The confusion can be cleared by having an understanding of how Apple displays 3G and 4G signs in the iPhone, as well as what is considered 3G and 4G by Apple and the carriers.
There has been plenty of congusion about what 3G is and what 4G is even before the iOS 5.1 update. This confusion is rampant because there is no fixed definition of a 4G or 3G connectivity. In the absence of a standard definition of both kinds of connectivity, what goes for 4G for some goes as 3G for others.
Right now experts are of one mind that there are no true “4G” wireless technologies commercially available. However, till some years back most tech experts and carrier AT&T technologies such as LTE and WiMax as 4G. then all the other technologies that were extensions of existing 3G technology (HSPA+) were considered 3G.
It was all mostly clear before 2010. The confusion began, courtesy T-Mobile USA, when it started marketing its HSPA+ as 4G. To explain its strategy, T-Mobile argued that since its HSPA+ network could get nearly the same performance as so-called 4G WiMax and LTE networks, it was justified in calling HSPA+ a 4G connection.
So, AT&T made an aberration in 2010. Then it was further complicated by Apple in 2011 October when it launched iPhone 4S. Apple did not market iPhone 4S as a 4G device even though AT&T has marketed other HSPA+ devices as 4G. now Apple’s explanation for this further aberration was that Apple did not want to confuse customers when an LTE version of the iPhone was released. Some also said that Apple decided to call iPhone 4S a 3G device due to pressure from Verizon Wireless, which has a version of the device that operates on its 3G EV-DO network.
So we had iPhone 4S, which might be called a 4G device by the definition of AT&T, but it showed a 3G icon because Apple chose to put it there.
Now the third layer of complication arose when Apple upgraded iOS 5.1. the 3G icon turned into a 4G icon. Did Apple change its definition of 4G/4G again or did mystery operators from the carrier install a chip in the iPhones 4S when the users were not looking?
It is more Apple’s doing this time. Apple has just changed its mind how it wants to market its device. Apple now reasons that the upgrade in iOS has made the device work in the blazing speeds of 4G, so it will be called 4G.
