Almost 50% of U.S. Consumers Don't Think They Need 4G LTE According to Survey

[Beskidia]

I'm starting to think that the survey made sure to ask apple owners. As long as Apple doesn't have it yet, to them, it wouldn't matter at all

 

[SteveIrv]

I don't think people who haven't experienced 4G should even comment about it. That's like convincing people not to buy a car because it has navigation and you don't see the benefit.

Why shouldn't people be allowed to comment???? I understand that people shouldn't give uninformed opinion, which may cause others to be misinformed....but not to be able to comment??

I asked questions, trying to understand the benefits of upgrading.....so.....data is faster over 4G than 3G, does that matter if the only data use on my phone is over high speed, broadband, wifi??? Nope......4G's higher data speed would be irrelevant in my case.

In my case I seldom (if ever) use data over 3G and my habits wouldn't change much if I upgraded to 4G. I'm NOT going to replace my 20+mbps fiber optic broadband service with a 4G mobile hotspot generated by my cell phone (which would have data caps).

I asked the question "What will 4G do for me??".......I got several answers having to do with faster data speeds, which is meaningless for me since I seldom (if ever) use my cell phone for data (when it's not connected to broadband, high speed, wifi).

I wish I would have gotten more answers like the one about being able to utilize data and voice at the same time.....but everyone seems focused on data speed. If I was to change my "behavior" and started using the hell out of data on my cell phone.....I'd be in favor of keeping my 3G, unlimited data plan over upgrading to a 4G phone/plan with data caps.

I doubt this conversation would be happening at all if most of the providers hadn't changed the rules of the game at "half time". What is the benefit of faster data speed if my data is rationed???? If I was already hitting a data cap with 3G, I'd just hit it twice (or more) as fast on 4G LOL.

This is almost the same discussion I see about what good it does to move to a dual core or quad core processor as long as those processors eat batteries twice or four times as fast. Not a problem if the phone sits in a dock all the time or if I carry around a pocket full of fully charged batteries all the time...LOL

Kinda like my wife giving up on streaming Pandora radio on her phone when she realized her battery would be dead in 4 or 5 hours. What difference would your data speed make?? Her phone stays in her purse all day on standby, she listens to an mp3 player with built in fm tuner all day...it's battery lasts all week and there's no cap on how much music she can listen to.

 

[blacksoxing]

I don't care...3G is good to me

Yea, fast is fun...but I don't cry over being in a town without 4G LTE...

 

[sweeeeet]

I don't care...3G is good to me

Yea, fast is fun...but I don't cry over being in a town without 4G LTE...

if ur town had 4g and u moved to a town with 3g... you'd cry... lol

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

 

[Raw Dodge]

Give me good coverage and strong 3g and I'm happy . 4G is a battery life killer big time, so it's not like it's all gain there's a price to pay in poor battery life and very spotty 4G coverage, with 3g not as good as the 3g only phones. Face it almost everyone had wifi available at home work and all restaurants and coffee shops... It's not to often that I need to use my mobile data once I get where I'm going.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

[xeene]

Stream HD video, video chat like skype(great for people with kids/grandparents), have lan parties anywhere without need of additional network hardware. I can go on and on, but I'm not an average user. I can burn through 100gb of my 4G lte data over a weekend.

 

[FoneHome]

...Face it almost everyone had wifi available at home work and all restaurants and coffee shops... It's not to often that I need to use my mobile data once I get where I'm going.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

I wish I could say the same, however my job does not have WiFi...

 

[sweeeeet]

I wish I could say the same, however my job does not have WiFi...

mine does.. they just don't give me the password lol

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

 

[geoff5093]

Is speed a major reason why 4G is better? Of course. There are lots of other pros to 4G over 3G though.

Verizon's 4G LTE network used the 700MHz spectrum, over I believe 1800MHz for 3G. The lower the frequency, the better the in-building penetration and distance you can be from the transmitter, this means that you will get slightly better 4G coverage than you had with 3G, especially inside buildings. For me this leads to better battery life actually, as with 3G I had a slightly weaker signal so the phone was using more power trying to maintain a data connection, as well as 4G being faster the phone can finish it's auto-syncing quicker over 4G.

While I don't do excessive large downloads over 4G, everything that you do that uses data is done faster. From checking to see if I have any e-mail, to downloading apps, to tweeting. The latency is lower on 4G, which means faster loading, and if you do any gaming your response times are much better. It's actually possible to game over a tethered 4G connection, unlike 3G most of the time.

Then there's the ability to use voice and data at the same time. For me this isn't a big deal because for one, I have a Thunderbolt which could do this over 3G, but two, I rarely use the phone while on a call.

 

[Xander Crews]

Time to chime in with my 2¢ worth, I have never met anyone that needs 4g, let alone 3g, cell phone in general. The operative word here is "needs". But I'll be the first one to say I "want" 4g etc. Can't wait for 5g, my order is already in. To say we need 4g is inane.
Let the bashing begin.

Some folks may "need" 4G to do certain things in a certain amount of time.
They may use it for their job, on location, and need to access information as quick as possible.

Do folks "need" 4G to survive? No.
Do folks "need" 4G to get more things done in a shorter amount of time? Yes.

It all depends on what your needs are.

 

[lloydstrans]

Some folks may "need" 4G to do certain things in a certain amount of time.
They may use it for their job, on location, and need to access information as quick as possible.

Do folks "need" 4G to survive? No.
Do folks "need" 4G to get more things done in a shorter amount of time? Yes.

It all depends on what your needs are.

The survey asked individuals not businesses.
Businesses "want" you to have the fastest so it improves productivity, and if the fastest phone out there will help they usually help pay for it.
Most companies don't care if you have 4g or a dumb phone, did you read most?
Last time I check most companies that require smart phones do it for the email service.
Texting don't work for them because of all the crap people text back and forth (body parts, sick humor etc.) Email and blackberry messenger (BTW no. 1 business phone, not so much in the last 1.5 years) have a tractable data base to figure out who sends the offensive material.

Still waiting for ultra4g, 5g anything faster I'll buy because I want and I want it now.

 

[Raw Dodge]

Irregardless of how 4gs lower frequency is supposed to penetrate buildings better, I find the opposite true.. My tower app shows the 4G and 3g tower distance. They are within 10ft of each other.. Yet consistently I drop off 4G to 3g when I get further than 3900 feet from the tower.. I carry 3g off that same tower for miles..

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

[jroc]

The sad thing about comparing 4G and 3G is.....the quality can vary from device to device....manufacture to manufacture.

Getting things done faster is a plus for 4G. Using something that requires data...its just better when it can be done faster. IMO. I needed a pdf from public transportation website for a quick travel re route. Got me on my way faster because of 4G. Looking up movie times...got me my info faster, didnt have to wait that much for the info to load up. I'm sorry....I know it isnt useful for some, but some do like it, want it and feel they need it. I like it so much I dont bother putting my phone on 3G to save battery life anymore. LTE tech is getting better with newer tech so it wont be that much of a battery drain. LTE service will get better. There was a time when 3G was unstable too...now look at 3G.

 

[lloydstrans]

I went through all the growing pains of it all, my first 3g phone met an untimely death, think it was that sudden stop when it hit the wall, the next 3 or so had similar failures. That was when I could run down and by a new one for a couple 100 buffs or less. Grew more patient as cost went up. 4g is in its infancy still. Everybody I know has data drop issues regardless of phones, check the forums. I pi k and choose when I use 4g.

 

[Xplorer4x4]

Also, while 4GLTE is an impressive innovation, tiered data plans render it worthless. Awesome, I have 20mbps down and 15 up, but what the hell am I going to do when I hit my 2GB data cap? Absolutely nothing. Maybe stop my car in the middle of Kansas and hope this hole in the wall gas station has a wifi hotspot.

This is such a flawed statement, just because you have faster download does not mean you have to burn through your cap faster then if you were on 3G with a cap. You load the same amount of data in either case, 4G just allows you to see the page faster. I suppose if you read articles on your way to work every day(assume you take a subway train and are not dirving and reading of course) you might go through it slightly faster because the time saved loading pages will allow you to, on average, read 1 or 2 more articles more then usual. However, cosnidering you are only going to chew through a few MBs per page, I highly doubt you will chew through a data cap significantly faster. Now if you use bittorrent downloads, for example, over 3G/4G thats another story. Then you will of course eat through the cap quicker, but under typical conditions, I don;t buy this argument. Now I am not advocating data caps, atleast not when we are talking such small data margins as a few GB which is nothing in todays world. When 56K Modems(and the wireless equivalent) were around, that was another story, but in a world of netflix to go, 2GB is ludicrous for some one who travels alot.