Samsung says get ready for 4G
Written by Om Malik-
Posted
yesterday at 12:11 AM
Samsung is showing off a new 4G wireless technology that allows people to connect to the Internet at 100 megabits per second in a vehicle moving at 37 miles per hour. With that you can get 32 channels of video, make video calls and oh, surf the Internet. It is also showing off a one gigabit per second fixed wireless technology, reports The Wall Street Journal.
While 4G is not likely to arrive till 2010, the race is on. NTT DoCoMo has shown off a 2.5 gigabit-per-second technology, while others are working on their own variations. By comparison, WiMAX looks painfully slow. Taking a longer term view, it seems that everyone from Samsung to Siemens is looking to escape from under Qualcomm’s yoke, and take better control of their destiny.
Exciting as these breakthroughs might seem, Samsung’s new technology and NTT DoCoMo offerings are unlikely to be commercially available any time soon. The 3G phones have only now started to ship in meaningful numbers, and the 3G networks are only getting lit in many parts of the world. Cingular, one of the largest wireless carriers in the world has only recently started turning on its 3G services.
