What is 4G LTE?

It seems that if you want to make sure you get a good cell phone nowadays you need a degree in mobile communication technology! 3G? 4G? LTE? Hot Spot? 16GB? 32GB? Droids? iOS? Anyone else here getting a bit confused and overwhelmed?

It would take far too long and boring an explination to explain all the terms to look at when picking out a cell phone, but since "4G LTE" has been being thrown around without explination a lot lately, I thought it would be nice to humanize it a bit. 4G LTE is a description of how a cell phone accesses the Internet. 4G stands for "fourth generation" and just means that it was developed after the 3G standard.

Each generation of technology (usually) is better than the last, and 4G is no exception. Actual speeds will vary depending on several factors I'll cover in a subsequent post, but it is generally accepted that 4G is faster than 3G. Faster at what? Internet access speeds will affect how quickly you can open up webpages, post photos to the Internet (like Facebook), stream movies from Netflix, and a slew of other things. Think of it as how fast your car can drive; If you have a slow car, it'll take longer to go places and do things.

LTE is just a description of what type of 4G network it is. LTE stands for Long Term Evolution, and if you forget that in two minutes, no one will fault you. There is another type of 4G used in the world called WiMAX, but unless you're planning a trip to South Korea any time soon I wouldn't worry about it, most major countries in the world either have or have plans to roll out LTE networks in the near future.

Practical Tip of the Day:
Some cell phone carriers are starting to offer wireless cards you can plug into your computers. Plug it into the USB port on your computer, and even if you're not connected to the Internet either physically or through a Wifi hotspot, you'll still be able to access the Internet. This is ideal if you travel for a living or go on a lot of vacations!