So-called "4G" services are starting to trickle into US cities, and over the next couple of years new broadband offerings will flood the market with promises of better, faster, and more mobile lives with LTE or WiMax.

Here are 10 reasons why it might pay to be circumspect with that credit card and hold off on proto-4G services for now:

1) 3G is good enough for now
Particularly in areas of the US where AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) and T-Mobile US Inc. are deploying High-Speed Packet Access-Plus (HSPA+), the latest evolution of 3G is not that much slower than LTE or WiMax. Indeed, T-Mobile says its HSPA+ deployment offers average download speeds in the 5Mbit/s to 8Mbit/s range -- respectable, even compared to Verizon Wireless 's promises of averages in the 5Mbit/s to 12Mbit/s spectrum. (See T-Mobile's HSPA+ Rivals Clearwire, US LTE Speeds.)

2) 4G nowhere man
Right now, there's one MetroPCS Inc. (NYSE: PCS) LTE market up and running in Vegas and 30 cities nationwide coming from Verizon before the end of the year. Clearwire LLC (Nasdaq: CLWR) is in around 54 markets in the US right now. All of these networks use different radio frequencies, making roaming difficult even if they wanted to. Wouldn't it be better to wait until 2012 when there will be much better coverage available?

3) It's the economy, stupid
Sure, they say we're out of the recession, but still, isn't it too soon to drop a couple of hundred on an early device and get locked into a new contract?

4) No LTE iPhone for a while
Verizon Wireless's CEO Ivan Seidenberg blew the rumors of a CDMA iPhone out of the water this Wednesday, once again reiterating that Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) preferred having a 3G GSM device. "I’m hoping that the success we’ve had with Droid will encourage Apple... to make devices for 4G," Seidenberg said. In other words, don't hold your breath. (See Verizon Prods Apple on LTE .)

5) Premium demons
Make no mistake: 4G is likely to cost you more than current cellular services, at least to start with. Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S) charges $10 more for its WiMax smartphone service; Verizon is still banging on about tiered pricing; and even MetroPCS is charging $399 for the Samsung Corp. Craft LTE phone.

6) You'll still have a bad case of Euro-envy
Picture this: You get your Verizon LTE USB dongle and call up your Swedish cousin to brag about your 10Mbit/s wireless connection. A snide voice at the other end of the line explains that they've been seeing 30Mbit/s and more on the Telia Company network for a while now. Rats!7) One global standard will still make a world phone nearly impossible
This video from Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC) explains how LTE will get to be a global standard:



The problem remains that different countries -- and even different operators in the US -- run LTE on different radio frequencies. Current thinking runs that you'd need to support many different frequencies to support a world phone, making it costly, difficult... and likely years away.

8) The more people want faster wireless, the slower it will get
The Catch 22 of LTE and WiMax: The more people sign up for that fat pipe, the slower it will get -- that's just the shared nature of wireless. So do your bit and stay on 3G!

9) Baby, it's cold out there
Verizon's Seidenberg did say that the operator is expecting to have some device availability in the first quarter. Now recall that LTE is due to get launched in markets like Boston and Chicago and imagine the meat-locker cold involved in lining up with the nerds to be the first to get 4G. No thanks!

10) Do you really want your fridge to talk to you?
Because that's where the industry wants 4G to go eventually: everything networked, with you paying a small fee to them for connections. Can you imagine the serious guilt trip your refrigerator could land on you for leaving that healthy -- but strangely unappetizing -- Chinese broccoli in it for months?

— Dan Jones, Site Editor, Light Reading Mobile