Telstra has been eking out every last kilobyte per second from their 4G network, overnight Telstra has announced they’ve begun testing out their 2Gbps LTE network update technology in a Ericsson lab environment in Stockholm Sweden.
Telstra first spoke about the 2Gbps update to their 4G network at Mobile World Congress earlier this year, where they spoke about pushing the boundaries of 4G as a lead up to the launch of 5G in 2019.
The tests, which have been undertaken with partners Ericsson, NETGEAR and Qualcomm have been utilising a ‘prototype commercial device’, aggregating 100MHz of spectrum across five frequency bands and utilising 4×4 multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) technology. The tests also used the previously announced Netgear Nighthawk Mobile Router.
The successful tests will mean that Telstra will begin deploying the 2Gbps technology in their network, with Telstra Group Managing Director Networks, Mike Wright saying they will be ‘targeting high traffic areas like CBDs, stadiums and shopping centres’. Mr Wright said that the deployment will allow Telstra to ‘support even greater capacity and faster mobile speeds for our customers as the demand for data continues to grow’.
Telstra sees the need to continue to update their 4G technology, with 5G being seen as a complementary technology at least for initial uses, with an underlying 4G service running. Mr Wright said ‘there is still plenty of life left in 4G as we continue to invest in faster speeds and greater capacity on 4G as part of delivering the best mobile experience for our customers’.
“utilising a ‘prototype commercial device’” … Does this mean that our current 4G phones (Nexus 6P for me) will not work?
No, the 6P is a Cat 6 @ max 300 Mbit/s The Samsung Galaxy S9 and others offer up to category 18 speeds, peaking at 1.2Gbps, so on those devices you might just see a bit of a speed bump.