Less than a month ago, Telstra outed plans for a new Category 6 4G/LTE modem capable of peak 300Mbps download speeds. Telstra confirmed today that it’s looking beyond Category 6 to the Category 9 spec capable of 450Mbps down. Phwoar.
Speaking at an investor briefing on the future of its mobile networks, Telstra confirmed that it was working on the Category 9 spec, and added that it hopes to have it available within three years.
To achieve those (theoretical) speeds, Telstra will use carrier aggregation to fuse three 4G networks together — the 700MHz network, 1800MHz network and an as yet unknown network — to serve the best possible download capacity.
Of course, devices using Category 9 will only be rated up to a theoretical maximum of 450Mbps: the real-world speeds won’t be anywhere near that high.
To put it in perspective, the Category 4 network is rated up to 150Mbps, with a typical real world speed of anywhere between 2-50Mbps (and upwards in well-covered areas). A rising tide lifts all boats, however, so hopefully faster devices mean faster real world speeds. [Telstra (PDF)]
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