At the Canadian Telecom Summit yesterday the major Canadian carriers said they’re on board for LTE and are making preparations for a full-scale rollout of the technology.
This is great news considering BlackBerry devices are upgrading at a rate which will be hindered if the carriers don’t keep up and update the network infrastructure. At the conference, Mike Lazaridis said “Consumption is going to continue to grow. This, in my opinion, is one of the most important problems facing the industry in the near future.”
Carriers, such as Verizon and Rogers, have significantly invested in LTE technology and we’ll hopefully be seeing it sometime in the year 2011.
With the launch of the first LTE networks, you can rest assured that RIM will have an LTE BlackBerry ready to use the 4G equivalent speeds and technology. Now the question is: what would an LTE BlackBerry device look like?
Increased Data Rates and High Efficiency
LTE technology is based on the same data delivery technology as WiMax, called OFDM and MIMO antenna technology. These technologies offer higher data transmission rates and use the wireless spectrum more efficiently, therefore taking an incredible load off the carrier infrastructure. Because LTE is 2 to 5 times more efficient than most 3G networks, the infrastructure will be able to hand many more subscribers. Overall, this means the LTE BlackBerry will have more reliable and faster service.
More Coverage Across Networks and Territory
The LTE IP network doesn’t care if you’re on GSM or CDMA. LTE will support seamless connection to existing networks such as GSM, CDMA and WCDMA. The reason is that the LTE IP network, co-operates with traditional carrier infrastucture, which are called circuit-switched legacy networks. With your LTE BlackBerry, you will always have a World Phone experience, with constant, incredible speeds.
Thinking about taking your BlackBerry to the cottage and getting some work done? Well you can do it with your LTE BlackBerry. The LTE signal goes far and wide and covers a larger geographic area. The LTE signal is being transmitted much faster, so not only will you get coverage, but expect much faster response times too.
The Ultimate Multi-Tasking BlackBerry
Did you watch the video at the top of this post? The man is watching High Definition video and making a VoIP call at the same time. This is all possible on your LTE BlackBerry. Because LTE is 100% Internet Protocol, high bandwidth applications such as real time voice, video, gaming, social networking and location-based services, can all be used simultaneously. The concept of wireless ubiquity comes alive with LTE processor chips in everything from netbooks to mobile phones to consumer devices; all these devices talk to each other seamlessly and effortlessly.
Lets hope that when the first LTE BlackBerry comes out, it will have a huge high resolution screen, QWERTY keyboard, touchscreen and enhanced media functionality. This device is going to push the limits of what we thought was possible on mobile, so having a form factor and feature set to take advantage will be crucial.
[CellStrat has some good LTE info]
© Kyle for BlackBerry Cool, 2009