News UK 4G network trial to begin in Cornwall

BT and Everything Everywhere will begin trialling 4G wireless networks in Cornwall this autumn.

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2011/05/25/uk-4g-network-trial-begins/1

 

Weren't we ahead of mobile adoption standards at one point? When i was in the US about 4 years ago they were saying how much further ahead we were with 3G.

Hopefully it'll work out, and they'll be able to get these speeds to places that don't currently have cable.

 

This is fantastic news; when I live with my parents it's in rural Northumberland, and our 'broadband' speeds arent far from dial-up, this sounds like a good solution.

 

Despite the more conservative speeds expected I bet they still advertise it as "up to 50mb/s" despite it not being available to anyone.

Good for the peeps in the area though

 

Smaller country and companies like 3 where built around 3G which sped up adoption and coverage. Tho Looking at 3G non of the companies have great 3G coverage. The next biggest concern will be pricing, will companies charge an arm and a leg for theroetical speeds of a swamped network just because its suppose to be faster?
Also can someone fill me in, is LTE the true 4G or an evolution of 3G thats been rebadged 4G?

 

finish spreading 3G before concentrating on anything new...Heck I can't even get EDGE everywhere...

 

Might have something to do with the £22.5 BILLION pounds the UK government took from the operators for the 3G licences in the great 3G auction. If the operators paid that much money for the licences then:

A - That's £22.5b they haven't got to invest in the infrastructure for their new licences.
and
B - They'll be in no hurry to adopt a newer system and leave behind one which cost them £22.5b, not until they've completely milked it dry of every single penny they can get first.

Still, at least the government did something useful and forward-thinking with the huge and totally unexpected windfall, like re-investing it in technology such as rolling out fibre to the entire country. Oh, right...

 

Does anyone even live in this area? I though it was all bought up by people who live in London and visit 1 week of the year.

 

Yep, though I'm in the St.Ives Bay area. EDGE is okay at home and closer to Truro, but there's absolutely no signal at work in St.Ives.

As for traditional broadband. Basically, if you're close to the exchanges towns like St.Ives and Hayle you can expect around 6mbps, but the drop off means that a couple of miles out of town and you're lucky to get anywhere near 1mbps.

I haven't got a phone line yet (just moved in) but I know the people down stairs struggle to loads web pages.

They're rolling out fibre at the moment, which is already in Chiverton Cross, Perranporth and Camborne IIR, but it'll be another six months before it gets close to us.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11435640

As for holiday home owners. There's a Wicker Man outside St.Just with their names on it.

 

At the end of the day all you need to know about British internet service providers is that they will provide the absolute minimum level of service for the absolute maximum cost they can get away with.

 

Hope to find one also here in our place.. looks fast eh.

 

I'm pretty sure LTE is full-fat, not the 3.9G rebadged stuff. The theoretical speeds also point towards that idea. Could be wrong though, there's a hell of a lot of rubbish termanology spewed from the US telecomms marketing divisions.

@edit: Dug this out. Basic LTE and WiMAX are pretty much just 3.5G, which apparently a lot of companies in the States are now throwing under the 4G banner. The proposed trial must be LTE Advanced, given the speeds.

 

Cheers TWeaK, The whole HSDPA, 3G, LTE WiMAX technical stuff is above me atm. I'm gonna do some homework on these terms and what network uses what and why. I do wonder tho if mobile broadband is a cheaper and faster way for the government to reach its target for nationwide coverage and speed. the upgrade is kinda needed, phone technology is advancing so quickly that a new processor and ram every year in a phone isn't enough to make everyone jump. Look at the ZTE Blad/Orange san francisco. its under £100 and is almost as full featured as some of the top end phones that are £400. The Atrix here looks a poorer investment cause it lacks 4G. Yes these pones are attractive and do carry a price for being the fastest but networks relay on ARM and android to keep driving handsets forward.

 

Surfs up!

 

until you hit the 2gb monthly limit

3uk be good if it worked but where it does gives you best data plans, t mobile 2gb limit with 2g speed cut down when you hit it (they do not charge you for the remaining month)

 

It is LTE Advanced which is still not 4G. Some call it 3.9G. This is still a massive jump forward and considering the poor 3G and broadband coverage that exists down there nobody is going to care. I have a house in illogan and my broadband there gets 300k download speed.

 

Oh I just got it

 

;-) not many surfers from Cornwall on here then!