Actually lte is true 4g. It has already been stated ill find the link and post it later
Sent from my Thunderbolt using tapatalk
Here is the ITU announcement certifying (only) LTE-Advanced and WiMax 2 as 4G:
Newsroom • Press Release
"
Geneva, 21 October 2010 ? ITU?s Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) has completed the assessment of six candidate submissions for the global 4G mobile wireless broadband technology, otherwise known as IMT-Advanced. Harmonization among these proposals has resulted in two technologies, ?LTE-Advanced1? and ?WirelessMAN-Advanced2? being accorded the official designation of IMT-Advanced, qualifying them as true 4G technologies."
Note that LTE as currently deployed is NOT the same thing as LTE-Advanced.
That above definition developed from formal requirements for target end user bitrates, sector throughput, spectral efficiency and certain technology use.
Later on, after a number of US Carriers started calling a wide variety of formerly not-4G technologies "4G", the ITU loosened the definition of 4G to include almost everything:
Newsroom • Press Release
Following a detailed evaluation against stringent technical and operational criteria, ITU has determined that ?LTE-Advanced? and ?WirelessMAN-Advanced? should be accorded the official designation of IMT-Advanced. As the most advanced technologies currently defined for global wireless mobile broadband communications, IMT-Advanced is considered as ?4G?, although it is recognized that this term, while undefined, may also be applied to the forerunners of these technologies, LTE and WiMax, and to other evolved 3G technologies providing a substantial level of improvement in performance and capabilities with respect to the initial third generation systems now deployed. The detailed specifications of the IMT-Advanced technologies will be provided in a new ITU-R Recommendation expected in early 2012.
HSPA+, WiMax (original), and LTE (original), EVDO Rev B, and pretty much everything faster than IMT-2000 can call itself 4G now. Not based on any technical specification, but simply because it's faster than 3G.
So, going back to the original argument, either both the Thunderbolt and iPhone 4S (on AT&T) are 4G (based on the new non-technical definition) or neither are (based on the original definition). Take your pick.