3G and 4G Wireless Blog: Comparison: HSPA+ vs LTE

http://3g4g.blogspot.com/2008/01/comparison-hspa-vs-lte.html

"     Advantages of LTE over HSPA+

Flexible Spectrum usage possible with LTE: LTE will be the same whether the bandwidth available is 5MHz or 20MHz. Ofcourse the data rate will increase when the BW is increased. With HSPA+ only 5MHz bandwidhts possible. Similalrly with HSPA+ only FDD mode of operation is possible whereas with LTE FDD or TDD mode is possible.

Spectrum Effeciency: Better spectrum effeciency, by a factor of 2 atleast over HSPA+
Simpler Architecture: LTE has a much simpler and relatively flat architecture compared to the legacy UMTS network in HSPA+

Higher Data Rates: LTE gives DL data rates of 144Mbps and UL of 57Mbps. [WOW!!!] HSPA+ gives 42Mbps in DL and 11Mbps in UL  [THATS AN ORDER OF MAGNITUDE IMPROVEMENT OVER 3G RIGHT THERE. AND ABOUT 5X FASTER THAN WIFI AT HOME WITH CABLE MODEM BACKHAUL, WHICH WOULD PROVIDE ABOUT 7-8M DOWNLOAD 2-3M UPLOAD (THATS WHAT I GET WITH COX).  FASTER THAN MY WIFI AT HOME AND COSTS ALMOST NOTHING TO DEPLOY?   NO WONDER ATT WANTS TO EXPLOIT THAT.]
[QUESTION IS WHAT IS A USER GOING TO DO WITH 144Mb? ONLY NEED 5-10Mb FOR NETFLIX STREAMING VIDEO, EVEN HD. THAT BW MUST BE SHARABLE SOMEHOW]

Ultra Low Latency: 10ms instead of 50ms for HSPA+ [GREAT NEWS FOR STREAMING APPS LIKE VIDEO AND VOIP]

Short TTI: 0.5ms instead of 2ms for HSPA+

     Advantages of HSPA+ over LTE

Will be ready much before LTE: HSPA+ technology should be available in Q1 2009 whereas the earliest with LTE would be sometime in 2010.

Much less investment in infrastructure: Since HSPA+ is evolution of HSPA which is already being deployed, it would be easier and less costly to upgrade. With LTE since its based on OFDM a lot of new components will be required. Also in case of LTE the number of components are reduced but since they work in a different way, new components will be required."

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