T-Mobile's decision to rebrand its HSPA+ network as 4G technology have triggered heated responses from is rivals. However, a closer lk reveals that the competitors in the US fourth generation wireless market are not actually offering 4G.

Sprint WiMAX, T-Mobile HSPA+, MetroPCS LTE and Verizon's upcoming LTE network may offer speeds that are faster than 3G but they are not technically 4G. The term appears that have evolved into a label that describe a network that offers speeds tha are higher than 3G.

A fourth generation network must deliver peak download speeds of approximately 100Mbps in high-mobility environments (cell phones) and peak download speeds of approximately 1Gbps in low-mobility environments. The International Telecommunication Union, a United Nations agency that sets international standards for telecommunications, recently certified two technologies that meet its standard as IMT-Advanced—"true 4G technologies."

And I'm sure that you can guess that none of the current US providers of "4G" were certified by the ITU> Only LTE-Advanced (LTE Release 10)and WirelessMAN-Advanced (aka 802.16m aka WiMax Release 2) have successfully meet the standard for true 4G.