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Telstra To Roll Out 1000Mbps 4G (lifehacker.com.au)

Posted by yaelk on from the getting-faster dept.

An anonymous reader writes: After beginning support for LTE Category 9 last year on their 4Gx network (with its theoretical max download speed of 450Mbps), Telstra has now announced that they will upgrade their network to support LTE category 16. In theory, this means that if a customer has the correct equipment in the correct location, they will be able to have a maximum theoretical download speed of 1000Mbps, and a maximum theoretical upload speed of 150Mbps. Of course, it's unlikely that customers will be able to sustain these speeds, but Telstra lists on their website that 4GX devices currently have a typical download speed of 2 to 75Mbps on 4GX.

68 comments

  1. 2 to 75 Mbps? by bondsbw · · Score: 0

    That pretty much covers all LTE phones.

    --
    All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
    1. Re:2 to 75 Mbps? by EEPROMS · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The last time Telstra introduced a new service ie 4G they lowered the average monthly data cap for anyone using the service. So going by past marketing from Telstra the new services average monthly data cap will be about 500mb. I'm not kidding, Australia is the only country with monthly data caps on mobiles going down with each new service not up. Right now if you have a 4G data service you are getting monthly caps that were the norm on 3G in 2007.

    2. Re:2 to 75 Mbps? by Harlequin80 · · Score: 1

      Really? My Telstra data keeps going up. Last contract it was 3gb a month, this contract at exactly the same $ is now 6gb and if you sign up today with a BYO phone you get 10gb for $60 a month with unlimited calls and texts..

    3. Re:2 to 75 Mbps? by currently_awake · · Score: 1

      They speed up the last mile of the network, but leave the rest with whatever is already installed. It means they can sell super speed internet that actually only delivers 2 Mb/s speeds on average. If you are trying to maximize net quarters results and don't care about the long term this is the smart move. If you are a shareholder you'd want to fire the board of directors at the company, as this prevents the company from selling more bandwidth and reduces customer satisfaction.

    4. Re:2 to 75 Mbps? by EEPROMS · · Score: 2

      Yes but when the new service comes on line they will offer less data than before then slowly increase it to keep you sucked into their service. The Checkout in 2013 (Australian consumer show) highlighted this when they looked at the new 4G data plans when they first came out noting the data caps were lower than with 2007's 3G plans. I was in the USA recently and one of my associates had over 50Gb a month of data for the same price of a mid range 3Gb plan in Australia. Australian data plan caps are total rubbish and we are getting royally ripped off.

    5. Re:2 to 75 Mbps? by Harlequin80 · · Score: 1

      There is no doubt that they are expensive compared to the US. But the US mobile system is fucked with black holes all over the place and providers working on completely incompatible networks. Telstra might be expensive, but at least you have good coverage where ever there are people.

    6. Re:2 to 75 Mbps? by EEPROMS · · Score: 1

      still have plenty of black holes just not around urban areas.

  2. 8 seconds by slashping · · Score: 3, Funny

    At that speed, it would only take 8 seconds to consume my entire monthly 1GB data plan.

    1. Re:8 seconds by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At that speed, it would only take 8 seconds to consume my entire monthly 1GB data plan.

      And thus it only takes about 8 milliseconds for the average consumer to realize just how fucking pointless faster speeds are.

    2. Re:8 seconds by rtb61 · · Score: 0

      Well, it's good to see you get the point of the plan, it's a trap. Fail to pay attention for a few minutes and run up a bill of thousands of dollars. You can bet many lures will be built into the system to lead directly to those wallet crushing pit falls.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    3. Re:8 seconds by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Assuming you had a phone that was even compatible with it.

    4. Re:8 seconds by slashping · · Score: 1

      Well, at least my current plan doesn't charge for exceeding the cap. It just reduces the speed to a crawl for the remainder of the month.

    5. Re:8 seconds by linuxguy · · Score: 0, Troll

      If you're worried about how fast you'll hit the cap, then perhaps you should switch to a carrier and a plan that offers super slow speeds. Something like 56kbps. The old modem speed. Your cap will last way way longer. And I am guessing that will make you happier.

    6. Re:8 seconds by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Faster speeds mean getting your data faster and allowing more traffic on the network because you got your stuff in a millisecond and you're now not downloading something else. Yes, it also means you can download more faster, but if you don't change your usage pattern, all you're doing now is just getting faster and better service. I'm for it. I'd still use the 200-400 MB of data I use per month and not much else.

    7. Re:8 seconds by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      Although I agree that these speeds are horribly disproportionate to current data rates from these carriers, I wanted to ask about this:

      Fail to pay attention for a few minutes and run up a bill of thousands of dollars.

      How does that actually happen with a smart phone? I mean it's not like you're going to download ISOs to your phone and even though Netflix is a data hog, you're still capped at the speed it takes to watch the video in real time. Honestly I'm not even sure how I'd make my phone eat up 10 gigs on purpose, let alone by accident.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    8. Re:8 seconds by macklin01 · · Score: 3, Informative

      How does that actually happen with a smart phone? I mean it's not like you're going to download ISOs to your phone and ...

      Mobile hotspot.
      For when you don't want to pay the outrageous wifi charges at a hotel conference center, or Starbucks' connection is flaky, or Charter / Comcast / Timewarner crashes for the evening and you have work to do, or ... etc.

      --
      OpenSource.MathCancer.org: open source comp bio
    9. Re:8 seconds by mjwx · · Score: 1

      At that speed, it would only take 8 seconds to consume my entire monthly 1GB data plan.

      A good thing Smellstra's $30 prepaid plan now gives you 2.6 GB of data, so you've got a full 20.8 seconds.

      I'm a happy Telstra customer... at least for the next few days. They already have the best LTE network in Perth, The work elevator is the only place I dont get coverage.

      However with mobile speeds, you never get the full speed, it might be 1000 Mbps when you're 2 CM from the transmitter, but 1.5 KM away and you're getting a lot less.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    10. Re:8 seconds by Pseudonym · · Score: 1

      If you're worried about how fast you'll hit the cap, then perhaps you should switch [...]

      I don't think you realise how absurdly small the typical Australian data cap is, especially relative to the speed.

      --
      sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
    11. Re: 8 seconds by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      On Telstra? I don't think Telstra do that.

    12. Re: 8 seconds by slashping · · Score: 1

      No, I don't have Telstra. I was just comparing the new speeds with my current plan.

    13. Re:8 seconds by slashping · · Score: 1

      A mobile hotspot + attached Windows laptop downloading OS updates is a great way to waste a bunch of data unnoticed.

    14. Re:8 seconds by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Win10 won't download updates over a 'metered connection'.

    15. Re:8 seconds by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How does it know that a random wifi is backed by a metered connection?

      A relative got his PC "upgraded" to win10 while using an USB dongle, fortunately the connection was only time-limited and the HDD committed seppuku the next week.

  3. Republicans by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Trump will roll out 5G. Best to wait.

    1. Re:Republicans by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And YOU are going to pay for it.

  4. So hit your 8GB cap in less then a hour? with $10/ by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    So hit your 8GB cap in less then a hour and with $10/GB overage how high can it go before the auto turn off kicks in $10,000?

  5. 1000 Mbps? by msauve · · Score: 1

    So that would be what, 1 Gbps?

    --
    "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
    1. Re:1000 Mbps? by zlives · · Score: 2

      slightly less than 1Gbps

    2. Re:1000 Mbps? by slashping · · Score: 1

      No, exactly 1Gbps.

    3. Re:1000 Mbps? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, according to the Googles, that'd be 125 Megabytes per second - which makes a lot more sense to me than all the mbps numbers that keep getting thrown around, can't they report this stuff in a value that people tend to work with every day?

      I know what 125 megs are and can relate it to files of similar sizes, but megabits? No clue, though I do know that more is better. :-)

    4. Re:1000 Mbps? by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 1

      Nope. Network speeds are power of 10.

    5. Re: 1000 Mbps? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, the speed a pair of spinning disks can reach. There is a reason my new 6-hard drive 2-SSD server is linked up with 20gbit (2.5gb/s approximate) Infiniband.

    6. Re: 1000 Mbps? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I bet you have a hot girlfriend.

    7. Re:1000 Mbps? by msauve · · Score: 1

      Closer to 0.001 Tbps.

      --
      "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
    8. Re: 1000 Mbps? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sounds like it, apparently she's linked up with 20gbig Infiniband. Oh, you meant a girl girlfriend...

    9. Re:1000 Mbps? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "a lot more sense to me than all the mbps numbers"

      I don't see anyone throwing around millibit per second numbers.

    10. Re:1000 Mbps? by Sax+Russell+5449D29A · · Score: 1

      1000 is more than 1. 1Gbps is not sexy any more.

      --
      -SR
    11. Re:1000 Mbps? by msauve · · Score: 1

      My network goes to 11.

      --
      "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
    12. Re:1000 Mbps? by Sax+Russell+5449D29A · · Score: 1

      News at 11: that's nothing. My Internets can handle 1.64 LoC/s. Or in other words 5,02633887×10^13 tweets/s.

      --
      -SR
    13. Re:1000 Mbps? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Pffft, not nearly as impressive as 1000000000 bps

  6. Hwat the hell is the use of that speed.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When your dataplan is 1Gb a month? Mine's 6Gb, which still makes any speed increase next to useless. You *need* at least 20Gb allowance to even think about putting that speed to use for longer than a week without fearing excess data charges

    1. Re:Hwat the hell is the use of that speed.... by blackpaw · · Score: 1

      Well Optus have a 50GB plan but its speed capped to 12 Mbps.

  7. Re:So hit your 8GB cap in less then a hour? with $ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You tell me. You're the math expert.

  8. Poor form by Smiddi · · Score: 2

    Meanwhile, Telstra landline (ADSL) speeds are often around 2Mbps and are charged at about $100/month for 500Gb (again at 2Mbps).

    1. Re:Poor form by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      5G is already being tested at 100gbps, with real world rates that should be around 1 to 5 gpbs. With its beam forming and a few other tricks, the same part of the spectrum can by used by dozens of people simultaneously all on the one tower, and this should result in an order of magnitude drop in prices. By 2022 we should see most houses in Australia having 5G coverage at costs of around 50c per GB or less, and speeds in the Gbps range. Also it promises 1mS added latency compared to wired.

      It is not a stretch to say that 5G could and should make most of the NBN obsolete, not to mention all of HFC and of course copper.

      It's looking like the predictions of nbn co (increase in wireless only households leveling off and stalling at around 15%) is going to be completely wrong.

    2. Re:Poor form by currently_awake · · Score: 1

      It's cheaper to run data over cellphone then over landline (for the carrier) because wire and right of ways are expensive while radio waves just use electricity. The massive price inversion is called profit margin.

    3. Re: Poor form by kaiser423 · · Score: 2

      Other than the cost of billions of dollars of to amortize....

    4. Re: Poor form by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Business adsl is $80/300gb and $120/1000gb. Excess usage is $1/gb capped at $300 I think.

    5. Re:Poor form by Namarrgon · · Score: 1

      5G is already being tested at 100gbps

      Over lab distances of centimetres, with no interference or contention for spectrum. Things are a little different in the real world.

      The only way anyone has managed to get 1Gbps rates outside the lab is by devoting huge chunks of spectrum to the link, and/or using line-of-sight frequencies that can barely penetrate paper (same as inside the lab). But these limitations make gigabit wireless unsuitable even for a few dozen mobile users in a typical cluttered cell footprint, let alone a couple hundred Netflix-streaming houses as well. And while beam-forming can help to reduce spectrum contention, it doesn't scale well - antennas get a lot more expensive and computation-heavy as you add simultaneous users, and it's much harder for mobile devices to do similar beam-forming for uploads. Your hope that prices will drop by an order of magnitude sounds like pure wishful thinking to me, even if 5G is rolled out by 2022. It's not so simple to hand-wave away the fundamental restrictions of wireless.

      By contrast, fibre landlines are capable of terabits per second (theoretically a lot more) - to each and every user. Zero contention, zero interference, with a host of other advantages. And once the fibre is laid, we can keep boosting speeds for decades by just upgrading the modems at each end.

      --
      Why would anyone engrave "Elbereth"?
  9. bye bye data allowance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I, for one, look forward to blowing my data limit in seconds.

  10. If you're worried how fast you'll hit the cap by linuxguy · · Score: 0, Troll

    If you're worried about how fast you'll hit the cap, then perhaps you should switch to a carrier and a plan that offers super slow speeds. Something like 56kbps. The old modem speed. Your cap will last way way longer. I am guessing that will make you happier.

    1. Re:If you're worried how fast you'll hit the cap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That comment was far better the first time you made it.

    2. Re:If you're worried how fast you'll hit the cap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This way I got to mod him troll twice, I'm happy.

  11. Re:So hit your 8GB cap in less then a hour? with $ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I hope he's good at something, because his English is usually atrocious.

  12. 95th percentile by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think it's time to make percentile network speed information mandatory: "Real network speed was not lower than x Mbps for 95%/50% of all connections on our network over the last month." I really don't give a shit if I'm not getting 50Mbps or not getting 1000Mbps.

  13. Speed is meaningless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When data is capped.

    Whoa there speedy where you going.

  14. something something EDITORS something by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    something EDIT something something

    1. Re:something something EDITORS something by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As the AC that submitted the article, it looks like the only thing the editor did is remove a couple of quotation marks in the last sentence, and linkify the reference to LTE 16.

  15. And will then complain by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That the only people who actually use the service get upset and threaten legal action when they get their $2k+ bill, 'cos it's normal to charge people $10/gig and encourage them to watch hidef streaming media on their mobile

  16. Re:So hit your 8GB cap in less then a hour? with $ by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    I don't know how there system is set up.

  17. Can't wait for the next "free data" day then... by throx · · Score: 3, Interesting

    So the other Sunday when they had "Free Data", customers managed to download around 2000TB of data over the mobile network. Cranking the speed up some more should enable an even more impressive effort in internet binge downloading!

    Refer: https://exchange.telstra.com.au/2016/02/15/big-day-of-free-data/

    --

    Fear: When you see B8 00 4C CD 21 and know what it means

    1. Re:Can't wait for the next "free data" day then... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I usually use those days to update the maps on the phone, or set it as hotspot to download updates on my PC

  18. What G? by genka · · Score: 2

    So they do 4G at 1G. Will it be a total of 5G?

  19. Re:So hit your 8GB cap in less then a hour? with $ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You wouldn't hit $10,000 unless your still on a pretty old plan...
    Excess mobile data usage has been capped at $500 for years...

  20. It's about cramming more connections to a tower by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Pushing for higher speeds is [likely] more about cramming more connections in for any given time slice, not giving individual customer more speed/data-allotments, though they'll *market* it as a pro for the customer as they want them to jump on the newer option to maximise their handling capacity.

  21. Public opinion is where you do things by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When you do not have a legal leg to stand on.
    And you are dealing with someone rich enough to fight back.

  22. If there would just be a convenient unit... by YoungManKlaus · · Score: 1

    to express 1000 Mbps .... oh wait!