It is ultimately the user experience that will make or break mass adoption of 4G technologies such as LTE and WiMax. The end user does not really care what kind of PHY layer, MAC layer or network protocols these technologies use.

The end user needs to be able to surf the Internet reliably, to stream audio and video efficiently while paying the lowest price possible. The promotional headlines highlighting the fact that 4G will provide 100Mbps data rates is of no meaning to most consumers.

In my opinion, providing a reliable network access for HD video streaming, HD live TV and two-way HD video conferencing will be the main challenge for operators as the demand for these services is on the rise while compression technologies have reached their theoretical limits.

For 4G to be a success operators have to meet the above consumers’ expectations while managing to make an acceptable ROI.  Despite the bandwidth efficiency of OFDMA, as is used in LTE and WiMax, making money will be a huge challenge if QoS needs to be maintained at an acceptable level. This is because a substantial percentage of subscribers in a typical cell will either be streaming HD video or will be having a two-way HD videoconferencing session.

For the technical folks out there, let us remember that the advertised 100Mbps rate is a peak over-the-air data rate. What that means is that the average user will experience much less effective rates. This is fine if the majority of users are only surfing or talking, both of which are either bursty in nature (i.e. surfing) or requires very low data rate (i.e. voice) .

Will beyond-4G technologies such as LTE-advanced will be the answer? Only time will tell.