New Bill May Require Carriers To Clarify 4G Speeds

4G comes in many flavors and many carriers have been guilty of liberally using the term 4G in order to sell their services which is why a new bill has been proposed that may require carriers to better clarify their speeds. For example how Sprint was advertising their 4G (which was really WiMax) but in reality, T-Mobile’s 3G speeds were outclassing them, which led to T-Mobile rebranding their 3G as 4G!

The Next Generation Wireless Disclosure Act would force carriers to shine more light on exactly what they are providing customers. At the point of sale, wireless providers would have to provide specific information about speed, reliability, coverage zones, pricing, and the technology used for the service. Consumers would also be provided with a side-by-side comparison of the top 10 competing networks’ speeds and prices.

As it stands 4G can refer to to either WiMax or HSPA+ but true 4G would be known as LTE which is why when some carriers advertise that they are expanding their 4G coverage they may say HSPA+ but for regular consumers they may be wondering why is it that Verizon’s 4G LTE (true 4G) is so much faster than say T-Mobile’s 4G HSPA+.