Ready or Not, Here Comes 4G

While most consumers are just now warming to third-generation data services, wireless companies are already looking forward to 4G, which promises even faster speeds. The question remains, however, if faster speeds will equal greater interest that has so far failed to materialize.

Samsung is heading this effort, and held a 4G mobile conference in South Korea this week. The company claims its next-generation technology that would allow mobile data at 100 MBps, with fixed data rates exceeding one gigabyte per second.

Although Samsung hasn't provided many specifics on exactly how the technology works, such rates would qualify its service as true fourth-generation technology based on standards set by the International Telecommunications Union.

In demonstrations, the technology was able to transfer a movie in about five seconds, and 100 songs in a little over two seconds. Another simulation would cram 32 high-definition television channels, Internet access, and video telephony into a single 4G signal, the company said.

In addition to showing off its data speed capabilities, the Korea-based wireless company would also show off its work that would allow towers to pass off a call at speeds up to 60 kilometers per hour (37 mph). While that may seem slow, it is a start for technology that still seems to be many years away from being a reality.

Only one US network, Sprint, has announced plans to migrate to 4G. That company's path would employ WiMAX technology, and would cover about 85 percent of the top 100 markets when completed. That network is expected to go live over the next two years.

Sprint's network will not truly be "4G" in the sense of the network itself, as the WiMAX signal would likely be used for data only; whereas Samsung's network would be fully next-generation from the ground up.

The company did not disclose what technology it planned to use for the network, be it CDMA or GSM, or some completely new variant. Spectrum for 4G will be allocated in 2007, with the first networks appearing around the start of the next decade.

But is 4G truly needed? Many analysts seem to question the industry's moves. Some consider 3G to be a failure, and too technology driven, while others noted that the high-speed technology has barely gotten off the ground.

"The 3G phones have only now started to ship in meaningful numbers, and the 3G networks are only getting lit in many parts of the world," Internet pundit Om Malik said Thursday.

"Cingular, one of the largest wireless carriers in the world has only recently started turning on its 3G services," he continued. Malik's comments seemed to echo that of Cingular's, whose CTO Kristin Rinne seemed to indicate to Reuters that the company wasn't looking to faster data anytime soon.

"We're going to have to demonstrate we can deliver those products and services to customers," she said, speaking of the wireless provider's current 3G network. "If that doesn't happen, there isn't a need for 4G."