Originally Posted by Gigabit:
“DC-HSPA+ is not a 4G technology, the ITU did not say it was, that was T-Mobile USA being silly.
I do find that O2 has excellent 3G coverage in Hampshire and on the train now, I think they may be giving EE a run for their money UK-wide soon!”
Technically speaking you are correct in relation to EDGE, however Jabba is right in respect of DC-HSPA, ITU have allowed the technology to be classed as 4G. In practice most operators worldwide didn't follow T-Mobile USA's lead. Looking outside of the USA market and you will find DC-HSPA classed as a 3G technology, I don't think there is a network in Europe that has classed it as 4G mind you.
Originally Posted by jabbamk1:
“Did you even read the link?
They announced in December 2010 and then January 2012 that DC-HSPA+ can be classed as 4G.
I'm not making this up. It's right there in black and white.
At the end of the day, EDGE comes under 3G according to the ITU and DC-HSPA+ comes under 4G according to the ITU.
As mentioned on the previous page, EDGE is an evolution of 2G and deployed on 2G sites, DC-HSPA+ is an evolution of 3G and deployed on 3G sites. Even though the ITU classes them differently.”
If we ignore the technicalities then I think you are very much correct. Fortunately European networks have avoided confusing legacy and modern technology. At the moment there is a fight surrounding the terminalogy of carrier agregation between EE and Vodafone, eventually that will settle. I am thankful that networks here have avoided confusion and generally making things a bit more clear.
Having worked in the industry EDGE was always referred to as a 2G technology, when O2 got first dibs on the iPhone it more or less upgraded its entire network to EDGE within the space of a few months. 3G technology and its varients only really began to find its feet in this country when MBNL was setup with the target of expanding the availability. For a period or 12-18 months Orange and MBNL operators were tusseling ober who had the widest coverage (even though measurements weren't the same it was recognised MBNL has the largest).
However though I have went off on a tangent, point remains 3.75G or maybe 3.9G DC-HSPA has been allowed to be classed as 4G, yet most networks world wide recognised it wasn't really in spirit but more a play on words. I think there is some arguement that LTE isn't true 4G either (though I will defer to Jabba's better judgement on that one).