Is the EVO Really a 4G Device?

Much has been made of the fact that Sprint and their WiMax network isn’t truly considered a 4th generation wireless network. Current LTE and WiMAX implementations are considered pre-4G, as they didn’t fully comply with the planned requirements of 1 Gbit/s for stationary reception and 100 Mbit/s for mobile. So, basically, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) changed their requirements of what is deemed as a 4G connection.

After changing the standards, the ITU now classifies WiMAX or 802.16m as standardized by the IEEE as 4G technology. Other carriers, like T-Mobile, have used what most consider to be 3.5G technology throughout the world for some time, but have recently added it to the 4G marketing scheme to keep up with the other carriers.

This is the brief historical version of this battle, which will go on for quite some time, but to bring us up to today we will do a very simple look at speeds throughout time – in the United States…

1G - 1xRTT (CDMA) or GPRS (GSM) – This was the original cellular data connection. This allowed users to use their cellular devices as a dial-up modem at rates up to 14.4kbps.

2G – EVDO Rev. O (CDMA) or EDGE (GSM) – These technologies increased data connection speeds up to 2.45Mbps and 1.6Mbps respectively. These were theoretical speeds as real world conditions rarely allowed users to access speeds in the maximum ranges.

3G – EV-DO Rev. A/B (CDMA) or HSDPA (GMS) – The rapid increase to 3G speeds bumped the theoretical maximum to 5Mbps (per 1.25Mhz of spectrum) on CDMA networks or 14.4Mbps on the GSM side.

3.5G – HSPA+ (GSM) – This is the technology that T-Mobile USA is using as their 4G technology as they expand their network into more markets. HSPA+ has an amazing theoretical speed of 56Mbps but falls short of the original 4G requirements of a theoretical speed of 100Mbps.

4G – WiMax (Sprint) or LTE (AT&T and Verizon Wireless) – Carry the theoretical speeds over 100Mbps, but their real world trials, they have fallen well short. Currently, WiMax is offering real speeds in the range of 6-8Mbps and LTE is testing on Verizon at closer to 10Mbps.

So, with all the reports coming out about the speeds of the new HTC Thunderbolt, where does this leave our precious EVO? The answer is in the photo that led off this wonderful article. The Thunderbolt is supposed to be the fastest mobile connection available on any device currently in production. Unfortunately, I hate to break this to them, but my little EVO pulls 9.5Mbps down just fine.

So, dual core this and LTE radio that, but the HTC Evo 4G running on the Sprint/Clear network will pull just as fast as anything else out there.

If you don’t have one yet, get them before the next price increase or before Sprint starts to limit their data plans at http://www.getsmartphones.info.