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Tell You About 4G
The often bandied about term ‘4G’ simply means 4th generation, the technology being the fourth carnation of mobile communications standards. Since Apple took the step in making its latest iPad 4G compatible, this term has become a buzz word for the future of mobile and tablet technology. But what does it mean?
4G refers primarily to the increased speed of a device’s internet connection over its predecessors. It is designed to enable a higher calibre of gaming, internet access, high-definition mobile and impressively; 3D television. The International Telecommunications Union defines the speed of 4G as up to 100Mbps for mobile devices and anywhere on the tasty end of 1Gbps for static connections. If the current predictions and expectations are true, 4G mobile technology will vastly outstrip the speed of your average wired home internet connection. The current generation that we’re all familiar with on our modern smartphones, 3G, offers a meagre 2Mbps so we can look forward to a speed up to 50 times faster than what we have now.
The problem that we come across whilst travelling, when losing connection finding a new mast, will apparently be eliminated too. 4G allegedly switches between mobile communication masts at a much faster rate than 3G.
At the moment, 4G isn’t commercially available in Britain and has only been rolled out near London as a pilot scheme to iron out bugs. We’re told that it should be implemented towards the end of the year, but Ofcom needs to auction the bands of mobile spectrum which have the capacity to run a 4G network (2.6GHz and 800MHz.)
The most practical appeal of the 4G network will be in smooth file-sharing and video conferencing. Business who avoid online communications are hoping to venture into this cheaper, faster and more effective market through the leaps that 4G will make. The secure and stable connection will mean file transfers should be swift and uninterrupted, whilst the increase in speed will allow for much smoother video streaming and a higher resolution to be displayed at a decent FPS (frames per second) rate.
4G is definitely going to be of a great benefit to businesses. The switch from mobile streams into VoIP (Voice over Inter Protocol) means that phone calls from mobile telecommunications will act in much the same way that those made on computers will. They will suffer less from peak spikes, meaning you can rely on your phone calls to be secure and quality at times of high usages, and the data transferred will be far more secure. Added to which, the cost of transferring this kind of data will be much lower than standard telecommunications.
But the jury are still out as to whether this decreased cost will see a decreased bill. We doubt it.
7 Science Facts That Will Surprise You
The universe is not necessarily an intuitive place. Here, in no particular order, are ten facts to illustrate this often-confusing reality.
1. You Are an Ape
We’re not even really talking about evolution here; Homo sapiens simply is, by definition, an ape species. You aren’t a monkey, though, that’s a different category. Earth is already the Planet of the Apes, scientifically speaking. Humans do qualify as one of the “Great Apes”, though, if that makes you feel any better.
2. You’re in an Ice Age
Technically, we’re currently in an “interglacial” period, or a brief (by geologic standards) thawing-out, but scientists believe we’ll be back to Snowball Earth fairly soon…which could be about 50,000 years or so.
3.You’re Hallucinating Right Now
Most of what you’re seeing on your screen right now is a hallucination. The human eye is not actually a terribly high-performance organ, and has a high resolution of “pixels” (rod and cone cells) only in the very center of the cornea. Everything around that central focus is actually pretty fuzzy, so the brain simply fills in the details.
.4. We Don’t Know Why You Sleep
You’ll die of sleep deprivation quicker than you’ll succumb to starvation, but no one really knows why. Sleep seems to play a large part in healing, immune response, and memory formation (or, as we’ve said, fabrication), but we don’t understand exactly why it’s so necessary.
5. We Don’t Know What the Universe Is Made Of
About 84.5% of the total “stuff” that makes up the universe is estimated to be “Dark Matter”, which is a scientific term for “Hell If We Know”. All we can really say about it for sure is that it has mass (because it causes gravitational effects) and that we can’t see it.
6.Colombus Had No Excuse
Not only had Western intellectuals known the Earth was round for millennia by 1492, the Greek philosopher Eratosthenes had actually measured it using trigonometry in the 3rd-century BC, a fact that the would-be explorer was well aware of. He simply redid the math over and over until he got it wrong. Had he not bumped into the Americas purely by accident, he would have starved to death.
7. Most of the Cells in Your Body Are not Human
They’re bacteria. This doesn’t actually mean you are *mostly* bacteria, though; prokaryotic cells like a bacterium are much, much smaller than the eukaryotic human cells that make up “you”. There’s still about a half-gallon worth, though.
Did you have enough bandwidth?
Once upon a time, if you were a blogger, you didn’t have as much competition online for bandwidth as you do now. Movies, television shows, music, social networking, gaming, school, work and almost every aspect of our daily lives have begun to revolve around the internet, and while the last thing anyone wants to do is wait, not having enough bandwidth can make you do just that. This is especially pertinent when sharing the internet with an entire family; insufficient bandwidth can result in long download times, pausing in media in order to buffer, and slow navigation. If you vlog and spent a lot of time uploading video, it can be particularly onerous to watch the progress bar crawl wearily stumble towards the time you can actually post your latest content. However, you can now avoid much of the stress in your household by finding a broadband deal that will meet your needs.
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What is Bandwidth?
Bandwidth is, simply put, the path of communication between your computer and the internet. The more bandwidth you have, the more information can be transmitted to your computer. Many compare it to a pipe. A large pipe is able to move a great quantity very quickly. However, a small pipe is unable to do so. If you only plan on using small amounts of information, a smaller bandwidth will be just as efficient as a higher bandwidth. However, if there’s a great deal of internet activity, you’ll find yourself with a backup.
What is Broadband?
Broadband is a term used to mean a great amount of bandwidth, or broad bandwidth. This is the word typically used by high speed internet providers as all their plans provide large amounts of bandwidth, which is why they’re known as high speed internet companies. The various broadband plans specify how broad their bandwidth is.
How Much Bandwidth Do You Use?
When determining how much bandwidth your family needs, consider what the internet gets used for, how often and at what times. If all the internet use is staggered throughout the day, it’s possible that a smaller bandwidth would be acceptable. However, for most families, the evening hours, after school and work, have high levels of internet use and are the times that buffering media is most unwelcome. Consider also all devices that use the internet, including:
- computers
- tablet
- smartphones
- television
- games consoles
If any of these devices are connected to your home internet, they will affect your required bandwidth.
Most videos stream at 25Mb/m, consuming a great deal of bandwidth. Many online games use 10-15Mb/h. Social media like Facebook can use about 5Mb/m. Skype can use 6Mb/m. If the only use of your internet at any given time is watching a movie while browsing Facebook, you can max out smaller broadband deals and be left with slow internet.
How Much Bandwidth Do You Need?
If you have several people using the internet simultaneously, broadband deals with higher Mb/m will be the ideal choice. Ofcom’s 2012 report gave the title of the fastest average broadband speeds to Virgin Media’s 100Mb+ service, so if you have to have the fastest, click here.
For each broadband deal, most providers will suggest how many people the bandwidth will comfortably accommodate. If a bandwidth proves to be inadequate, providing slow and sluggish internet, plans can always be updated to improve your experience.
Is There Such Thing As Too Much Bandwidth?
High speed internet is the objective of both the provider and the customer, and if you’re experiencing problems with speed on a particular bandwidth, a greater bandwidth would be preferable. However, if such problems do not occur, then having a greater bandwidth will do you no service. In a household of one or two people, the largest of the broadband deals will probably be unnecessary and will not make your internet experience any more enhanced than it already is.
Written by:
Nathan Morgan has been a technology professional for 16 years and has diverse hands-on experience starting off with a couple of years of mobile phone SMT repair. That was followed by three years as a freelance Visual Basic developer and then a decade dedicated to Linux server security, ecommerce site management and coding in a variety of languages including PHP, SQL and Java.
