4G 'confusion' survey is confused itself

Stuart Corner
Thursday, 14 July 2011 11:20

Opinion and Analysis

Confusion over what is what is not a 4G mobile technology has reached ludicrous heights. A survey by Retrovo Gadgetoloy, the market research arm of US online electronics retailer Retrovo, has concluded that "consumers may be so confused over 4G that they become hesitant to move to 4G, at least in the near term," but it can't make the distinction itself.

 

The 4G that US consumers are confused about is, according to Gadgetology, that underpinning the LTE networks of Verizon and AT&T. A posting on the Retrovo blog:  says: "In a recent Retrevo Gadgetology study only a little less than a quarter of the respondents say they're going for 4G. With so many potential 4G customers expressing concerns about cost and performance providers of 4G phones and services could be in for some disappointment."

It explains: "A third of iPhone owners mistakenly think their phones have 4G. Maybe the '4' in the iPhone 4 name gives iPhone owners (34 percent) the false impression that they already own a 4G phone but the fact is Apple doesn't offer a 4G phone at the moment.

"Coincidentally, a suspiciously large percentage of Android and BlackBerry owners may be suffering from the same delusion. BlackBerry owners (24 percent) are almost as confused as iPhone owners since RIM doesn't currently offer a 4G phone. At least some Android owners could be answering correctly as Android 4G phones like the HTC Evo 4G or Samsung Infuse 4G have been available for some time. If nothing else this large number of 'misinformed' phone owners serves to emphasise the fact that consumers are quite confused about 4G."

In a couple of years time as the first true 4G networks, LTE-Advanced, start to rollout consumers might just have managed to get over this confusion. So, one wonders, what are the hype merchants going to call LTE-A? 5G no doubt.

Trouble is no lesser authority than the head of the ITU, Hamadoun Touré, said just last month that none of the technologies currently on offer comply with the ITU's fourth-generation mobile standard and that LTE-A will be the first true 4G technology. He explained, as the ITU has repeatedly insisted: "4G is the commercial term applied to the [ITU's] IMT-Advanced standard, which is currently met by LTE-Advanced and WiMAX-Advanced [technologies]."