[flv width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/BBC News Will 4G be faster than home broadband 1-9-12.flv[/flv]

The BBC produced this mini-documentary about 4G LTE wireless broadband’s impact in Europe and the United States.  Providers in the UK and northern Europe see wireless 4G as the solution to rural broadband scarcity, but consumers in urban and rural settings won’t put up with stingy usage caps and ridiculously high prices.  Sweden pioneered 4G wireless, running the oldest and most robust 4G network in the world.  In Sweden, TeliaSonera delivers wireless broadband at speeds of up to 84Mbps — many times faster than what Verizon Wireless offers.  But even with those speeds, just 9,000 Swedes have signed up — rejecting the company’s “very high priced” service — $50US a month for 10GB.  (Verizon Wireless charges $80 a month for the same amount of data usage, a testimony to the price sensitivity of a much-more regulated and competitive European wireless marketplace.)

A TeliaSonera speed test shows their 4G LTE network can deliver nearly 84Mbps.

While Europe enjoys faster speeds at lower prices, providers in the United States are treating 4G as a luxury item.  With that in mind, plans by some U.S. carriers to create a home broadband replacement service for rural America that relies on 4G wireless networks will likely face strong consumer resistance because of the extremely high prices and low usage caps.  (The abrupt end of the video is intentional.) (10 minutes)