Smart LTE vs Globe HSPA+ - the 4G War

Share

Image courtesy of Newsbyte

The Philippines have 84-million subscribers from 3 carriers namely Smart Telecom, Globe Telecom, and Sun Cellular with population around 93-million. The competition is toughed among this three cellular providers also known as carriers. Last month PLDT owned Smart acquired 51% of Digitel, the company behind Sun Cellular. This means that only two main carriers left, Ayala owned Globe and PLDT-Smart.

Like in the US, the carriers in the Philippines are starting/testing to deploy the 4G (Fourth Generation) Technology in mobile telecommunication. This was started by Globe when they start providing their subscriber with WiMax. Currently no Wimax mobile phone in the Philippines and most of the WiMax service is Mobile Internet.

Currently Smart Philippines is now testing their LTE (Long Term Evolution) in Boracay, Aklan. As Smart goes LTE, Globe will be using HSPA+ (Evolved High-Speed Packet Access) and both considered to be 4G Technology.

LTE theoritical throughput (max) downlink speed  of 80-100Mbps down and HSPA+ is at 21Mbps.

I know Globe was already testing their 4G few months back, they even advertised this to Future Tech, a show in Studio 23. Both Telco are claiming for the first spot in the 4G service in the Philippines. Currently 4G is still in the test stage and maybe by 2012 they will totally deploy it.

But the biggest question is, How much speed they are willing to provide for their subscriber?
Yes they are advertising that 21 to 84Mbps speed but I think they gonna give us  1-2Mbps of bandwidth and 1Gig/day cap. Majority of the subscriber does not know this and the telcos are playing joke. We deserve faster internet connectivity and good coverage.

The demand for the bandwidth is growing as technology like HD Streaming, Video Download, Internet TV, Video conferencing are gaining popularity in this country. We need faster connection, reliable ISP and cheaper bandwidth. Plus LTE Smartphones are getting popular too...



Check out that HTC Thunderbolt 4G powered by Verizon.


In the USA, Verizon is the number one in LTE provider with average speed of 6Mbps
 
[via] Newsbyte