New 21Mbps Next G network from Telstra

The current speed of the Next G network controlled by Telstra is up to 14.4Mbps, however, the only devices currently available to run on it offer speeds of only 7.2Mbps. The big question now is, with the end of this year set as the date for the upgrade to 21Mbps, when will 21Mbps modems be available to take advantage of the new speeds?

There has been a joint announcement by Telstra, Ericsson, Qualcomm and Sierra Wireless, the manufacturer of mobile broadband modems of “customer trials” commencing for a 21Mbps modem in the “coming months” and a “commercial launch to follow”.

This will, in essence, mean that the current 7.2Mbps modems will only run at one third of maximum network speed until the new 21Mbps modems are released at some stage in 2009. Although this still makes Telstra twice as fast as its competitor whose devices are only capable of speeds up to 3.6Mbps.

Optus and Vodafone, who are currently Telstra’s biggest competitor both have networks capable of speeds up to 21Mbps but once the upgrade to 21Mbps take place their network speed will fall well behind.

The current HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) technology will be upgraded using new technology know by three separate names – eHSPA (the ‘e’ stands for evolved), HSPA+ or HSPA evolution which will allow for the delivery of speeds up to 21Mbps.

Further upgrades to the current network will use LTE (Long Term Evolution) technology to succeed the HSPA+ technology that will be used shortly and is being design by Nokia-Siemens, Ericsson and Alcatel Lucent. This new technology is meant to drastically reduce ping times that are an issue with most networks, especially wireless networks, and will offer high speed access even at the furthest reaches of the network. The LTE technology, however, is still tens of millions or even billions of dollars in investment and a few years away.