From C/Net: DoCoMo tests 1 Gbps downloads

NTT DoCoMo, Japan's mobile phone giant, said Friday that it has achieved a 1
Gbps download rate for mobile phone data on a laboratory 4G (or fourth
generation) network. The company says it will take the technology into field
trials next year.

Figures like this are a little misleading, but still somewhere in the realm
of jaw-dropping. Most United States phone operators have yet to reach 3G
network speeds of a few hundred kilobits per second. For that matter, most
U.S. DSL and cable operators only offer a few megabits per second over their
broadband services, as compared to 10 mbps, 25 mpbs, or even 100 mbps common
in Japan and Korea.

Japanese regulators are paving the way for commercial 4G service by 2010. If
this kind of technology becomes feasible, we can say goodbye to wired
broadband.


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huLLy
07976 123278

huLLy <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> NTT DoCoMo, Japan's mobile phone giant, said Friday that it has achieved a 1
> Gbps download rate for mobile phone data on a laboratory 4G (or fourth
> generation) network. The company says it will take the technology into field
> trials next year.
<snip>
> Japanese regulators are paving the way for commercial 4G service by 2010. If
> this kind of technology becomes feasible, we can say goodbye to wired
> broadband.

Unlikely.
This sort of data-rate is going to be very short range, so you'll need
towers practically touching each other.

Not to mention that wired broadband is point-point, but 4G would be broadcast,
so you've got interference problems, meaning that if you've got a hundred
users in the area, they'll only get 1% of the nominal bandwidth.