At first sight mobile communication of the third generation may seem very attractive and advantageous for everybody:
1. on the one hand users will get high quality services such as excellent
2. new revolutionary services like video calls or VoIP calls over the internet
3. sound quality
4. fast mobile internet connection
5. thus can count on getting super-profits within a short period of time
6. on the other hand the mobile operators will get access to the newest market of such services with a high level of demand
Category
4G is the fourth generation of wireless communications currently known in the world. It is characterized by higher speed of data transfer and improved quality of sound. Although many people may be confused by the number of "G's" now existing in the world, the principle of distinguishing them is simple, the bigger the number, the higher the speed of data transfer. Really, we can already see that the 3G systems that are now widely used and built all over the world are the most advanced ones, enabling people to watch TV programs, use IP telephony, make video calls and simply use fast internet connection anywhere. This is all something that could never be imagined before.
But 4G seems to be even faster. The existing 4G technologies, Wi-Fi and WiMAX support data transfers of up to 100 megabit per second. Theoretically they support even higher speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second which is even more than most ADSL providers can give today. For those who don't understand how fast 4G technologies are, just try to imagine that you can download a movie in DVD quality for only 6 minutes. Impressive, isn't it? Sounds too good to be true, and to some extent it is not. The matter is that 4G technology, being a mobile technology utilizing broadband radio frequencies based on the same principles as the existing 3G systems like UMTS or CDMA, WiMAX and Wi-Fi have some distinctive features that distinguish them from the rest of the mobile technologies. First, they function on the basis of the IPv6 protocol that means that even if they can be used for voice calls, such voice calls will be all-VoIP, as they support only packet data transfer, while 3G systems use both packet data and voice transmission. In this point of view 4G is not completely a "mobile" technology as we are accustomed to understand it. It is more like radio internet than mobile network, although there have already been attempts to introduce such a system instead of the existing 3G network. China's government, for example, decided to skip the 3G stage and spent more than 18 $ million for the construction of a brand new 4G network.
Another major disadvantage of the 4G networks may be considered only temporary and technical - using them as networks for mobile phones takes high power consumption (3G systems had a similar problems in the past though).
According to experts, the most important problems in the development of 4G systems is the lack of funding, as only few investors risk to give their money for new researches in this field. Such unwillingness is caused by the risk to lose money while developing a system that will not attract as many subscribers as it may be desired.
Despite all the disadvantages connected with the introduction of the 4G technologies they, like UMTS or CDMA2000 have their right to exist. Besides, it is constantly undergoing the process of standardization in various international institutions which is aimed at a simpler and more unified method of using the mobile technology.