Unlike markets in the UK and across continental Europe, in times past, the United States mobile coverage was spotty at best. Cell phone coverage in one market, in one state would be good, whereas in another state, the coverage would be better with a different carrier. Consumers relocating for work or retirement or traveling on business would often find they needed to change carriers in order to keep a reasonably reliable cellular connection. Some even went so far as to carry more than one cell phone with different network SIM cards inside, so they were always covered.
Today, things are beginning to improve with some of the largest cell phone networks connecting up the dots and starting to provide a nationwide service that takes the need for network hopping out of the equation.
HSPA+ networking within 3G
HSPA+ is a faster data standard that boasts of impressive download speeds up to 21 Mbps. In real life conditions, the speeds are around 9 Mbps downstream, which is still more than enough for web surfers looking to stream that YouTube movie clip, purchase a Kindle eBook online or open a few tabs in their web browser simultaneously.
HSPA+ is not so much a new network type per se, but is more like an error correcting layer which runs over the top of an existing 3G network. It dramatically cuts down the errors made during data transmission, thereby reducing the need for the network to resend information. This results in fast overall speeds because the previous errors in transmission are no longer acting as an anchor to the overall speed achieved across the network.
HSPA+ can therefore give a 3G network a new lease of life with improved speeds, better reliability and yet retain a level of network coverage that far surpasses what is currently possible with nascent 4G networks. This is simply because 3G network infrastructure has been grown out over a number of years, whereas 4G networks require new cell towers and equipment to be 4G ready. This takes time to build out nationwide; with a 4G network even basic voice calls need to be handed a different way than with a 3G network configuration and new technologies need to be deployed across the network do so.
4G Networks
4G is a new technology that has been gradually deployed, at different rates of deployment, by various carriers in the U.S.
AT&T
Of the four carriers, AT&T was the slowest to start creating a 4G LTE network, however it is now in 35 large markets. It has good coverage and some impressive LTE speeds which in recent tests beat those of more popular Verizon Wireless.
Sprint
Sprint started early with 4G WiMAX, while the rest of the cellular networks came later to market, but the late adopters went with the LTE standard instead. Sprint has now begun to release its own LTE network earlier in 2012 in a few test locations during the summer months. Some cell phones are now being sold for its 4G LTE markets, but they are incompatible with its own 4G WiMAX network, leaving consumers unsure what direction to go.
T Mobile
T Mobile (which forms the backbone of the Solavei network infrastructure) currently has the largest network. It presently uses the HSPA+ configuration which provides impressive speeds in city and rural areas, with the greatest breadth of any U.S. network presently. T Mobile will also be offering 4G LTE in 2013. T Mobile’s major selling points are that its network has the widest coverage and most consistent transfer speeds of any of the current mobile networks.
Verizon Wireless is in over 250 markets with its LTE offering. The transfer speeds currently sit at around 5 to 12 Mbps downstream and 1-2 Mbits upstream. However, the network coverage is incomplete, especially in more rural areas, and transfers will sometimes cut out or time out when the network has to suddenly switch out of the 4G network and back into the 3G HSPA+ network instead. Their 4G LTE network also has a lot of customers, which can increase the demand and reduce network speed.
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