Both the term 3G and LTE are advanced technologies that are used in mobile phones.
3G vs LTE
The main difference between 3G and LTE is that the 3G is the oldest technology of the group, and it is slower than the LTE. On the other hand, LTE is a new technology, which is ten times faster than 3G.
The term 3g refers to the third generation network, which is the oldest technology in the group. It was the first technology that has provided sufficient speed to the user so that they can experience decent speed on a smartphone. Before 3g, the user used 2g technology where the data was too slow, and also, the user had to wait for a long time to load data.
LTE is referred to as Long Term Evolution. This technology can be ten times faster than 3g. it is also referred that the network speed depends upon the signal strength and network load. it is also believed that LTE also does not meet its theoretical speed, but it is still faster than the 3G.
Comparison Table Between 3G and LTE
| Parameter of Comparison | 3G | LTE |
| Definition | It is referred to as the third generation network, which was the first technology that has provided sufficient speed to the user so that they can experience decent speed on a smartphone. | LTE refers to a long-term evolution, which is the newer version of 3G. LTE is derived from the idea of mobile connectivity. It is a peak for the many year resource and development. |
| Speed | 3G can run up to 7.2 Mbps, which means it is slower than the LTE. | LTE can be run up to 100 Mbps, which means it is faster than the 3G. |
| Servers | 3G is an old technology that has stable, established servers. | LTE is a new technology that does not have stable, established servers in it. |
What is 3G?
3G is referred to as a mobile communication standard, which is the third generation network. The 3G service provider can enable 3g technologies because it allows connecting the internet through our smartphones.
Before 3G was launched, people used 2G, and they had to spend a lot of time waiting as the webpage loaded back at that time. It just frustrated many people, but after the 3G was launched, it was changed. 3G was first launched in Japan in 2001, and it has been used since that time. It is a third evolution project which was first launched in the early 80s, which is almost twenty-one year of development.
3G is considered as the 3rd generation networking standard that provides cell phone technology, which is highly introduced to provide high-speed data service on a mobile device. It becomes more widespread so that it can connect the internet at a practical speed that is far better than the previous generation of mobile technology. This network has explained to the world that mobile phones are not just limited to text messages and voice calls; rather than we can download a huge lot of information to the phone with the help of the internet.
And not only that, users can stream video and audio from thousands of miles away and can also be used in office work where multimedia can be exchanged between co-workers. Lastly, 3G makes the smartphone worthwhile as it changes billions of people’s communication easy and makes the user accept more advanced technologies such as 4G and 5G.
What is LTE?
LTE refers to a long-term evolution, which is the newer version of 3G. LTE is derived from the idea of mobile connectivity. It is a peak for the many year resource and development. LTE is mainly compared with 4G, but the speed of 4G is much higher than LTE’s current capabilities. LTE is a popular term used in North America to explain the fast speed mobile data connection.
Both 4G and LTE have similar connection speed but are very advanced as compared to 3G. It is also believed that the LTE stands just behind 4G. It provides high-speed broadband data and high-speed mobile; it also supports public safety functions and telephone service. It is also believed that the safety net has its frequency on the LTE spectrum. This network also has special features so that they can manage their network. The first feature is that it assigns the priorities to the customer.
It is considered that emergency calls get higher priorities, and if there are many numbers of folk in the network, then the priorities will decide which call should be connected and which call be disconnected. Another feature is that LTE is that it is a self-organizing network, which means if there is an outage. The calls will be rerouted automatically to another path but it will revert to an optimally designed path, once the service is restored.
Main Differences Between 3G and LTE
- Both the term 3G and LTE are advanced technologies that are used in mobile phones.
- 3G can run up to 7.2 Mbps, which is very good at that time. On the other hand, LTE can run up to 100 Mbps, which is less speed than 4G.
- 3G can be slow at the time of download. On the other hand, LTE is much faster, and we can also tell that LTE is faster than 3G.
- 3G can be an excellent choice of network for old mobile phones. On the other hand, LTE can be an excellent choice of network for new mobile phones.
- 3G is an old technology that has stable, established servers. On the other hand, LTE is a new technology that does not have stable, established servers.
Conclusion
As the primary difference between 3G and LTE has been mentioned, it will help understand the user that both are very much different from each other, and both are introduced in different periods.
3G is the third generation network that has set the stage high so that the user can accept more advanced technology like 4G and 5G, whereas LTE is a new technology that is faster than the 3G.
References
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0736585315000222
- http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.695.8728&rep=rep1&type=pdf