Sonoma County is a rural county. We look at Santa Rosa and our chests swell at our bustling urban metropolis (population 167,000), but make no mistake: to cell phone carriers, we are small-fry. In 2012 that has a very precise and painful meaning for your mobile devices.
We are inundated with ads touting the wonders of 4G Internet connections. One of the important selling points of the new iPad is its 4G capability. The cell phone carriers are touting 4G phones and advertising the superiority of their 4G networks. It sounds exciting.
If you live in a rural area like Sonoma County, there is no 4G service and there is no accurate estimate of when any carrier will first deliver it.
That’s not supposed to dissuade you from buying 4G devices. There are good reasons to buy 4G devices. It’s coming and it will be the standard soon enough. There are two things to know about 4G devices:
- If a device’s 4G capabilities are turned on before 4G service is available, it may shorten battery life because it’s hunting for the signal that isn’t there. Don’t obsess over that. Not every device will give you the option to turn off 4G. In the meantime, almost everything is backwards compatible with 3G.
- After 4G service is available, it will be tempting to use 4G speed to watch streaming video or transfer large files. Be careful! The carriers hope you will go over the limit on your data plan so they can send you large bills for overages.
Let’s take a bird’s eye view. This is wildly simplified because the details make my brain hurt.
3G and 4G are standards for delivering Internet connections over cell phone networks.
3G service was introduced in the U.S. in 2002.The carriers spent the next few years building out their networks so that 3G Internet service is now available almost everywhere that a cell phone signal can be found. It has been 3G service that powered the explosion of smartphones in the last four years. Until this year, 3G service has been synonymous with “mobile broadband.”
There is no standard for the speed that you can expect from a 3G connection. Your download speed might be anywhere from 384K-2Mb, theoretically even more.
The carriers have found various ways to boost the speed of 3G connections using more or less the same equipment, resulting in an explosion of confusing acronyms that all amount to “improved 3G service.”
4G is the next generation of cellular mobile communications standards. It provides speeds that are roughly 5-10 times as fast as 3G, as well as greater coverage areas from each tower.
The term LTE also turns up frequently, sometimes redundantly linked to the term 4G, sometimes as an alternative way to claim higher speeds without invoking 4G.
All of the cell phone carriers are installing 4G equipment but it requires expensive new boxes in each tower and a lot of expensive work on back-end infrastructure. We are in a transition period in 2012 while the networks are built out with this new equipment. The carriers are focused with laser-like intensity on the big cities where subscribers are packed together and revenue is easy. Our shift to mobile devices and our thirst for bandwidth is ramping up so quickly that the carriers are having trouble building fast enough to satisfy demand just in urban areas.
They will get around to rural areas – eventually. It’s not their highest priority. Verizon says it has 4G service in 200 cities now and plans to add 200 more before the end of the year. Verizon employees in Santa Rosa stores look around as if they’re about to tell you a secret and then whisper behind their hand that they’ve been told 4G service will arrive in Sonoma County Real Soon Now. (Yeah, sure.)
It’s worth knowing that the term “4G” has no particular definition and acronyms are not consistent from one carrier to another. There is a defined standard for “4G” but it is also used as a marketing tool with no regard for that standard. There is no particular correlation between Verizon 4G LTE and AT&T 4G HSPA+ and Sprint 4G WiMax. You can’t tell from the names what speed to expect or which is fastest. The speeds will likely increase on the same carrier as it moves from one generation of service to another – Verizon 4G LTE is faster than Verizon 3G, for example. Beyond that you can’t draw any conclusions from the names or the claims in ads. The carriers are banking on consumer confusion – literally banking on it as we sign up for data plans beyond their wildest dreams.
The carriers are in the process of moving everyone to metered data plans. In the last few months they successfully neutered the last few grandfathered “unlimited data” plans by choking off the connections of anyone who tried to use the connection for unlimited data.
You will likely have no trouble with a metered data plan if you use your carrier’s broadband connection for Internet browsing, email, and some random apps.
If you watch video on your phone or tablet, you will quickly use up your monthly data allotment. You will be more tempted to do that with a 4G connection, which will not stutter and might even arrive in higher definition. Here are some useful numbers:
“What many consumers may not realize is the new iPad’s faster LTE connection means they will use more data even if they don’t change their 3G surfing habits. Take regular video: Verizon estimates that streaming it over an LTE connection runs through 650 megabytes an hour. That’s double the amount of data used streaming the same video over a 3G link, because the fatter pipe lets more data through.
“On top of that, the new iPad’s sharper screen will encourage some users to view videos in high-definition, which uses 2 gigabytes an hour on a 4G connection, according to Verizon.”
Be careful watching video over a 4G LTE connection!
And if you live in Sonoma County or another rural area that does not interest the carriers, hunker down for a long wait. The ads don’t apply to you.
Im getting a pretty strong Verizon 4G indication on my Galaxy Nexus in many areas of Santa Rosa. Iffy, though, like the 3G: almost no signal at College and Dutton.
My new Windows Phone 8 is showing LTE at my home west of Sebastopol. That might be the same tower that gave me a strong LTE signal at the high school, near the center of town. Verizon hasn’t said anything publicly that I know of but it looks like they finally turned up the speed for some of us!
Gad! I’d just be glad to get the DSL speed I got in Rohnert Park before I moved to just up the road from Freestone. Even AT&T is relucatant to speak about clunky Ethernet, even tho’ I know a guy in Forestville who has it. Something about limited portals. I have simple needs. Want to use my laptop with other than miserable dial-up.
My sympathy! Might be a long wait. Keep an eye on Verizon – I’m not sure what the status is but there is supposed to be a new Verizon tower going up in Occidental and you might be close enough to catch a decent signal for data. Good luck!
4G unofficially here, at least east of 101 in downtown SR. Check Sensorly where I’ve mapped it. Haven’t been west of 101 but will track it when I do.
Slowly . . . slowly . . . maybe it approaches. I was in Orange County this weekend with my Verizon 4G MiFi – a reminder that 4G is really fast when it’s available.
Here’s something weird! I just got a strong, steady 4G signal this afternoon by Analy High School in Sebastopol. Tested the speed and got 12Mb down, 10Mb up, and used it for an hour. My 3G phone was getting more bars than usual in that location. An unexpected boost! I wonder if it will last.
Hmmm, according to Sensorly, there are a couple of purple dots downtown confirming 4g, so that’s encouraging!
I wasn’t familiar with Sensorly – that’s really helpful. It looks like Rohnert Park has 4G coverage but you’re right, just a couple of dots east of Santa Rosa. And as somebody noted, the 4G signal appears to go all the way up the Napa valley. Santa Rosa deserves better, don’t you think?
Not so oddly, 4G did not follow me into downtown SR. While at Best Buy I asked a couple of sales reps in the cellphone dept about it- blank stares and the usual “some time in 2013”. Unfortunately at home I use wireless anyhow. I’m at about 38º 26’ 42” N, 122º 36’ 43” W so whatever tower serves this area apparently has 4G turned on. I think I saw Q3 of 2013 referenced somewhere on the web.
I live at the east end of Santa Rosa and have been running 3G CDMA on my Rezound because no 4G, but accidentally left my 4G LTE setting on today when coming up from a 4G service area down south. Lo and behold, when I checked my signal at home it still showed 4G! I toggled between 3G & 4G, and yes, 4G runs as it should. Can find nothing on the internet about Verizon lighting up 4G in SR. I will travel into town tomorrow & see if 4G follows me!
Good news! Let us know if it keeps going.
Just spotted this article: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/Verizon-ATandT-Hurry-Out-More-LTE-Ahead-of-iPhone-5-359505/ Apparently the carriers raced to turn on 4G in new markets to go along with the launch of the iPhone 5. Perhaps this is part of that push.
Verizon LTE is being turned on along 101 from Marin going north, up to just south of Cotati/ Rohnert Park. Towers in Petaluma are turned on. (In progress) If you want to see this, find the Android app: “Sensorly”. A free crowd sourced signal mapping app.
Outstanding! Maybe there is some hope after all. I saw an announcement from Verizon about expanding nationwide coverage a few weeks ago that seemed to be directed only at big cities so I was starting to wonder just how long we’d be waiting. (And selfishly I’m clinging to a rumor I heard recently that a new tower is being prepared for a hill relatively close to my home in west Sonoma County, which would change things dramatically out here, regardless of whether it’s 3G or LTE.)
I’ll check out Sensorly. Thanks!
Well, Verizon is not adding 4G coverage just based on population now. A few days ago they added 4G coverage in Napa County on Highway 29 up to and including Calistoga, but the Santa Rosa plain still has no 4G. I guess the priority was making sure current 4G customers in the Bay Area still have it on their wine tours & vacations. Being on Calistoga Road, I just MIGHT be able to receive it now.
No way! Is that right? Napa comes before Santa Rosa? That’s downright rude.
It’s all the more frustrating because my vacation took me to an area covered by Verizon 4G – Hanalei, the sleepy little town at the end of the road in Kauai – and the speeds thru my 4G MiFi were really good. I can barely use the MiFi most places in Sonoma County.
Thanks for the update!
Just returned from trip in San Diego. Most of the city and much of the county has Verizon 4G coverage FYI.
I have it on good authority that even SAN DIEGO county doesn’t have 4G access yet. Their population tops 3 MILLION, compared to our not quite 500,000 souls (translation dollars!).