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Rory Cellan-Jones
Technology correspondent
4G put to the test
Rory puts 4G to a speed test
As I predicted, peace has broken out in the 4G wars that have pitched the operators against Ofcom. The deal unveiled by the Culture Secretary Maria Miller on Tuesday night should see all the operators offering 4G by next summer.
But in the short term, EE - the owner of Orange and T-Mobile - will have the field to itself.
I got the chance to test its 4G network against an existing 3G service. Obviously this isn't at all fair - 4G with a couple of journalists using it should do much better than 3G crammed with thousands of users. Watch the test to get a flavour of what we can expect from the new technology.
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Comment number 61.
Under-Used5th October 2012 - 0:19
I don't get this at all. Rory states that the test is unreliable and not indicative of the service to be expected but uses it as a demonstration anyway. Weird to say the least.
Anyhow, that dial whizzed over to the right and the number was larger than the other so it must be great! Or, it's just another exaggerated claim they won't live up to - as stated by the regulator.
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Comment number 60.
epowerpii4th October 2012 - 23:19
4G should be able to achieve better signal over longer distances than 3G. If rural areas want mobile Internet access then 4G should be celebrated.
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Comment number 59.
Miss Ingoff4th October 2012 - 17:04
58 WelshDave
Fortunately, current 3G coverage isn't a great predictor of potential 4G coverage, as 3G uses a relatively high frequency which doesn't travel particularly well.
When they make the 800MHz band available for 4G, it should be theoretically possible to provide coverage on a par with current 2G cover.
What happens in reality will, of course, depend on economics and politics.
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Comment number 58.
WelshDave4th October 2012 - 16:53
it makes me laugh when you see consumer groups saying its good for rural regions. thats rubbish, i live in a rural area and vodafone cant even supply 3G!! so what chance would you expect them to do 4G where i live.
also it should be noted 3G has a theortical speed of up to 14.4mbps, so 3 as shown in the video is on the low side, although `congestion` probably plays a large part
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Comment number 57.
Killer Boots Man4th October 2012 - 15:42
@55. Fred Bloggs.
4G is faster than a lot of broadband, at the moment when only a handful of people are using it. In practice this might not be the case.
And, they should set 4G at a reasonable price so there is a higher take up. Then those who are using it will actually pay for it, not everyone. I just think £10 a month is a bit high, most will just check Facebook etc with it. Hope I'm wrong.
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Comments 5 of 61