One of the most significant developments in recent technological history is the advent of the 4G network. All its promotions talk about blazing fast speed for mobile Internet, and over-the-air data plans. Most of the new smartphones and tablets released recently, or even those which are being phased out, are 4G enabled ones. What is 4G? The fourth generation of wireless Internet standards, which is a step above the 3G networks is called 4G. One can enjoy extremely high speeds of data exchange and transfer, as well as enhanced levels of network security, over this connection. Thus, wireless networking has become faster, safer, and more satisfactory than anything we have seen so far. Activities like streaming videos over the Web, watching movies in real time, exchanging information, and even watching live TV have become quicker and trouble-free compared to the past scenario. 4G Internet service was mainly used for mobile phones, and now it has also entered the field of laptops and tablet computers. Even wireless broadband Internet has benefited from this service. We also have witnessed an increased capacity for transferring HD videos, high quality voice protocols, and other data exchanges. How Fast is it? The kind of speed expected from this service is between 5 Mbit/second to 100 Mbit/second, depending on the kind of connection offered by your service provider. The upper limit of this speed is hard to pin down and state accurately, since it depends heavily on a bunch of external factors. The infrastructure that is put in place by the service provider, plays a major role in the success of this network. To get a clearer picture, we must remember that the 3G network took almost a decade to get fully functional. The main 4G service providers in the United States at present are AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile. Each of them offers their own variant of connectivity, but many people claim that these are not true 4G networks. Given below are the different available variants of this service

• HSPA+: T-Mobile provides this form of Internet which is in more than 100 cities in the US. Download speeds can run up to 168 Mbit/second.
• WiMAX: This service is provided by Sprint, and it offers download speeds of almost 100 Mbit/second. The next level of WiMAX apparently reaches as high as 1 Gbit/second.
• LTE: Also known as Long Term Evolution, this service is provided by AT&T and Verizon. This perhaps is the network with the most potential, showing speeds up to 300 Mbit/second.

4G connectivity is still pretty expensive. It is only a matter of time when the prices fall so that it is widely available to everyone. Once you realize how fast it actually is, you won't ever think about using the comparatively slower 3G network.