14 DAY TRIAL // The first steps towards the deployment of the next-generation Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology have been already made, and while a lot of carriers already announced plans to roll out networks based on the 4G standard, other companies also stated that they would support the technology in their own way. A wide range of phone makers are committed to release LTE-capable handsets, and now we learn that the first products that support the technology are already here.
To be more specific, LG Electronics came out with the first LTE USB modem in the world, although 4G / LTE networks will become commercially available only next year. The new modem has been showcased during the ComunicAsia 2009 expo in Singapore, and is reported to be capable of offering data transfer speeds of up to 100 Mbps while using a mobile network. In other words, the new modem can offer much higher speeds when compared to the 3G ones that are available at the moment.
For the time being, there are no details on when the newly demonstrated LG USB modem based on the LTE technology will become available for purchase on the market, though it should certainly depend on the deployment of the first LTE networks. According to some of the latest reports on the Internet, a number of around 12 mobile phone carriers around the world should announce the roll-out of their LTE networks during the next few years, including Verizon Wireless, MetroPCS, Telia, Tele2 and others.
The possibilities that the upcoming 4G technology would offer are much greater than what today's 3G networks can deliver. For example, LG demonstrated how 4 HD-resolution parallel video broadcasts were played at the same time on the same TV screen, all using only the mobile LTE network. According to some analysts, the deployment of LTE will allow a wide range of multimedia services to kick off, and the number of customers to use the upcoming network for more than just communication will also be increased.
