Mobile communication technologies are constantly evolving. In order to be able to provide customers with competitive services, cellular operators strive to use the latest advances in this area. The most promising direction today is the commissioning of 4G networks.
The 4G class today includes mobile communication networks created on the basis of fourth generation technologies. They are characterized by high speed of information exchange, as well as improved quality of voice communication. Unlike 3G, networks of this class use only packet data transfer protocols (IPv4, IPv6). The exchange rate is over 100 Mbps for mobile subscribers and over 1 Gbps for fixed subscribers. Voice transmission in 4G networks is carried out via VoIP. There are currently two technologies that are recognized as meeting all the requirements of 4G networks. These are LTE-Advanced and WiMAX (WirelessMANAdvanced).
The development of LTE technology, which is the prototype of LTE-Advanced, was started in 2000 by Hewlett-Packard and NTT DoCoMo. This direction was promising, since even third-generation networks were just beginning to gain popularity. The technology began to meet the requirements of 4G only by the tenth release. However, since this standard could be applied in existing mobile networks, it began to benefit from the support of cellular operators. The first network based on LTE-Advanced was officially launched in December 2009 in the cities of Stockholm and Oslo.
WiMAX technology is an evolution of the Wi-Fi wireless data transmission standard. It is being developed by the WiMAX Forum, established in 2001. A feature of WiMAX is the existence of various information exchange protocols for static and mobile subscribers. The first cellular network using WiMAX technology was launched in December 2005 in Canada.
Today, 4G networks are starting to gain more and more popularity around the world. However, their implementation is fraught with certain difficulties. One of them is that high-frequency radio waves used in these networks are extremely poor at penetrating urban buildings. Therefore (compared to 3G), many more base stations are required to provide quality coverage.
