4G速度正在變慢?

The new 4G mobile phone services in the UK are not as super-fast as the industry promised - and could get worse.

在英國，新的4G移動服務達不到運營商所承諾的超高速度，而且速度可能還會變慢。

The mobile phone companies boasted that 4G services would be ‘five times faster' than the existing 3G networks when they launched in the autumn of 2012.

當移動運營商在2012年秋季開通4G服務時，它們宣稱4G服務的速度將比現有3G網絡快5倍。

However, a new official study puts the real figure at an average of 2.5 times faster - 14.7 megabits per second compared to 5.9Mbit/s per second on the 3G service that most people use.

然而，一份新的官方研究表明，真實的數字是4G速度僅比3G平均快2.5倍——也就是4G速度是14.79Mbit/s，大多數人使用的3G網絡的速度是5.9Mbit/s。

At the same time, the evidence suggests that 4G services are likely to slow down as more people connect to them.

同時，有證據表明，當更多的人接入網絡時，4G服務有可能變得更慢。

4G technology is being promoted by the big mobile networks on the basis it offers high speed internet access and smooth video streaming without annoying buffering.

基於能夠提供高速的網絡接入和流暢的視頻流媒體服務並避免煩人的緩衝等優勢，4G技術得以在大型移動網絡中得到應用。

More than 10 million people have been won over by the promises and have signed two year contracts costing an average of £20 ($30) a month.

超過一千萬人被這一承諾所打動，他們簽定了平均每月消費20英鎊的合約。

When 4G services launched at the end of 2012, the average download speed was up at around 19 Mbit/s, however the new research suggests an average of 14.7 and other studies put it as low as 10.

當4G服務在2012年年底剛開通時，平均下載速度可達19Mbit/s。新的研究表明現在這一數字僅爲14.7Mbit/s，甚至有研究認爲只有10Mbit/s。

This has happened because more people are using the service, effectively causing jams on the airwaves. The only way this can be countered is if the networks spend millions upgrading masts and installing new ones.

這是因爲越來越多的人開始使用4G，導致了無線網絡的擁堵。而唯一的解決辦法是由運營商投入大量資金對基站進行升級並且增加基站數量。