T-Mobile 4G: Jumping on Bandwagon?

T-Mobile executives are calling their HSPA+ network "4G," despite
previously describing it as "3.5G." And to complement what they are now
branding "America’s Largest 4G Network," the executives announced the
expansion of its 4G mobile broadband service to six additional cities,
as well as the availability of the T-Mobile myTouch 4G smartphone and the Dell Inspiron Mini 10 4G netbook.

To get the word out, T-Mobile began airing a nationwide television
ad Nov. 2 that piggybacks on Apple’s "I’m a Mac" campaign. In the spot,
a beautiful brunette introduces herself as the myTouch 4G, while a
handsome young man — with a heavy, older balding guy literally clinging
to him, "the old AT&T network" — introduces himself as the Apple
iPhone 4.

"That’ll slow you down," says the brunette of her companion’s load,
going on to explain that, while the iPhone 4 can video chat wherever
there’s WiFi (at "like, say, an airport," adds the bald guy), the
myTouch can video chat "practically anywhere," without needing WiFi.

(The ad can currently be viewed on YouTube.)

The big question is how T-Mobile can call HSPA+ 4G, "when it’s not 4G," said Technology Business Research analyst Ken Hyers.

"There are two semi-valid responses to that," Hyers told

CIO Insight sister publication eWEEK. "4G has technically not been defined by the International
Telecommunications Union. But that kind of sidesteps the argument. They
say their speed is equivalent in a mobility environment to what you
could expect from, say, WiMax. So yes, it’s not what we think of as
genuine 4G, high-speed broadband, but nonetheless it is much faster
than [traditional 3G.]"

For more, read the eWeek article T-Mobile Calls HSPA+ 4G, Introduces ‘Largest 4G Network.’