It is hard to imagine for the modern generation, but once phones were really phones, not smartphones. They could make calls, nothing more. At the same time they were small and easily fit in a pocket, but with such gadgets it was impossible to take photos and share them. Of course, it was impossible to make an access point from the phone, not to mention many other functions.
However, now there are practically no phones left, there are only smartphones. Today the whole world continues to actively develop a new generation of high-speed wireless networks, due to which many things seem very confusing to an ordinary user. For example, often users try to find out which is better: H or 3G? What is the data transfer rate in these networks, etc. But the posing of such questions is absurd, and the person does not understand what he is asking.
What does the Internet 3G, E, H mean?
G stands for Generation. This means that when manufacturers speak 4G, they mean a wireless network that is built on the basis of fourth-generation technology. True, the term “generation” in a sense confuses ordinary users. Therefore, you need to try to figure it all out.
But E and H are data transmission technologies that belong to different generations. But this requires a detailed explanation.
1G
First-generation technologies have made mobile phones a mass product. Based on this generation, TACS and NMT network technologies have become the most popular. The first was used in the USA, the second in Europe. Then no one even intended to provide data services. At that time, there were analog systems that allowed voice calls and provided some other features.
The data transfer speed of these technologies was low, and the price of one minute of conversation cost a lot of money, so having a cell phone could be considered a luxury. However, the development of the network was not long in coming. Soon, second-generation 2G networks appeared.
2G and 2.5G
The development of the second generation falls on the beginning of the 90s. Networks based on it were better protected, faster, and the quality of sound transmission increased. Some networks supported the transmission of short messages (SMS). Therefore, no one wondered: what is better than H or 3G. Until the third generation was still to develop.
In 1997, GPRS appeared, and this was a turning point in the history of the development of cellular communications. It was a real revolution, because the technology offered GSM networks the ability to continuously transmit data at a higher speed.
However, this was not yet a full third generation. The first standard to approve the full 3G specification was IMT-2000. It provided a data transfer rate of up to 2 Mbit per second.
Mobile Internet 3G: E, H, G
In addition to a higher data transfer rate, this standard suggested a quick transition from second-generation to third-generation networks. For this, most GSM operators have chosen the UMTS standard.
At this time, the EDGE standard was widely developed. Initially, it was conceived as a simple way to squeeze the maximum out of the 2.5G generation without the need to invest a lot of money in development. On a phone with support for the EDGE standard, it was possible to get a data transfer rate twice as high as on the GPRS standard.
By the way, with this standard it was difficult, because it’s not immediately clear where to take it. Many experts attributed it to the 2.75G generation.
After 10 years, UMTS networks received an update in the form of HSDPA and HSUPA technologies, thanks to which the speed of incoming and outgoing traffic has increased significantly. And if the letter H is displayed at the top of your phone, it means that the HSDPA or HSUPA transmission standard is activated. However, it cannot be said which is better: H or 3G, because H (HSDPA) is essentially a 3G technology (third generation data network). Therefore, this question of many users is not entirely logical. The speed of the Internet 3G and H will be equal, just some phones can change the letter on the upper information panel of the display. But this does not change the essence, and in both cases the third generation 3G data network is used.
But even today, in some cities or villages, when you connect your phone to the network, you can see the letters G or E at the top of the screen. This means that EDGE and GPRS standards are applied, that is, 2G or 2.75G generation networks. If this is the case with you, then in this case it doesn’t matter to you at all which is better: H or 3G, because the letters G and E indicate a connection to the second generation network.
4G
There is an ITM-Advanced specification that defines the standard for fourth-generation 4G networks. The document defines the speed of incoming data - 1 Gbit / s for terminals and 100 Mbit / s for smartphones. It is impressive that it is 500 and 250 times faster than data transfer in the advanced ITM-2000 network. Such speeds even overtake direct connection to a broadband channel.
In rural areas, such technologies play a huge role, as it is more cost-effective to build one 4G station, which would provide communications to all subscribers within a radius of 10 km. Otherwise, one would have to create “blankets” from fiber optic.
But it is worth noting that the ITM-Advanced specifications are so demanding that today there is practically no standard that would meet them. That is, there is no full 4G network. Yes, WiMax and LTE technologies are officially read by the standards of the fourth generation network, but this is not 100% true. The fact is that although networks use modern multiplexing schemes and 100% of their bandwidth is used for data transfer, the speed still does not reach the standards described in the above mentioned specification. In theory, LTE technology assumes a data transfer rate of 100 Mb / s, very impressive. However, in practice, everything is much worse: the network speed usually does not exceed 30 Mbit per second. Of course, even 30 Mb / s is extremely fast, but the fact is that this speed does not meet the specification. Therefore, the LTE standard cannot be called fourth-generation technology. To date, there are no technologies that meet the requirements of ITM-Advanced.
Is 3G better than 4G?
Some US carriers have not even announced the transition to a fourth-generation standard. They remain on the 3G network and upgrade it. For example, the operator T-Mobile is upgrading its 3G network, trying to upgrade the HSPA standard to HSPA +. However, it does not even apply to the fourth-generation network standard. This makes sense, because having improved the 3G standard to the limit, you can also achieve high speeds. The same HSPA + will really provide the subscriber with a bandwidth of 42 Mb / s.
In this regard, the T-Mobile operator radically rethinks what the 4G standard is and what the Internet is faster. 3G or H in the phone can mean a data transfer rate of up to 42 Mbps per second, but so far this only applies to T-Mobile subscribers.
How are things really?
It seems that the networks of the third generation are well developed and there is even access to 4G Internet in big cities , but in reality everything is worse. In many regions of Russia and generally throughout Ukraine there is no 4G coverage. Yes, what is 4G there, even if the 3G generation is very poorly developed. It comes to the fact that in many villages and cities on smartphones appears the letter E when connected to the Internet. As you already understood from the article above, EDGE belongs to the generation of 2.5G networks and does not reach even the third generation networks.
Which Internet is better: 3G or H?
Initially, this material was aimed at helping subscribers of mobile operators understand generations of networks, because you can get confused with all these communication standards. It comes to the point that users are trying to compare speeds between the third generation of the network (3G) and HSPA technology, which is directly related to the third generation of networks. Roughly speaking, H is 3G.