G is a short form of Generation. So 3G and 4G simply stand for third and fourth generation of mobile broadband Internet. On the same carrier, 4G connection will be faster than a 3G one. However, across carriers, this may not be true. On some carriers, 3G network may be faster as compared to the 4G of another one. This article aims at outlining the difference between 3G and 4G networks

First and foremost, for a mobile phone to be advertised as 3G, they have to meet a set of technical standards for reliability and speed. Also they must offer peak data transfer rates of at least 200 kilobits per second. On the other hand, for a 4G gadget, they must offer peak data rates of at least 100 megabits per second for high mobility communication and at least 1 Gigabit per second for low mobility communication. However, 4G networks come in different variety, e.g. some are faster and more widely deployed than others.

It is also important to note that each new generation release requires a cell phone provider to make upgrades on their towers. This means that there is a vital need for one to upgrade their cell phones for it to be able to send or receive signals through the new infrastructure. Also a 3G phone cannot through a 4G network, but newer generations of phones are always designed to be backward compatible. This means that a 4G phone can communicate through a 3G or even 2G network.

The following chart shows the main differences between 3G and 4G networks with reference to some basis

In general, from the above differences, 4G mobile phone is obviously better than 3G when it comes to connectivity. Considering the carrier factor that one carrier might be better than the other, when kept constant, then selecting between the two networks is easy. Simply 4G works better that 3G.