Are 4G and 4G LTE networks the same?

The introduction of 4G network has brought users a completely new and useful experience when the data access speed has increased significantly compared to previous generations of 3G and 2G networks. In the article How to enable 4G on your phone, the Network Administrator showed you how to enable 4G on each smartphone operating system including iOS, Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry phones. However, do you wonder why some devices say 4G, some models say 4G LTE connection? So what’s the difference between those two concepts or are they just 4G connections on smartphones?

1. What is the concept of 4G network?

4G network is literally the Fourth Generation, the fourth generation of wireless communication technology. You can interpret this as the equivalent of a 3G or 2G network. Under normal conditions, 4G speeds allow data transmission at maximum speeds of up to 1 or 1.5 Gb/s.

With the above data download speed, users can completely watch online videos with standard HD quality, download games with heavy capacity without worrying about problems. In particular, if we need a stable and quality transmission line for video meetings, the 4G network will ensure the needs of users.

Readers can refer to other information about 4G networks in the article What you need to know about 4G networks.

2. What is the concept of 4G LTE?

There will be many smartphone lines when we enable 4G on the phone that will use the term 4G LTE or even just LTE. So do they have any difference with 4G or not?

As mentioned, the transmission speed of 4G networks can be up to 1 or 1.5 Gb/s. Thus, this is considered the speed standard of a 4G network. However, the reality is that there is still no network device or smartphone that can achieve such data transfer speeds.

On the other hand, LTE (Long Term Evolution) is understood as Long Term Evolution. And when carriers add LTE behind 4G, it means, this is not yet considered a standard 4G technology network with a maximum data transfer rate of 1 to 1.5 Gb/s according to the concept of 4G network. The current 4G LTE network coverage can be considered as a standard asymptotic to the 4th network technology.

In addition, LTE is fully understood as LTE CAT with many different standards, from LTE CAT 1 to LTE CAT 8. The higher the LTE CAT line, the faster the data download or upload speed will be. For example, LTE CAT 3 has a download speed of 100 Mbps (100 Megabits/s), downloading a 1 GB movie will take 82 seconds.

However, LTE CAT 4 with a download speed of 150 Mbps (150 Megabits/s) can download a 1 GB file in less than 54.6 seconds.

3. So 4G LTE is different from 4G or not?

As mentioned above, the current 4G LTE network does not achieve the ideal data transmission speed as the 4G network. Today’s 4G LTE is just faster than the previous 3G network.

However, it is undeniable that the current 4G LTE network has also fully met the needs of users when transferring data between devices, greatly improving the speed compared to the previous 3G network. Hopefully in the near future, 4G LTE technology will be improved to be able to reach 4G standard.

Hope the above article is useful to you!