We've heard a lot about Sprint's foray into the magical world of 4G communication, with its wondrous speeds (up to four times faster than 3G networks) and limited coverage areas. While it may be a huge leap forward in the realm of telecommunications technology, it's also making things simpler in many ways, especially on the backend.
CNN has a special report on the nitty-gritty of 4G; how it's implemented, how it works with and on top of 3G networks already in place, and how it looks very similar to a server/communications rack you'd find in any data center near you. It's very interesting to see how wireless telecommunications is slowly turning into one vast wireless IP network, and 4G seems to be taking a big step in that direction.
We get to see a revealing comparison between the physical footprint 3G networks have on the ground, and the large decrease in size and cost 4G brings to the physical infrastructure department. The actual communications equipment is placed right on the 3G towers, so in many cases new towers won't have to be built to accommodate the roll out of 4G.
The report also features a nice hands-on with Sprint's HTC EVO, its flagship 4G device to be released Summer 2010. We get some nice demonstrations of YouTube download speeds and Google Maps performance on the 4G network, which both look pretty enticing.
Make sure to check out Neowin's hands-on with Sprint's 4G Overdrive.
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