HSPA+ or 4G: Who's Who in the Mobile Age?

Much has been said about the coming of the connection 4G to Brazil since the beginning of the year. After all, the country will host major international events such as the 2014 World Cup. operators advanced in guaranteeing more speed connection for your users.

The answer of this investment is the deployment of the network HSPA+ by operators , the Living, Tim e Clear. Clear was the last to announce its new connection and released the net HSPA+ to customers in more than 700 municipalities last Thursday (15). The network is not compatible with all devices currently launched in Brazil, but we know that the maximum network connection, at Claro, will be 3MBps. Regarding the 4G network, just the Sky announced the use of the signal to broadband connection, initially in the Federal District.

Even with 4G connection still unavailable, stores and manufacturers advertise products compatible with this technology. Cell phones and tablets are sold as “compatible with the 4G network” or even link 4G to the new connection - HSPA+. But, what is the difference between them?

A HSPA+ connection is exactly what the operators say it is: a faster 3G connection. A definition for the connection HSPA+ is the nomenclature of 3,5G. With 21MBps maximum speed (in Brazil, operators will limit their speed to around 3MBps), it uses the same frequency as the HSPA connection, classic 3G. Despite using the same frequency, the device must support this connection and, in Brazil, there are few devices that have this trump card.

A 4G connection is still undefined. Its main representative, LTE, already adopted by operators such as the North American Verizon and in Asian countries such as Japan. LTE (Long Term Evolution, in Portuguese) was created to maintain compatibility with GSM and HSPA. The frequency used by the new network is 2.5GHz and reaches, at most, 100Mbps download and 50Mbps upload.

Products with 4G connection, such as tablets and smartphones that support the LTE network are not yet officially marketed in Brazil. Smartphones and Tablets as Atrix e RAZR da Motorola, Galaxy SII, Galaxy Note e Galaxy Tab 10.1 and 8.9 da Samsung, do not support LTE frequency, even if some of them are sold abroad with network compatible versions.