4G wireless: It's fast, but outstripped by hype

Cell phone companies are about to barrage consumers with advertising for the next advance in wireless network technology: "4G" access. The companies are promising faster speeds and the thrill of being the first on the block to use a new acronym. But there's less to 4G than meets the eye, and there's little reason for people to scramble for it, at least for the next few years. Sprint Nextel is the first carrier to beat the drum for fourth-generation wireless technology. It's releasing its first 4G phone, the EVO, on June 4. In the fall, Verizon Wireless will be firing up its 4G network in 25 to 30 cities, and probably will make a big deal of that. A smaller provider, MetroPCS, is scheduled to introduce its first 4G phone around the same time. So what is 4G? Broadly speaking, it's a new way to use the airwaves, designed from the start for the transmission of data rather than phone calls. To do that, it borrows aspects of the latest generation of Wi-Fi, the short-range wireless technology. For consumers, 4G means, in the ideal case, faster access to data. For instance, streaming video might work better, with less stuttering and higher resolution. Videoconferencing is difficult on 3G and might work better on 4G. Multiplayer video games may benefit too. Other than that, it's difficult to point to completely new uses for 4G phones -- things they can do that 3G phones can't.