Along with an announcement regarding the upcoming Voice over LTE (VoLTE) on their network, Telstra has also launched a Cat 11 LTE device and shown off the speed possible with the new technology.
Created by Netgear, the hotspot uses the X12 LTE modem built by Qualcomm, that will also be incorporated into their new Snapdragon 820 SoC’s next year. The Category 11 device is capable of providing download speeds of up to 600mbps and it’s all capable on the Telstra 4GX network using three-band carrier aggregation.
The hotspot, excitingly named the ‘Telstra WiFi 4GX Advanced III Mobile Broadband Hotspot’ supports up to 15 devices with a Wi-Fi connection making it quite the capable router if it has a theoretical 600mbps connection to route, though even on the Cat 9 (450mbps) network being rolled out, there’s plenty of bandwidth to spare. The hotspot will automatically switch between the Telstra 4GX, 4G and 3G networks based on availability for up to 11 hours continuously with a 260 hours standby possible.
The connection to the Telstra Cat 11 network is currently in limited supply with Telstra advising:
The early Cat 11 enabled footprint is concentrated on the CBD’s of Eastern Seaboard capital cities; initially Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra, and in selected popular holiday locations. The network reach supporting these Cat 11 speeds will also continue to expand in line with growing mobile data demand.
The speed tests provided by Telstra are promising though as shown off in their demo video. Bear in mind though that these tests are on an under-utilised network with no other users competing for bandwidth:
Executive Director, Mobile, at Telstra John Chambers, is excited about the world first and thanked the partners involved in the rollout saying
This is the world’s first commercially available Cat 11 experience and is a breakthrough addition to our mobile device range thanks to our ongoing partnerships with these leaders in innovation.
When you combine the power of Qualcomm Technologies’ Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ X12 LTE modem with Qualcomm® VIVE™ 11ac, Ericsson’s LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation technology on Telstra’s network, and the NETGEAR AirCard® 810S, it really is an unbeatable technology that we are pleased to offer our customers before anyone else in the world.
The Telstra WiFi 4GX Advanced III Mobile Broadband Hotspot will be available for purchase from September 29 for $264 with options for Go Mobile and Go Mobile Business plans.
With one of these devices on my current 7GB plan, I could literally use my entire monthly quota in under 2 seconds. I’ll let everyone form their own opinions on that little factoid.
2 minutes*
So if I buy one of these what mobile broadband plans do i need ?