The United Nations’ International Telcommunication Union (ITU), the guys behind the 2G – 4G standards, approved the final specs for the IMT-Advanced wireless broadband technology just last week. Here is where it gets interesting though. The new standard would allow for average data speeds of 100Mbps download speed while driving and a whopping 1Gbps while stationary. Kinda makes LTE see like dial up now doesn’t it.
Sweden is the first to adopt this capability out the gates. They already have the technology in place that is needed to implement the LTE-Andvanced basic requirements. They have actually been testing these 1Gbps speed possibilities since last summer. Checking out the video below, you can see they hit 979Mbps when the Ericcson van was stationary.
IMT-Advanced marks a huge leap forward in state-of-the-art technologies, which will make the present day smart phone feel like an old dial up Internet connection. Access to the Internet, streaming videos and data transfers anytime, anywhere will be better than most desktop connections today…
IMT-Advanced would be like putting a fibre optic broadband connection on your mobile phone, making your phone at least 100 times faster than today’s 3G smart phones. But it’s not only about speed; it’s about efficiency. IMT-Advanced will use radio-frequency spectrum much more efficiently making higher data transfers possible on lesser bandwidth. This will enable mobile networks to face the dramatic increase in data traffic that is expected in the coming years.
I guess this is where 5G will start to stem from. The technology is there, but we don’t expect to see Verizon or AT&T dropping the bomb on it for at least another 3 to 5 years. This would sure make streaming HDTV and HD movies a breeze. I could only imagine how fast our caps would be hit and how much a month they would want to charge.
Source: ITU via Phonearena
