4g what can it do

On deadline and away from your office Internet connection? How about a palpable sense of panic to go with that timeout error? Now, graphics, video clips and presentations loaded with all sorts of multimedia are accessible via a smartphone or tablet. Even at hours when network traffic is exceedingly high, you'll still be able to send and receive data reliably, for pleasure and for less fun activities.

Right now all sorts of programs, applications and data are stored to the cloud, hosted on multiple, Internet-connected servers. To access your goodies, you simply have to remember your login name and password. Oh, and of course, you need Internet access. And for streaming music, video and other staples of a multimedia dinner, you need a fast, dependable connection. A lickety-split connection is even more indispensable when it comes to streaming audio from services such as Pandora, Spotify , Amazon Cloud Drive, iCloud and Google Music.

All of these companies let you stream thousands of songs from their servers to your mobile device, no matter where you might be. That flexibility of availability is a wonderful thing -- how cool would it be to blast music from the soundtrack of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" while you're spelunking in Carlsbad Caverns?

The awesomeness would be unmatched, but that dream is unlikely to happen without a great 4G connection. After you find a 4G signal, streaming should be a snap. The only real challenge might be your data transfer limits. As more and more users jump to 4G, expect providers to cap or charge exorbitantly for very high data usage. As 4G networks spread, get ready to see and hear this phrase, "The Internet of Things," over and over again.

It basically refers to the idea of everyone and everything from milk cartons to cows having embedded chips that identify and connect them to the Internet. The applications of this kind of data are endless. Your alarm clock, for instance, could become a more intelligent and useful device. Connected to the Internet, it knows when the roads are icy and that you'll need extra time to make the commute, so it wakes you up earlier.

It also starts your car to make sure the windows are ice-free in time for your departure. You can see a whole range of other possibilities in this Cisco infographic. The Internet of Things is also sometimes called machine-to-machine M2M communication. Whenever you take a picture with your smartphone, not only does it store it to your phone's internal drive, you can have it automatically save onto your Google Drive, iCloud, Amazon Cloud, Dropbox or another cloud storage solution. This is a smooth process when connected to 4G but we've found that it can take ages when connected via 3G or even not happen at all until you get to a Wi-Fi connection.

That's because the upload speeds offered by 4G are very impressive, often dramatically better even than home broadband. EE's average upload speed in recent nationwide tests were The average upload speed for 3G is 1. The same picture therefore would take 10 seconds or more to upload. Video calling Video calling applications like Skype and Apple's own FaceTime are adaptive in that you will get the best picture and audio performance possible, depending on your internet connection.

Tethering If you need to use a laptop or other device without mobile internet connectivity and there is no Wi-Fi, a great option is to tether your phone via a cable or Bluetooth and use your smartphone's internet connection. Gaming Not only do faster speeds improve gaming experiences on tablets and phones, with the ability to upload and download scores, Facebook integration, game updates and more, the lower latency offered by 4G services means that multiplayer online games are more feasible.

Video streaming Although it is possible to watch TV and movies streamed from services such as BBC iPlayer and Netflix over a 3G connection, you will undoubtedly get a better experience when using 4G. Downloading Sometimes when out and about you might need to download large files. Picture uploading One of the things that most cloud services offer is instant picture uploading. Of course, for many users while the advent of such high-speed mobile services will be great news, pricing will be key to encouraging take-up.

Creation of a premium tier of 4G services at a higher price point makes sense if you are a network operator trying to recoup investment in new infrastructure, but is likely to attract mainly early adopters and business users rather than the masses.

With fixed broadband, some operators e. BT are essentially charging the same for superfast broadband as they are for "normal broadband" which is helping to drive take-up amongst consumers.

It will therefore be interesting to see whether the mobile operators adopt the same approach. If you have any questions on this article please contact us.

Consultation - New Regulations to require Infrastructure Sharing. UK 4G accelerates into Summer As background for this month's Download, Patrick Clark looks at what 4G is and how we will use it when it is adopted in the near future. Buying a 4G compatible smartphone Although most new phones are 4G compatible, not every phone supports the technology. Is 4G free? Join millions of savers. Was this article helpful? Read next Get the most out of your data allowance The data-saving tips they don't want you to know.

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