When will LTE become standard?

[berthenderson]

Wanted an iPhone 5 to tie into my whole Apple ecosystem - iPad, MacBook Pro, iPod etc. - and to replace my current Android phone. However, after seeing it, am not impressed. In fact am getting bored of iOS nowadays, where as Android seems to becoming more and more 'fresh' with each new build. 4.1 seems awesome.

So, I'm really, really considering the Nexus 4. Spec-wise, it's amazing, and for the price, it's even more amazing.

But as you all know it doesn't have LTE, it's HSPA+. Now, I live in the UK, and the only network that supports LTE is EE, and it's hellish expensive for what you get, so I was wondering, if I got the Nexus 4, how long would it be before LTE became the standard for mobile internet? Will HSPA+ still be developed, or will it just plateaux now?

 

[zbarvian]

It's standard here in the US. I imagine within the next two years it'll be ubiquitous worldwide.

 

[berthenderson]

So it's worth me getting the Nexus 4 when it's released, and it'll be good for the next couple of years over here?

 

[spinedoc77]

I'm curious what you guys use LTE for that is such a big deal over HSPA+. From what I understand HSPA+ theoretically is 21mbps down, although I'm not sure what ATT technically is but seems most of the time when I read about it I hear around 5mbps which I would assume is enough to stream at least the 720p that the phone will top out at and maybe even 1080p for some of the bigger tablets. I can't see what people need the speed for if HSPA+ can already stream what I would assume is the worst offender, HD video. Of course we have data transfer especially with cloud storage, dropbox, etc but are we really streaming that much data to our phones?

I'm far from technically oriented so maybe there is another reason that LTE is such a need for people, maybe it's the latency? I'm genuinely curious as I'm also concerned about the Nexus 4 and the Nexus 7 having no LTE, but when I think about it I'm not really sure why I'm concerned.

 

[nebo1ss]

So it's worth me getting the Nexus 4 when it's released, and it'll be good for the next couple of years over here?

3G Hspa+ will continue to be supported. Just look back at GSM as it evolved no one stopped supporting the old standards they just made the phones multi-standard.

We will continue to have multiple LTE standards because availability of Frequency spectrum varies in each country and they can only work with what is available. Hopefully, the phone manufacturers will be able to support multiple LTE standards in one device so that the concept of a world phone continues to be supported.

 

[smwatson]

So it's worth me getting the Nexus 4 when it's released, and it'll be good for the next couple of years over here?

Easily. There's one LTE network here, and it's very expensive. Next year other networks will start rolling out LTE. It will take several years after that for it to become close to standard, especially as the vast majority of phones being used won't be able to take advantage.

Nexus 4 will be fine for at least two, probably three or four, years.

 

[cynics]

Verizon plans for their entire coverage to be LTE by mid 2013. However their old network still exist and will for many years to come. I know the N4 won't be on Verizon but I'm using them as an example since I don't think they market new non LTE smartphones. So they are very proactive about getting rid of their old network. I would guess if they tried their hardest we would be looking at 2015-2016 but more realistically 2018+. And AT&T will be behind them, and even then I doubt AT&T will get rid of their old network since they are still pushing HPSA+ phones.

And for more reassurance you'll get a contract lengths notice, 2 years. You'll be on to something much better by then.

You'll be fine getting the N4.

 

[spinedoc77]

Very interesting article:
http://www.androidauthority.com/hspa-vs-lte-which-one-is-better-78120/

I don't think I'll worry about LTE at all.