What lies ahead for cellular technology?

The ongoing goal of cellular services providers has been to make networks faster to enable new revenue-producing Internet-access and multimedia- and data-based broadband services, in addition to telephony. For example, carriers want to offer mobile Internet services as fast as those provided by cable- and DSL-based wireline broadband technologies. This process has taken the industry through various generations of radio-based wireless service: After first-generation (1G) analog cellular service, they have offered 2G, 2.5G, and, since 2001, 3G digital technology. As carriers upgrade their 3G offerings, they are looking perhaps five years ahead to 4G services, which would be based on the Internet Protocol and support mobile transmission rates of 100 Mbps and fixed rates of 1 Gbps. Presently the subject of extensive research, 4G would enable such currently unavailable services as mobile high-definition TV and gaming, as well as teleconferencing.