5G is inching closer and closer, but in the mean time, Telstra is set to speed up its 4G network to 2Gbps before the year's end.
Following demos at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona where the telco demonstrated 4G speeds as high as 2,019Mbps, Telstra will be rolling out supercharged 4G in high traffic areas across Australia, including CBDs, stadiums, and malls.
For reference, 2Gbps (or approximately 2,000Mbps) is around 20 times as a fast as a current top tier NBN 100 connection. A standard 4G connection tends to range between 20Mbps and 100Mbps.
Actual download speeds will however vary on your location, network congestion, and your device. These superfast speeds are achieved using carrier aggregation - simultaneously connecting to multiple network frequencies - and as such, require a device capable of reaching them. The first device that will support 2Gbps 4G will be a successor to last year's Netgear Nighthawk M1.
Telstra Group Managing Director for Networks, Mike Wright, says that enhancing the performance of 4G is "an important step forward in the development of 5G".
"For most initial uses, 5G will not be a standalone technology," said Wright. "This means the quality of the underlying 4G service and how it integrates with 5G will go a long way to determining the overall mobile experience. As this testing shows, 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."
Telstra's 2Gbps milestone follows the telco achieving 1Gbps speeds on its 4G network at the start of last year. Telstra says gigabit speeds are currently available in the CBDs of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide, in addition to other high traffic areas in these cities.
Alex Choros
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