Dr Cullen Habel is a marketing lecturer at Uni Adelaide and has been trialling Telstra's new 4G wireless USB over the past week to access files and work. Picture: Matt Turner Source: AdelaideNow
AUSTRALIAN mobile internet downloads will today at least double in speed as Telstra officially launches the country's first 4G network.
The speedy service will offer downloads as fast as 70 megabits per second - fast enough to deliver a high-definition movie in less than a minute.
The catch? It's only available within 5km of the GPO in each Australian capital city and it won't work on your phone.
Telstra's 4G mobile service will only be available to computers however, and the company says only speeds of up to 40 megabits per second will be "typical" using the new network.
Telstra wireless director Anthony Goonan said the company would not promote the network's top speeds to prevent unrealistic expectations.
"It's important that we give our customers a real idea of what they will receive - between 2mbps and 40mbps downloads and uploads between 1mbps and 10mbps," he said. "While you will experience speeds outside of those ranges, it's the best representation of a typical experience in areas with 4G."
Mr Goonan said Telstra planned to expand 4G, with 30 towns to be upgraded next year.
Rather than build a new mobile network, Telstra has reused its 2G phone network and delivered the speedier service using a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) upgrade. Telstra mobile broadband director Anthea Roberts said the "cost saving" will be passed to consumers.
The 4G modem and downloads would cost no more than the current 3G plans at $49.95 for 4GB per month over two years.
Consumers' downloads will slow when they reach their data limit, but business customers will be charged for excess use.
Telstra won't be the only carrier to launch a 4G network in Australia. Optus recently revealed it would launch an LTE mobile network, with a launch planned for parts of NSW in April next year, and Vodafone Hutchison has confirmed plans but no dates for its 4G network.
Telsyte research director Foad Fadaghi said the LTE networks would also speed up phone service by moving heavy data users off the network.
University of Adelaide e-marketing lecturer Dr Cullen Habel has trialled the new 4G mobile service for the past week and a half. "It's been substantially better than anything else I've used, including home-based wireless," he said.
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