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Health & Fitness

What is this 4G and why do I care?

3G, 4G? Advice from a G-Whiz.

Have you seen the commercials? Heard the hoopla? 4G is here! It seems every major carrier has commercials or ads touting 4G. But you are probably thinking, "Well, I thought 3G was just here?"

Now what is this 4G that I am supposed to care about?

Firstly, lets dissect  the "G" portion. The "G" is short for "generation." For all intents and purposes in the case of 4G, what they are basically saying is this new system is going to be more efficient and better than the previous "G."

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But better at what? If you have Verizon and never had dropped calls and get your emails on a 
smartphone without problems, why should you care?

Well, you shouldn't. Not yet at least. Most mobile phone websites and applications are optimized to use the least amount of data possible to deliver the information you need.

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So while it sounds nice on paper to get 4G because its the shiny new thing, its merely impractical and will almost never have an impact on your mobile life. Perhaps in 3-5 years when things start catching up to potential, but this will probably only lead to more bottlenecking on the network. Dont worry, 5G is already in the works! Oh, the irony!

So, my tip to you, the well informed reader. is that unless you prefer to be a guinea pig to 
your carrier by buying into 4G, it's just best to wait a year or two until the technology 
matures in the real world. There are just too many niggling problems right now that 4G phones  have had since being pushed out into the wild. Let's just say the frustrations will only multiply and you will just despise your carrier.

If you happen to go to a store and someone is pushing a new 4G phone on to you, you can 
make them sweat a little bit with your newfound knowledge.

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