Difference Between UMTS and LTE

In this article, we will be going through the difference between UMTS and LTE, first, we will start our article with the definition of both UMTS and LTE, then we will see their working advantages and disadvantages in brief, at last, we will conclude our article with some application and FAQs.

Table of Content

UMTS
LTE
Difference Between UMTS and LTE
Application of UMTS
Applications of LTE

What is UMTS?

The term UMTS is an abbreviation for Universal Mobile Telecommunications Framework. It is regarded as the 3G successor to the GSM family. It is developed on the basis of 3GPP standards. The main composition of UMTS is UE (User Equipment), Radio Access Network (RAN) and Core Network. There are various technologies that fall under UMTS based on different releases from the 3GPP community. It is also referred to as 3G.

Working of UMTS

It is divided into three major components

User Equipment: This component of UMTS consists of mobile stations and subscriber identity module. This components contains information about subscriber identity. It also performs authentication works and holds the encryption keys.
Access Network: This component of UMTS consists of towers, radio network controller and technologies like WCDMA. The towers help the mobile station connect to the network. This component also employs processing of data and the transfer of data between mobile station and the towers.
Core Network: This component of UMTS consists of domains like circuit-switched and packet-switched. The circuit-switched domain helps in the handling of the voice calls. While the packet-switched domain helps in internet services and data-packet transportation.

Advantages of UMTS

It has the capability to support information rates upto 2Mbit/s.
It offers higher Information rates at very lower incremental costs.
It presents benefits of necessarily security and charging capacities.
It allows the administrators to present unused mixed media administrations to trade clients and buyers.

Disadvantages of UMTS

It is more expensive than GSM.
It gives unpleasant poor video experience.
This system is still not broadband.

What is LTE ?

LTE is an abbreviation for Long Term Evolution. It is a term used for representing the advancing series of mobile telecommunication systems. It comes under the category of wireless service for smartphones and mobile devices. It offers higher speed data networks. It is built or made on top of existing technologies like GSM, UMTS, etc. It offers higher data-transfer rates, a shorter round trip time, flexibility of data, etc.

Working of LTE

Radio Communication: It relies on the Base stations known as eNodeBs to manage networks between user devices and networks. The base stations use advance techniques like OFDMA and MIMO to optimize data transmission.
Packet Switching: The LTE uses packet switching which breaks the data into small packets for the transmission. This method allows for more efficient use of network resources, faster data transfer and greater flexibility in handling different types of traffic.
IP-Based Architecture: It operates on an IP-based network which treats all data traffic as packets routed through the internet protocol. LTE supports Quality of Service mechanisms which ensures that data like voice calls or video streaming receives priority for a smoother user experience.

Advantages of LTE

We can exchange data as well as voice over the network.
Between the sender and the receiver party we can exchange a large amounts of data.
The data exchange takes very less amount of power consumption.
It gives the user the experience of a high speed of file upload and download.
It provides low latency and gives strong encryption through 128-bit keys.

Disadvantages of LTE

In India many cities are not able to get this service because of it’s unavailability in many cities..
To provide users better service and signals , more number of towers need to be installed.
LTE technology is very much complex, so it requires skilled and educated people for the management of system.
The LTE technology is not supported in older versions of smartphones.
To utilize LTE we need smartphones which is somewhat costlier.

Aspect	UMTS	LTE
Latency	It offer higher latency.	It offer lower latency.
Capacity	It has limited capacity.	It has higher capacity than UMTS.
Technology Used	It comes under the category of 3.5G technology.	It comes under the category of 4G technology.
Release year	It was released in the year 1999.	It was released in the year in 2000.
Frequency bands	The operating frequency bands that UMTS offers are 850MHz, 900MHz, 2100mHz.	The operating frequency bands that LTE offers are 700MHz, 1800MHz, 2600MHz.
Download speed	The download speed offered by UMTS is 14.4 Mbps.	The download speed offered by LTE is upto 1Gbps.
Upload speed	The upload speed offered by UMTS is 5.76 Mbps.	The upload speed offered by LTE is upto 500Mbps.
Base Station	They make use of specific base stations.	They make use of more advanced and efficient base station.
Data rate	It offers slower data rates than LTE.	It offers higher data rates than UMTS.
Handoff	It supports both soft and hard handoff.	It makes use of hard handoff.

Applications of UMTS and LTE

Here is the some list of Applications of UMTS and LTE given below :

Applications of UMTS

It allows users to stream high-quality video and audio content on their mobile devices or download media files quickly.
It supports real-time video conferencing, enabling users to conduct meetings, interviews, or virtual gatherings from anywhere with network coverage.
It provides fast internet access on mobile devices which allows users to browse the web, access online services, and connect to corporate intranets for work-related tasks.
It facilitates mobile commerce activities such as online shopping, banking transactions, and mobile payments, offering users convenience and security for conducting financial transactions on the go.
It enables remote access to corporate networks and systems, allowing employees to securely log in to their work accounts and access company resources from remote locations.

Applications of LTE

It is used in Internet of Things.
It is used to offer high-speed internet access in a wireless way.
It is even used in Agriculture sector for monitoring of crops, livestock tracking, etc.
It is even used in payments related works and commerce sector.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Both UMTS and LTE are part of mobile communication and they are used for communication and data transfer process. Both UMTS and LTE have their own features and characteristics. They have use cases in their fields and are used according to their use.