LTE: what is it?

Today in the era of the Internet forthe most important thing is the speed of information transfer. If earlier a person could be content with dozens of megabytes per second, now the standards of information transmission have increased many times. In this regard, the standard LTE was created. Consider what this technology represents and what are the goals of its creation.

What is LTE

LTE (4g) is a high-speed transmission standarddata, which works in various modifications (for example, FDD). Literal translation means "Long-term development". Due to this standard it became possible to transfer data in a large volume, which opened a lot of opportunities not only for users, but also for producers of all kinds of content.

The purpose of creating LTE

Obviously, the main goal of creating a standardLTE was an increase in the speed of information transfer, but this standard provides not only high-speed data exchange capabilities, but also provides a wide range of services. The standard LTE, the same standard 4G, i.e., the fourth generation, is characterized by a high data transfer rate of 42 Mbit / s. This value is for the time being maximum, the average data transfer rate is 20-25 Mbit / s, but in the third generation standard this speed does not exceed 3 Mbit / s.

Characteristics of LTE

The LTE standard is also characterized by a shortresponse time, which allows operators to reduce the cost of data transmission services. There are two main differences between 4G and 3G: speed increases, and the price of data transfer decreases. Thus, the standard LTE provides the user with the opportunity to watch video without waiting for loading, and still exchange a huge amount of data.

LTE in smartphones

LTE standard can be used in suchmodern smartphones like the iPhone 5 and older, as well as in smartphones from the Galaxy series from Samsung, starting with the Samsung Galaxy S3 and older. Also in their smartphones and tablets are going to use the standard LTE companies such as Huawei, HTC and others. In Russia, the LTE standard is only just beginning to spread, compared to Europe and the US, the Russian market is still far behind, but operators such as Megafon and MTS are already successfully spreading modems that work in LTE networks. Great success in this matter has made the company Yota: modems working in LTE-networks are now in greatest demand in the country. One of the first smartphones that got the opportunity to work in LTE-networks was HTC Velocity. For Russia, such a model has not yet emerged.

LTE in Russia: prospects

Ministry of Communications of the Russian Federationis interested in the distribution of LTE-networks, but at the moment these are only plans, and they include LTE-network provision of no more than 20 million people only by 2018.

A big problem in the distribution of LTE networksis the vastness of Russian territories, while many regions are poorly populated, and hence their purchasing power is rather low. The construction of a network for the distribution of the LTE standard requires considerable expenses. In addition, Russian cellular operators only recently got access to works at the appropriate frequencies, and LTE-smartphones and tablets of world manufacturers are now still not adapted for operation in the Russian Federation.

First of all, the spread of the 4G standard will beoccur in large cities, however, and this should take a lot of time. In this regard, it should be noted the main disadvantage of LTE networks: due to the low coverage area, it is currently not reasonable to connect to them at the moment. If you still want to connect to LTE networks in the near future, then your choice should not be stopped by buying smartphones and tablets that support network data, but special devices - modems that work in LTE networks. At the moment the most popular models of modems working in 4G networks are models from Yota, Beeline, Megafon, Skylink and MTC.

LTE Providers

Separately it is necessary to tell about mobileproviders who work in LTE-networks. Their choice for users is often a stumbling block, since at the moment no LTE network provider is able to provide stable operation in connection with the above-mentioned reasons. For example, a provider like Mezon works in LTE networks and provides a coverage area in WIMAX. However, the speed jumps in the network, despite the wide coverage area, are extremely high, and it's not so much in the provider as in the absence of a large coverage area for LTE networks. And this problem concerns not only Russia, but also the CIS countries, as well as the countries of Eastern Europe.

LTE and price

Despite the fact that the cost of data transmissionLTE is an order of magnitude lower than in third-generation networks, many retailers are setting a fairly high price for devices that work in next-generation networks. This is due not only to the fact that the manufacturer installing the module 4g ​​seeks to recoup costs that exceed the installation of 3g, but also with speculative demand.

Therefore now it is safe to say thatLTE is a technology of the future, which has its own prospects, but needs to be actively developed. With its growth and development, it will become more accessible to users.

Despite this, many smartphone usersalready try to change their devices to those that work in LTE. Including the iPhone. We advise you to read the article on this topic Buy an iPhone.