3G or 4G: What Does Your Business Need?

Technology is ever marching forward. The latest development in upgraded tech is the growing prevalence of 4G wireless networks. Augmenting or replacing your 3G will eventually be a necessity, but how relevant is it today? Does your business need to invest in 4G, or can you safely ignore the standard for another year?

A Difference in Speeds

4G is a new standard, but really, telecommunications standards are all lumped under the nebulous 3G and 4G banners. Some of the slowest 4G standards are actually slower than some of the fastest 3G. When someone talks about the fast, high end 4G, what they actually mean are the fastest 4G LTE implementations.

Yes, 4G LTE system can be very fast. Real world testing shows that the average download speed for a good 4G LTE implementation is easily much faster than 3G from the same provider.

Upload speeds, however, are just as bad between both types of connection. 4G is meant for those businesses that need to download large chunks of data on the fly, from business Cloud storage or home base servers. You won't be uploading a multimedia project from a 4G phone any faster than you will from a 3G device.

Situational Availability and Cost Issues

Currently the largest roadblock to 4G adoption is availability. Where do your employees need to use 4G, 3G or any form of mobile data service? In your home office, you'll have access to the office wireless network. You won't use a smidge of your data plan regardless of speeds. When you head out on the road, you may be surrounded by businesses offering their own free WiFi. It's not always a good idea to use free signals for business data, of course, so using your 4G in these areas would be a good idea. Get further away from the city centers and the availability of 4G begins to drop. Far enough away and you may not even receive 3G signal in some areas.

The other primary roadblock, as with any technology, is cost. 4G requires more bandwidth and technology on the part of the telecoms, which means they charge more for the use of that hardware. At the same time, you need to invest in an upgraded mobile device to even use the upgraded service. A new 4G phone for everyone who needs it in your business is a significant expense. Or is it?

Business Mobility Uses

Think about what your business uses mobile devices for in day to day life. As this infographic explains, the three most common uses of a mobile device for business are emailing, SMS and voice communications. What do these have in common? All three of them are possible on low-end smartphones. For that matter, voice and SMS can be done on old dumb phones. Email is trivial in terms of bandwidth for the vast majority of cases; unless you're habitually downloading large email attachments, you're going to be fine with a mid-range 3G network.

The primary benefit to businesses with 4G would be a switch from voice transmission through phone carriers to voice over IP. VOIP can be significantly clearer and more secure than traditional phone connections. However, VOIP has limitations, including the limited availability of 4G at present.

The Value of Speed

Each business is different in how it weights the utility of a fast Internet connection. Some will not have any use for an upgrade to 4G technology. Others may be constantly showing off multimedia presentations on the fly, and will find the increased speed of 4G to be a godsend.

So think about your business and what you do online. Anything that needs to be done with a fast connection? If so, is it something that needs to be done abroad, or can it be saved for a time when it can be done in the home office? Generally speaking, a business WiFi connection is going to be faster than a mobile connection, whether it's 3G or 4G.

While you're at it, think about the cost of the upgrade. Can your business handle the increased bill for digital service? How many upgraded 4G devices would you need to purchase? More importantly, how long before the increased speed pulls its weight and its value outpaces the investment? If all your employees do with 4G is stream Netflix while they wait for meetings, it's certainly not a worthwhile investment.

4G is going to grow more widespread and cheaper over the next half decade. Some businesses can benefit from investing in the change now. Most, however, will find the expenses outweighs the added utility.