iPHONE 5 SHOCK! US Apple store 4G kit-fit snapped
'Sure it works sir, reception's great here in the shop'
Regcast training : Hyper-V 3.0, VM high availability and disaster recovery
A photograph of LTE equipment being fitted in a US Apple store has reinvigorated rumours that the next iPhone will come with 4G technology built in, for AT&T at least.
The pic was sent to Engadget, with a note saying that the kit being fitted supports LTE in the 700MHz and 3G bands (known in the US as Advanced Wireless Service or AWS), which is where AT&T is planning to deploy its LTE service once it can get the T-Mobile acquisition sorted out.
Not that AT&T needs T-Mobile: it gets $3bn and a chunk of T-Mobile's AWS spectrum even if the deal fails, so there's no reason for it not to start deploying base stations operating in those frequencies, and Apple stores are a perfectly sensible place to be deploying them if the next iPhone is indeed an LTE device.
Despite marketers muddying the waters around 3G and 4G networks, the USA is getting some LTE connectivity these days. In Germany – and elsewhere in Europe – LTE networks are up and running for laptop users sporting connection dongles.
The UK, however, won't get LTE for a while. Assuming the scheduled mega-auction doesn't slip, then it can possibly expect LTE around the end of 2013, or early 2014.
By this time one imagines there will be a few LTE handsets on the market, certainly more than the one or two that are currently available. That is mainly because phones don't really take advantage of the capacity LTE can provide – only laptops consume enough data to make the technology worthwhile – but that's a problem the iPhone 5 could solve.
The image (which has been removed by Engadget at the request of the submitter, but is still knocking around the internet) shows a couple of boxes being fitted behind a desk, and so proves little... Previous rumours suggest the LTE iPhone won't be around until early next year.
So perhaps AT&T is just taking early advantage to expand its network, but it is also possible that Cupertino is planning to get 4G hardware into US hands before Christmas and wants it to work at least until customers leave the store. ®
Regcast training : Hyper-V 3.0, VM high availability and disaster recovery
COMMENTS
The UK, however, won't get LTE for a while
I'm sure we'd all be happy just to have widespread reliable 3andabit-G mobile data coverage. I assume that will be fitted shortly after we all get FTTP, which will in turn be fitted personally by Lucifer himself, on skis.
Be careful, '4G' in the US != '4G' in the UK
"The US has more 4G than the UK has 3G (except for London)."
Be careful, the Yanks even label 3G and 3.5G networks as '4G' so you're comparing apples to oranges. In Europe, '4G' means LTE, '3.5G' means HSDPA/HSUPA, '3G' means UMTS, and 2G means GSM with GPRS or EDGE. In the USA. '4G' means LTE but also means HSDPA/HSUPA and even UMTS, '3G' means 'EDGE' and '2G' means GSM+GPRS and WCDMA. Apples and oranges.
Additionally, what many in the UK consider to be '3G' (which really is plain UMTS) is in fact already 3.5G (HSDPA/HSUPA). And it's even broadly available in the UK countryside already (and coverage is growing).
Add to this that many areas in the US don't even have any basic GSM or WMCDA cell phone coverage at all (and thanks to the American oligopol they have thanks to the 'free unregulated market' they so strongly believe in, and which already presents them with ridiculously expensive price plans and no real choice, this won't change soon), and the picture for good ol' UK looks much brighter.
IT infrastructure monitoring strategies
Agentless Backup is Not a Myth
Steps to Take Before Choosing a Business Continuity Partner
Requirements Checklist for Choosing a Cloud Backup and Recovery Service Provider
Data control in the cloud
