Applying 3G lessons to LTE

[Commentary] One thing we've learned (or should have learned) from the various generational deployments is the year a wireless technology officially emerges isn't necessarily the year we see that technology's benefits. Has the industry learned its lessons from 3G? Is the ecosystem more developed for LTE, and are we much better prepared for 4G than we were for 3G? The networks are ready, but are the other pieces falling into place? Unlike in 3G, carriers have some pretty clear ideas what kind of applications and devices they want to see on the 4G network — largely they resemble the smartphones and broadband modems already taxing 3G networks. The gobs of traffic emerging from devices like the iPhone have an ideal home on the LTE network, but when it comes to new services the question is a bit muddier. LTE has the bandwidth to support high-bandwidth video, making video-on-demand, videoconferencing and live streaming the "new data" of 4G. The question is whether the industry has a clear plan to offer and monetize these new types of applications from the get-go. Or will the industry spend the next few years using the 4G network for 3G services, while we figure out what to do with all of that bandwidth.