Will 4G make home broadband redundant?

4G is finally here (for some of us at least), and with it all the promises that the nation will be receiving superfast broadband directly to their 4G enabled phones. With this comes the question, will 4G eventually just replace home broadband? If everyone is able to access high speed internet over their phone this could lead to sharing this mobile connection via a home router, allowing desktops, tablets and laptops to use this.

A recent poll by Broadband Genie stated that around 40% said they would drop their fixed line service in favour of fast mobile broadband, with 17% planning no change and 45% saying they would probably opt for both.

Well I for one wouldn’t be rushing to put all of my soon-to-be-excess electrical equipment on eBay just yet and here’s why.

  • Signal: For those of us who don’t live in the city, many are still waiting for that ever-elusive 3G signal. Despite being out for years, 3G in some rural areas such as Cornwall is sketchy at best, with numerous homes still unable to receive a quality signal, if anything at all. I doubt these folks will be racing to purchase a 4G enabled device based upon the advertisements.
  • Less effective than expected already: Aside from all those who can’t receive a quality 3G signal, there are already problems with 4G across much of the nation with reports coming in that the service is nowhere near the 10 times the speed of  3G that has been advertised. If this is already the case in the major cities where it is being tested, it doesn’t bode well for those of us in towns and regions that are not as ‘important’ as the big cities.
  • Other teething issues in cities: An article in Gizmodo reports that only 40% of test sites within the city of Manchester were able to receive a signal at all. This seems to be the case across most cities apart from central London.
  • Cost: There is an auction being held in January 2013 by Ofcom for 4G and one hopes that with the service being available across other networks, the price may come down. However, as it stands prices can be quite expensive with EE wanting a minimum of £36 per month for a handset that includes a meagre 500MB download allowance, which isn’t going to last long. On top of that, if you’re hoping to be accessing your 4G or on a top of the range handset such as a Samsung Galaxy SIII, you can expect to pay at least £46 per month and be tied in for a long time.  The reality is you can often get a phone, landline and the net for a figure around this with some very competitive broadband deals and a lot of people aren’t going to think the extra outlay is justifiable.

However, despite the teething issues and hefty cost involved for 4G, this doesn’t mean that it won’t work eventually and be cost effective too. What is more likely is that, as with 3G, eventually most people will be able to receive a signal, handsets will come 4G enabled as standard and it will be a lot  more appealing. The question is, by the time all the cracks have been ironed over and 4G does everything it claims at a reasonable price, will we be then moving on to a product that is beyond that, making 4G defunct? After all, research into 5G has already begun in the UK universities.

Guest Author Bio: Kerry Butters writes on behalf of Broadband Genie, the broadband deals website for consumers.