iPad 3 LTE won’t work in all countries with LTE
The screen aside, one of the other new features of the iPad 3 is its LTE connectivity option. Only problem is that it won’t work on all countries with LTE. The iPad 3 only supports LTE on 700 and 2100Mhz, while the 800 and 2600 Mhz bands are more common in Europe. Apple’s Nordic spokesperson has confirmed incompatibility to a Swedish site, and this means that other countries with LTE will also be affected, including where I live – Norway. On the other hand, some countries like the UK doesn’t even have LTE yet.
The question is if most consumers will know that it isn’t supported however. iOS 5.1 has changed the way that HSPA+ is displayed on iOS devices, from 3G to 4G, stretching the definition of 4G to suit marketing. The ipad 3 supports 21Mbps HSPA+, 42Mbps DC-HSDPA at 42Mbps, and 73Mbps LTE. If you ask me, both 21 and 42Mbps are excellent speeds for a mobile connection on a tablet, especially with the data caps that are often in place, but even so it isn’t a good thing to make one of the main features of a device like the iPad country-restricted. Unfortunately though it’s a way of business that Apple has moved more and more towards in the last year, leaving the rest of the world frustrated.
[IDG.se (Swedish)]
