4G Mobile Data And How it’s Changing The Modern Worker Landscape

One of the biggest advancements in the last years has been the deployment and advancement of 4G mobile networks. As the technology becomes more available and common, many businesses have embraced the opportunities it offers in maximising profits by harnessing the benefits of 4G connectivity and prepare for the upcoming 5G upgrade.

We thought to answer a few common questions, to help you understand what are the real benefits of using wireless broadband for business…

What is 4G?

In many ways 4G is similar to wireless networks at work or at home, with potential to offer 100Mbps download speeds. They can provide the mobile worker with ‘always on’ connectivity which can vastly improve field workforce communications.

In reality 4G is a blanket term for mix of technologies including WiMax, LTE, and more sneakily 3.5G (HSPA+). So what users actually receive via a 4G network is higher 3.5G speeds capable of delivering up to 21Mbps.

Does 4G just mean faster downloads?

The answer is YES and it comes with many more extras. The exciting bit is not just ‘How fast is 4G?’ but what mobile workers and businesses can do with that bandwidth. One of the most common uses of 4G is applying the faster speeds in making and receiving phone calls in the cloud, a communication technology also known as Voice Over the Internet Protocol (VOIP).

Many businesses these days have already moved over to VOIP telephony in their core business. Extending that same technology to mobile worker handsets via apps for iPhone and Android is already a reality and many people have started using their smartphones to make VOIP calls anywhere in the world via apps like Skype, WhatsApp, Viber.

The ability to make business telephone calls via a cloud-hosted system significantly reduces the cost of office to staff mobile calls, but keeps the flexibility for mobile workers to work remotely with their landline number sitting on the mobile phone, making them even more accessible and improving customer service.

What 4G means for business?

4G has many benefits, to name a few…

1. It’s a good solution to manage the communication between mobile workers on remote sites
   Today iPads and mobile tablets have become the mobile workers device of choice and without doubt they are going to feature more and more on business purchase orders. With the ability to access data at higher speeds users can easily access their business applications while in the field, such as their CRM or intranet.
2. It can work as a failover broadband solution and securing business continuity
   As the Internet becomes more central to the operations of just about every company today, any disruptions in connectivity could lead to major losses both in regard to customer satisfaction and the bottom line. Since even second of unplanned downtime can be costly, businesses can pair their legacy Internet connections with 4G. That way, employees always have access to their online resources, ensuring continuity of the workflow without any unwanted interruptions.
3. Boosting productivity
   Thanks to 4G people can work from anywhere. With the increasing number of businesses adopting mobile working policies, the need of better connectivity on the move could be fulfilled by the growing 4G networks. As the UK’s Wi-Fi coverage isn’t ubiquitous yet and 3G can offer only mild data transfer options such as email or social networking communications.
4. Empowering more e-commerce business
5. Enriching customers’ in-store experience

 

Dorset based Buzz Wireless are shortly releasing an update to the Hubba mobile router that will enable it to take advantage of the increased 3.5G speeds, and their development team working on WiFi models.

James Cope of Buzz Wireless says – ‘it is an exciting space to be in currently, with our development team at the leading edge of technology’. He added ‘our mobile apps extend users office phones to their mobiles already so 4G roll out is great news for us and for that of mobile workers’.

Can it change the mobile worker landscape?

In short, we believe yes, next year is likely to see a real change for business mobile worker communications in larger conurbation’s, but real 4G is unlikely to make much of an impact in Dorset and rural communities as part of a standard roll out.