/s. But the main advantage of this technology is the ability for the operator to share different frequency sections from different ranges with a total width of up to 100 MHz. True, subscriber devices for this standard are not yet on sale.

Two varieties of LTE: FDD and TDD

A feature of LTE is a wide range of bands. At the same time, the description of the standard indicates which parts of each range can be used and for which of its two varieties.

Frequency-Division Duplexing (FDD) means that the frequencies for reception and transmission must be spaced between the lower and upper parts of the range. For example, in the range of 2.5-2.7 GHz the difference between such sections should be 120 MHz. Time-Division Duplex (TDD) assumes that reception and transmission are carried out on the same frequency with a time separation - in this case, the frequencies must be in the center of the range. These are two fundamentally different versions of LTE, which affect subscriber and operator equipment and, as a result, the prevalence of one or another version of LTE in Russia.

I know that my smartphone supports 4G networks, but the gadget does not connect to them. What can be wrong?

4G is an abbreviation for the English fourth generation. This is a general designation for several fourth-generation mobile communications technologies, the latest for today. The most common 4G technology is the LTE standard. In this sense, LTE and 4G are synonyms. The 4G standard was created to make mobile Internet faster than 3G. For a similar reason, several years ago 3G technologies replaced 2G.

What is the difference between 3G and 4G?

Calls

Internet

Faster means more expensive. So?

For users of all MTS tariffs, it makes no difference what technology you use to connect to the mobile Internet. 4G is neither cheap nor expensive. It's just faster.

Why is it important for me to understand the differences between 4G and 3G?

However, almost all new gadgets are released with 4G support - for every taste and budget. For example, you can buy a suitable smartphone for less than 4,000 rubles.

Did you know that...

Finally, some interesting facts about 4G.

The first commercial 4G network went live in December 2009 in Sweden.
Cellular network subscribers in many countries pay more for 4G Internet than for 3G Internet. The logic is that a more modern network gives higher speed and more opportunities. In Russia, operators, as a rule, do not make separate tariffs for mobile networks of different generations.
On Android smartphones and iOS gadgets, 4G network connection indicators look different. In the first case, it is the inscription 4G. In the second - LTE.
MTS was the first of all Russian operators to launch LTE networks in all Russian regions. You can find out about 4G network coverage on the operator’s website.
5G networks will also certainly appear, and they will certainly be better than 4G. In 2019, MTS launched the first test zones with communications of the future.

At the very beginning of spring 2008, the International Telecommunication Union decided to start developing a new cellular communication standard - 4G. According to the adopted regulations, the main difference between the most modern 4G communication standard today and the 3G standard is the maximum, or, more precisely, peak data transfer speed.

So, for mobile devices in motion, this speed should be on average 10 Mbit/second, and for stationary devices - 1 Gbit/second (!). For comparison: wired Internet speeds from various providers range on average from 10–100 Mbit/second. That is, it is easy to calculate that the data transfer speed in the 4G standard should exceed existing standard speeds by 10–100 times.

History of the creation of the standard

The first “swallow” of the 4G standard was the LTE communication format, which allows you to increase the existing information transfer rate by approximately 10 times, that is, the peak data transfer rate for fixed communication devices is 100 Mbit/second. But even this speed is quite enough for high-quality viewing of TV shows in real time, and downloading a standard-sized movie to a mobile device may take no more than one or two minutes.

The LTE standard has received a lot of criticism regarding deviations from compliance with the declared information transfer parameters. LTE network coverage is currently unstable and largely depends on the capabilities of a particular mobile operator. As already noted, the maximum data transfer speed can reach 100 Mbit/second, but in real conditions this figure does not exceed an average of 42 Mbit/second. Of course, this is a decent indicator, but it clearly falls short of the speeds of one Gbit/second declared by the developers of the 4G standard. For this reason, some countries around the world are in no hurry to classify the standard as a progressive 4G technology.

An obvious disadvantage of the LTE standard is the low speed of information transfer. This problem can be solved by increasing the number of cellular operators and, accordingly, the services they provide.

Despite all the existing shortcomings, the LTE standard is clearly superior to existing 3G and especially 2G standards in all respects. The LTE standard, or more precisely, its structure, is fundamentally different from less technically advanced standards. First of all, the differences affected the base station subsystems and communication subsystems. The changes also affected the technology of data exchange between the user and the base station. In the LTE standard, absolutely all types of information (be it voice or video) are transmitted in the format of unique packets.

Key components of the standard

Among the key components of the LTE standard are the following:

The SGW (Serving Gateway) serves as a connecting link to the existing 2G and 3G networks of a particular mobile operator. This method allows you to significantly improve the quality of the network connection in the event of deteriorating reception conditions and increasing load on the network;
the connection gateway to the networks of other mobile operators PGW routes information packets to the network of a specific operator;
the MME mobility management node is designed to coordinate and, in fact, manage the mobility of network subscribers;
The node for billing subscribers for the services provided PCRF, as the name suggests, is designed to calculate and provide an invoice to the subscriber of a mobile operator.

The basis of the LTE standard is the use of MIMO information transmission technology using the OFDM coding system. The operating principle of MIMO technology is based on the use of receiving and transmitting antennas of various types, and the location of these antennas provides for the almost complete absence of correlation dependence.

Modern 4G networks mainly operate at a frequency of 2.3 GHz. Another common range is the 2.5 GHz frequency - many cellular operators in Eurasia, Japan and the United States of America operate at this frequency. There is also a frequency of 2.1 GHz, but it is not widely used due to the narrow range (from five to fifteen MHz). Thanks to the widespread use of broadband Internet in most countries of the Old World, the 3.5 GHz frequency receives new opportunities for the use of the 4G standard. This range will allow cellular network operators to painlessly, without purchasing and setting up expensive equipment, use an existing and perfectly working frequency to transfer the LTE network to it.

If we consider the possibility of using frequencies for the 4G mobile communication standard, then we can confidently declare the suitability of the frequency range from 1.4 to 20 GHz.

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