Samsung demos 4G wireless technology

Samsung has shown off its fourth generation wireless technology by sending data to a speeding bus. At a wireless technology conference in Jeju South Korea, the company demonstrated multi-megabyte/sec speed transfers to a refrigerator-sized receiver. Samsung claims the prototype can receive data at up to 100 Mb/s.

The prototype receiver was placed on a mini bus that was moving at 37 mph, but Samsung claims data can still be received at 75 mph. The receiver was able to stream the data even after passing the signal off to other cell sites. Samsung also demonstrated a 1 Gb/s wireless transmission by streaming 32 high definition broadcast channels.

It will be several years before 4G technology can reach consumers and Samsung has to solve both technical and business challenges. First, the company must shrink the compact refrigerator-sized prototype into something that will fit in a mobile phone form factor. Samsung must also convince mobile phone companies and governments to switch to 4G, something that may be a hard sell after the same organizations spent billions to upgrade to 3G technology.