posted on Jan, 23 2012 @ 09:29 AM
3g is 3rd generation, faster speeds, compared to older architecture 2g, or EDGE, iDEN, WiDEN, GSM, etc which cingular used EDGE as the new cutting
edge tech to acheive better than dial up speeds for early adopters of cellular internet.
Newer 4g technology deployed by AT&T and Verizon called LTE is a scalable architecture can get cable speeds depending what feeds the cell towers.
T-Mobile deployed HSPA+ which can supposedly get 84mbps, but realisticly gets about 10mbps down and 2mbps up, again depending on what feeds the
towers.
The company I work for feeds multipule T1's and does the transport for cingular (AT&T) and typically its 2 or 3 bonded t1's that feeds a cell tower
(1x t1= 1.544mbps) so the bandwidth is usually limited anyway.
Verizon is assisting AT&T in building their cell sites by delivering higher capacity fiber rings to the cell sites in the north east (competitor baby
bells helping each other) Which is damn cool, because that means the future is bright as far as whats down the pipeline.
These cell companies sell space, bandwidth and usage of towers, thats why you see companies like Cricket, Virgin mobile, and other pre-paid services.
Because they jump on other carriers cell sites and give the carrier a tariff or comission for the traffic that passes through their sites.
2g = painfully slow, 3g = decent usable speeds, 4g = comparable to cable internet at home in some cases.
Hope that was helpful
edit on 23-1-2012 by sicksonezer0 because: (no reason given)