Love ’em or hate ’em, it’s hard to argue with the fact that Telstra has the best HSPA network in the world. And at Mobile World Congress, they’ve just stretched out their lead by announcing they have successfully upgraded NextG to support Dual Carrier technology for theoretical download speeds of up to 42Mbps.
Dual Carrier technology is a bit like dual band wireless routers, which allow you to send and receive wireless data over two different channels simultaneously.
The upgrade won’t actually be beneficial to customers until later this year, when Telstra start selling a Sierra Wireless mobile device capable of working on the Dual Carrier network. Undoubtedly it will cost a fortune, but considering the fact that 42Mbps theoretical is about six times faster than any other Australian network’s theoretical maximum, it’s simply the price you’ll have to pay to be cutting edge.
Even better though is that Telstra plan on doubling the speeds again using Dual carrier HSPA+ with MIMO to get speeds of 84Mbps. Considering the fact most people don’t have broadband anywhere near those speeds, you have to tip your hat to the Big T for driving the technology forward. Now all we need are smartphones capable of working at those speeds…