Enabling 4G LTE On Your Phone: All You Need to Know

How much faster is 4G compared to 3G?

How much faster is 4G compared to 3G and what applications run better on 4G?
3G and 4G are standards for mobile communication. Standards specify how the airwaves must be used for transmitting information (voice and data). 3G (or 3rd Generation) was launched in Japan in 2001. As recently as mid-2010, the networks for most wireless carriers in the U.S. were 3G. 3G networks were a significant improvement over 2G networks, offering higher speeds for data transfer. The improvement that 4G offers over 3G is often less pronounced. Analysts use the analogy of standard vs Hi-Def TV to describe the difference between 3G and 4G.

What is 4G LTE?

The definition of 4G has changed over the years. Current commercially available technologies LTE (Long-Term Evolution) and WiMax claimed that they are sufficiently advanced from 3G and thus claimed the right to call their technology 4G. However, in October 2010, the global standards group International Telecommunication Union declared that after long study, it had determined which technologies truly qualified for its IMT-Advanced label i.e. 4G (fourth-generation). The target speed was at least 100 Mbps to qualify for the 4G label. Only two systems made the list: LTE-Advanced, an emerging version of LTE technology, and WirelessMAN-Advanced, the next version of WiMax, also called WiMax 2. Neither is commercially available yet.
But in December 2010, the standards body softened its stance. In a press release, the ITU stated:

As the most advanced technologies currently defined for global wireless mobile broadband communications, IMT-Advanced is considered as '4G,' although it is recognized that this term, while undefined, may also be applied to the forerunners of these technologies, LTE and WiMax, and to other evolved 3G technologies providing a substantial level of improvement in performance and capabilities with respect to the initial third generation systems now deployed.

This opened the door for LTE, WiMax and HSPA+ to be designated 4G because these technologies can all deliver multiple megabits per second upstream and downstream, far more than most existing 3G networks.
The following video explains some of the concepts behind 2G, 3G and 4G terminology for wireless network generations: 

A look at LTE on the iPhone 5