3G

Up to 3.1Mbps with an
Data Throughput: average speed range
between 0.5 to 1.5 Mbps
Peak Upload Rate: 5 Mbps
Peak Download
100 Mbps
Rate:
Switching
packet switching
Technique:
Network
Wide Area Cell Based
Architecture:
Services And
CDMA 2000, UMTS,
Applications:
EDGE etc
Forward error
3G uses Turbo codes for
correction (FEC): error correction.
Frequency Band: 1.8 2.5GHz

4G
Practically speaking, 2 to 12 Mbps (Telstra in
Australia claims up to 40 Mbps) but potential
estimated at a range of 100 to 300 Mbps.
500 Mbps
1 Gbps
packet switching, message switching
Integration of wireless LAN and Wide area.
Wimax2 and LTE-Advance
Concatenated codes are used for error
corrections in 4G.
2 8GHz

So, what is LTE? To most, it is a faster network technology. To network operators around the
world, it is a way to simplify their infrastructures to reduce costs while improving the quality of
their offerings to subscribers. Advertisements by network operators declare it as the most
advanced network technology. In the end, it is Long Term Evolution of the Universal Mobile
Telecommunications System (UMTS).
But that doesnt tell us what LTE actually is. LTE is what the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership
Project, the group responsible for standardizing and improving UMTS) designates as their next
step. UMTS is the group of standards that define 3G for GSM networks across the world,
including AT&T and T-Mobiles 3G networks. This does not mean a thing to CDMA2000
subscribers, since CDMA2000 is not maintained by the 3GPP. For CDMA2000 subscribers, LTE
is the replacement of mediocre CDMA2000 networks offered by Verizon Wireless, Sprint, au by
KDDI, and others with a superior cellular telecommunications system offering flexibility and
power to the network operator and the subscriber.

LTE is a very good, easily deployable network technology, offering high speeds
and low latencies over long distances. For example, the three LTE networks in New York
City were rated well. Verizons LTE service was rated with an average download speed of
7.67Mbps and an average upload speed of 3.76Mbps. AT&Ts LTE service was rated with an
average download speed of 19.21Mbps and an average upload speed of 10.09Mbps. Sprints LTE
service was rated with an average download speed of 12.35Mbps and an average upload speed of
4.24Mbps. Verizons 3G service was rated with an average download speed of 0.47Mbps and an

average upload speed of 0.15Mbps. Sprints 3G was similarly bad. Similar ratings followed in
other cities as well.
In this article, we will discuss what configurations LTE can be deployed in, why LTE is easily
deployable, how LTE works as a radio technology, what types of LTE exist, how LTE affects
battery life, what network operators want LTE to do, and the future of 4G as a whole. The most
technical parts of the article are LTE can be deployed in, why LTE is easily deployable, how LTE
works as a radio technology, and what types of LTE exist. For those who dont want that
information, you can skip to how LTE affects battery life and still get the gist of what were
saying. But to get the complete picture, reading the whole article is advised.

How LTE is configured for deployment

LTE supports deployment on different frequency bandwidths. The current specification outlines
the following bandwidth blocks: 1.4MHz, 3MHz, 5MHz, 10MHz, 15MHz, and 20MHz.
Frequency bandwidth blocks are essentially the amount of space a network operator dedicates to
a network. Depending on the type of LTE being deployed, these bandwidths have slightly
different meaning in terms of capacity. That will be covered later, though. An operator may
choose to deploy LTE in a smaller bandwidth and grow it to a larger one as it transitions
subscribers off of its legacy networks (GSM, CDMA, etc.).
MetroPCS is an example of a network operator that has done this. A majority of its spectrum is
still dedicated to CDMA, with 1.4MHz or 3MHz dedicated for LTE depending on the market.
There are a couple of markets with 5MHz deployed, but these are the exception. Leap Wireless
has also done the same thing, except its using 3MHz or 5MHz instead of 1.4MHz or 3MHz.
Neither of these carriers can afford to cut CDMA capacity by a significant degree just yet, so
LTE operates on tiny bandwidths. Additionally, neither operator has enough backhaul (the core
network infrastructure and connections to the internet) dedicated to LTE to make larger
bandwidths worth it either.

On the other hand, Verizon Wireless has been using a 10MHz wide
channel for LTE all across the board, since it has a nationwide block of spectrum available for it.
Combined with excellent backhaul, Verizons LTE service promises to be best in class. AT&T is
dedicating 5MHz across the board because thats all the free space it has, though it makes up for
it with much better backhaul. However, AT&T has been working hard to correct that deficiency

with more spectrum. In many markets, AT&T has improved its LTE network bandwidth from
5MHz to 10MHz, allowing AT&Ts superior backhaul to truly shine in comparison to Verizons.
Less spectrum means that fewer customers can obtain the same high speeds that Verizons LTE
customers get when connected to any particular cell. LTE can support up to 200 active data
clients (smartphones, tablets, USB modems, mobile hotspots, etc.) at full speed for every 5MHz
of spectrum allocated per cell. That means that if a particular tower has 20MHz of spectrum
allocated to it, it can support up to 800 data clients at full speed. There are ways of supporting
more data clients per 5MHz, but doing so requires sacrificing speed and capacity, as the 200-per5MHz ratio is the optimal configuration. However, spectrum isnt everything to LTE quality, as I
will discuss later.

Why LTE is easier to deploy

The network architecture for LTE is greatly simplified from its predecessors because LTE is a
packet-switched network only. It doesnt have the capability to handle voice calls and text
messages natively (which are typically handled by circuit-switched networks like GSM and
CDMA). Anyway, the LTE SAE (System Architecture Evolution) is essentially a simplified
version of the one used for UMTS networks today. An LTE network uses an eNodeB (evolved
node B, essentially an LTE base station), a MME (mobile management entity), a HSS (home
subscriber server), a SGW (serving gateway), and a PGW (a packet data network gateway). With
the exception of the eNodeB, everything is considered as part of the EPC (evolved packet core)
network. At the tower the eNodeB connects to the EPC.

The MME and the HSS basically handle all duties regarding subscriber access to the network. It
handles all the authentication, roaming rules for subscribers, etc. The SGW essentially acts like a
giant router for subscribers, passing data back and forth from the subscriber to the network. The
PGW provides the connection to external data networks. The most common data network the
PGW provides a connection to is the internet. However, if the network operator desires handover
with a non-UMTS network like CDMA2000, WiMAX, or a WiFi hotspot network run by the
network operator, then an ePDG (evolved packet data gateway) and an ANDSF (Access Network
Discovery and Selection Function) for the eNodeB can be installed to support those networks on
the EPC.
Most operators around the world will use the basic network design. Verizon Wireless, SprintNextel, Leap Wireless, MetroPCS, C Spire Wireless, and U.S. Cellular have installed or will
install the same basic design with one major change: eHRPD will replace the core network
connection to traditional UMTS networks.

They wont be using the proper network design to handover to CDMA2000 because of eHRPD
(Enhanced High Rate Packet Data, essentially an enhanced version of the core packet network
for EV-DO), which plugs right into the network in a way that is supposed to replace a UMTS
network. By its very nature, eHRPD is rather fragile because it attempts to emulate enough of
what the LTE network core expects in a UMTS network to communicate and hand over. This is
why Verizons LTE service has been breaking down at least once every quarter of 2011. LTE and
CDMA handover wasnt originally designed to work the way it does now, and the way theyve
implemented it is not officially supported in the standard (well, the 3GPP standard, anyway).
Unexpected issues arise every time they do some network tweaking because of this. Sometimes
the failure can spread to EV-DO and shut it down, leaving only 1xRTT available. However, these
issues are largely resolved now, and other CDMA/LTE deployments may rarely suffer from these

issues. That being said, CDMA/LTE networks can not be considered as reliable as GSM/LTE
networks.

How LTE actually works

LTE uses two different types of air interfaces (radio links), one for downlink (from tower to
device), and one for uplink (from device to tower). By using different types of interfaces for the
downlink and uplink, LTE utilizes the optimal way to do wireless connections both ways, which
makes a better optimized network and better battery life on LTE devices.
For the downlink, LTE uses an OFDMA (orthogonal frequency division multiple access) air
interface as opposed to the CDMA (code division multiple access) and TDMA (time division
multiple access) air interfaces weve been using since 1990. What does this mean? OFDMA
(unlike CDMA and TDMA) mandates that MIMO (multiple in, multiple out) is used. Having
MIMO means that devices have multiple connections to a single cell, which increases the
stability of the connection and reduces latency tremendously. It also increases the total
throughput of a connection. Were already seeing the real-world benefits of MIMO on WiFi N
routers and network adapters. MIMO is what lets 802.11n WiFi reach speeds of up to 600Mbps,
though most advertise up to 300-400Mbps. There is a significant disadvantage though. MIMO
works better the further apart the individual carrier antennae are. On smaller phones, the noise
caused by the antennae being so close to each other will cause LTE performance to drop.
WiMAX also mandates the usage of MIMO since it uses OFDMA as well. HSPA+, which uses
W-CDMA (a reworked, improved wideband version of CDMA) for its air interface, can
optionally use MIMO, too.

For the uplink (from device to tower), LTE uses the DFTS-OFDMA (discrete Fourier transform
spread orthogonal frequency division multiple access) scheme of generating a SC-FDMA (single
carrier frequency division multiple access) signal. As opposed to regular OFDMA, SC-FDMA is
better for uplink because it has a better peak-to-average power ratio over OFDMA for uplink.
LTE-enabled devices, in order to conserve battery life, typically dont have a strong and powerful
signal going back to the tower, so a lot of the benefits of normal OFDMA would be lost with a
weak signal. Despite the name, SC-FDMA is still a MIMO system. LTE uses a SC-FDMA 12
configuration, which means that for every one antenna on the transmitting device, theres two
antennae on the base station for receiving.
The major difference between the OFDMA signal for downlink and the SC-FDMA signal for
uplink is that it uses a discrete Fourier transform function on the data to convert it into a form
that can be used to transmit. Discrete Fourier transform functions are often used to convert
digital data into analog waveforms for decoding audio and video, but it can be used for
outputting the proper radio frequencies too. However, LTE-Advanced uses higher order MIMO
configurations for downlink and uplink.
The LTE technology itself also comes in two flavors: an FDD (frequency division duplex)
variant and a TDD (time division duplex) variant. The most common variant being used is the
FDD variant. The FDD variant uses separate frequencies for downlink and uplink in the form of
a band pair. That means for every band that a phone supports, it actually uses two frequency
ranges. These are known as paired frequency bands. For example, Verizons 10MHz network is

in FDD, so the bandwidth is allocated for uplink and downlink. This is commonly noted as a
2x10MHz or 10+10 MHz configuration. Some also call it 10x10MHz, but this is mathematically
incorrect, but they mean 10+10MHz. Some will also call it a 20MHz network, but this can be
ambiguous. The TDD variant uses one single range of frequencies in a frequency band, but that
band is segmented to support transmit and receive signals in a single frequency range. For
example, an LTE TDD network deployed on 20MHz of spectrum uses the whole chunk as one
large block for frequency allocation purposes. For network bandwidth purposes, a LTE TDD
networks spectrum can be further divided to optimize for the type of network traffic (half up and
half down, mostly down and a bit up, mostly up and a bit down, and so on).
In the United States, Clearwire is the only network operator deploying LTE in the TDD variant.
Everyone else is deploying in the FDD variant. The TDD variant becomes more important in
Asia, as China Mobile (the largest network operator in the world in terms of subscriber count)
uses TDD frequencies for their 3G network and it plans to upgrade to the TDD variant of LTE.
Fortunately, LTE devices can easily be made to support both variants on a device without too
much trouble.
Enough about specs what about battery life?

Now we lead to the part that most people care about: how it affects battery life. By itself, LTE
devices should last roughly as long as their HSPA+ equivalents because of the optimized radios
for both downlink and uplink operations. The reason why LTE devices right now eat batteries for
breakfast is because the network operators are forcing these devices into active dual-mode
operation.
For Verizon Wireless, this means that all of their LTE devices connect to both CDMA2000 and
LTE simultaneously and stay connected to both. This means that you are eating twice the amount
of battery for every minute you are connected than you would if you were connected only to
CDMA2000 or LTE. Additionally, when you make calls on Verizon Wireless LTE phones, the
CDMA2000 radio sucks down more power because you are talking. Sending and receiving text
messages causes pulses of CDMA2000 activity, which cuts your battery life more. Arguably,
constantly changing radio states could be worse for battery life than a switch into one mode for a
period of time and switching back, so text messages may actually kill the batteries faster.
Then there is handover. Handover is the operation in which a device switches from one network
to another or from one tower to another. Handover is the critical component that makes any
cellular wireless network possible. Without handover, a user would have to manually select a
new tower every time the user leaves the range of a tower. (WiFi is an example of a wireless
network technology that doesnt inherently support handover.) When the user travels outside the
range of a WiFi network, the WiFi radio will just drop the connection. For cellular networks, this
is even more critical because the range of a tower is not very predictable due to factors outside of
anyones control (like the weather, etc.). LTE supports handover like all other cellular wireless

networks, but it improves on it by doing it much faster when handing over to a supported type of
network or cell.

However, Verizon is doing handover from LTE to

EV-DO and back by plugging in a connection to an enhanced version of the EV-DO data network
core called eHRPD. As discussed earlier, this isnt a great solution by any means. It becomes
more problematic when you consider that most LTE signals are very weak. Unfortunately, most
customers have no idea because Verizon deceives them into believing it is stronger by using the
EV-DO signal strength for the signal bars for LTE for all of their devices except the Galaxy
Nexus.
The weak signal and the fragile link-up between EV-DO and LTE make handover occur a lot
more than it is supposed to, which eats battery life even more. With AT&T using an HSPA+
network alongside LTE instead of CDMA2000, handover operation is a lot smoother. As far as
battery life goes, it should be slightly better than Verizon LTE phones because LTE supports fast
handover between UMTS and LTE. AT&T LTE phones are normally not forced into active dualmode operation because HSPA+ lets you use data and talk at the same time. As a consequence,
AT&T has no need to force the device into active dual-mode operation. However, battery life
will still be pretty bad because LTE signals are still very weak in most AT&T LTE zones, and
AT&T LTE devices default to connecting to LTE signals whenever possible.
C Spire Wireless, MetroPCS, Cricket Wireless, and U.S. Cellular will all have the same problem
as Verizon Wireless with LTE battery life because they all plan to do the same thing as Verizon
Wireless and force active dual-mode operation. As a result, turning off LTE will significantly
improve battery life because the phone switches back to single-mode operation. Or in the case of
AT&T phones, passive dual-mode operation (for GSM/HSPA+ handover) since they are typically
in passive tri-mode operation for GSM/HSPA+/LTE handover. Passive multi-mode operation
means that the device isnt constantly connected to multiple networks, but will establish a

connection and hand over the connection if the signal on the current network is too weak or
snaps. This is ideal for multi-mode operation, but it isnt possible for CDMA/LTE network
operators until they make it possible for LTE to handle calls and text messaging.