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Prepaid Wireless Broadband - Wireless Technology and Speeds Uncovered!
Prepaid
wireless broadband utilizes
industry standard cellular technologies. This page is
dedicated to digging
into details about mobile broadband speeds
related to the different cellular
technologies. I've also included
some
legacy/old technologies to help with the comparison. You'll
also
see information in the column of far right of the table that has notes
regarding practical use.
At the end of the
day, we can talk
about prepaid wireless
broadband speeds, and all kinds
of technological terms, but what does
it all really mean? In other words, lets get past the
technological jargon and answer the question: "What can I do
with
that technology?"
Does it mean I can browse the Internet
faster?
Watch YouTube videos? Live streaming TV?
Hopefully
you'll find the information useful in helping you understand
the
practical applications. You can also read an interesting
discussion about the Defintion
of Broadband.
There's
an amazing amount of
detail that I could get into regarding the various technologies below.
For example, I don't go into the different technologies under
3.5G like EVDO-Rev0 versus EVDO-RevA. My thinking is that the
information here should cut through the techie details and give you the
"so what" answers....i.e. What can I do with this mobile broadband
technology? If you do, however, have questions or want more
details, please don't hesitate to contact
me! |
| |
| Technology |
Peak
Downlink/
Uplink Speed |
Average
Downlink/Uplink
Speed |
Practical
Use/Notes |
| Dial-Up |
1
Mbps |
1
Mbps |
- Email
(small or no attachments)
- Limited
Internet browsing
|
| Wired Ethernet |
6
- 10 Mbps |
6
- 10 Mbps |
|
| 1G |
n/a |
n/a |
- An
analog technology primarily for voice
- No
practical data application use
|
| 2G |
n/a |
n/a |
- The
first digital technology for voice
- No
additional benefit for data applications over 1G
- Some
basic WAP applications were available (weather, stock quotes, etc.)
|
| 3G |
153
- 384 Kbps
153 - 384 Kbps |
|
- Digital
voice
- Location based
services
- Limited
Internet browsing
|
| 3.5G |
2.4
- 3.1 Mbps
153 kbps - 1.8 Mbps |
300
- 900 Kbps
150 - 800 Kbps |
- Can
offer simultaneous voice and data (ex. talk on the phone while browsing
the Internet or sending/receiving emails)
- Mobile
streaming TV
- VoIP
|
| Wi-Fi |
13
- 42 Mbps |
20
- 40 Mbps |
- Two
computers/devices communicating over Wi-Fi have tremendous data
transfer
speed (ex. music or file sharing)
- When
used to connect to a router, which in turn is connected to wired
Ethernet, or 3G cellular technologies, speed is limited to that of the
cellular network
|
| WiMAX
(4G) |
23
- 46 Mbps
4 Mbps |
768
Kbps - 6 Mbps
384 Kbps - 500 Kbps |
- Video
chat/conferencing
- User
generated content
- Full
broadband data
|
| LTE (4G) |
173
-
326 Mbps
58 - 86 Mbps |
>10
Mbps
>5 Mbps |
|
|
|
Some
terminology definitions that
you may find helpful: |
| |
| Broadband |
Highspeed
data - In 2006 was defined as any speed of at least 256 Kbps; in 2009
broadband became redefined as data speeds of 768 Kbps or greater |
| Downlink |
Also
known as download speed; the speed at which your mobile device can
receive data from the source/network. Plays a large role in
whether video is smooth or choppy |
| Uplink |
Also
known as upload speed; the speed at which your mobile device can send
data to the source/network. Telling the network what data you
want can
impact the user experience even if download speeds are high, because
the network is slow to receive information about what to send to the
mobile device |
| Kbps |
Kilobytes
per second
- A byte is a packet of data; a kilobyte is 1,000 bytes. Is a
measure of data transfer speed |
| Mbps |
Megabyte
per second
- A byte is a packet of data; a megabyte a million bytes or
1,000 kilobytes. Is a measure of data transfer speed |
| LTE |
Long
Term Evolution
- A 4G wireless broadband technology that's competitive with WiMAX |
| MIMO |
Multiple
Input Multiple Output - When a number of antennas are used to transmit
data streams from a source making the transmission speed even faster |
| For a list
of other common
prepaid wireless broadband technology and industry related wireless
terms, visit the Wireless
Terminology page. |
|
| Click the
following links to explore available prepaid wireless broadband
technologies and
prepaid mobile broadband plans: |
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