Rogers' LTE device: The company offers LTE in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Vancouver. Their device sells for $80 on a three-year plan, and plans begin at around $45 per month for 2 GB of data. (A limited time promotional plan currently offers a plan of $50 per month for 10 GB of data.) (Supplied)
When it comes to tech, I have a pet peeve with acronyms. People who are trying to sell you the latest and greatest gadgets will sometimes throw these around in an attempt to confuse you so thoroughly that you just hand over your wallet for the latest 1080p HD 4G 64 GB 8 MP CPU OMG WTF BBQ.
Mobile phone companies seem to be the worst for this. Would you like that phone with 3G or HSPA? How about 4G? LTE? It's those last two that are getting a lot of attention recently, and even some tech-savvy folks find them a bit impenetrable.
Here's the short-form explanation: 4G stands for fourth generation, and refers to a group of the latest and fastest mobile data standards. LTE stands for long term evolution, and is a particular subset of 4G technology that's getting a lot of buzz, as it offers unprecedented speed for downloading bits n' bytes to your on-the-go devices, theoretically faster even than home broadband Internet.
While there aren't any LTE-capable mobile phones available in Canada just yet, this week we tried out the new LTE mobile data stick offerings from both Bell and Rogers. These thumb-sized devices plug into a computer's USB port and allow you to surf the Net, download applications, video chat or what have you, from anywhere you can get a cell signal - no Wi-Fi required.
Bell currently has LTE coverage in Ontario in the greater Toronto area, Mississauga, Hamilton, Guelph and Kitchener-Waterloo, while Rogers offers LTE in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Vancouver. Both companies are expanding their LTE networks, and other carriers (including Telus) will be launching LTE networks soon.
Bell's and Rogers' LTE data stick plans are similarly priced, with the devices selling for $80 on a three-year plan, and plans beginning at around $45 per month for 2 GB of data. (Both are also currently offering limited time promotional plans of $50 per month for 10 GB of data.)
I was pleasantly surprised by the performance of these wee beasties. The data transfer speeds are nowhere near the theoretical 75 megabit per second (Mbps) download limits advertised by the companies, but for practical purposes, they're equivalent to higher-end home broadband services.
Better, actually, in some ways - the upload speeds are faster than almost any residential Internet service available. From my downtown Toronto office, I was a hitting an unprecedented 16 Mbps upload speed on Bell, and 9 Mbps on Rogers (albeit on a weaker signal - performance will of course vary depending how close you are to an LTE cell tower.) In both cases, download speeds were slightly faster than the upload speeds.
As a technology, LTE shows a lot of promise, and I'm eager to see how the first wave of LTE phones perform on these networks when they arrive in the coming months. In the meantime, I'm going to have a BLT with a G&T. FTW.