David Frith | May 20, 2008
WHEN Apple boss Steve Jobs walks on to the stage to introduce the first 3G iPhone next month, you can safely bet he'll do a lot of talking about the pervasiveness of the high-speed packet access (HSPA) 3G mobile system.
Suddenly HSPA is everywhere, not least in Telstra's controversial Next G network, and similar networks now being built by Vodafone and Optus. It's turning up, too, in laptop PCs and other devices.The spread of 3G technology is becoming a major worry for the promoters of WiMAX, a sort of souped up Wi-Fi that was supposed to take over mobile communications.
More on that in a moment.
Vodafone and Optus have already been named as Australian marketers of the new-model iPhone, for release sometime this year, and Telstra may yet sign on too.
No one from these companies has used the magic phrase, 3G.
Apple is a very secretive company, but you can safely bet that's exactly what Steve Jobs will be announcing at Apple's WorldWide Developers Conference in San Francisco on June 9.
Neither Optus nor Vodafone would be interested in anything less.
Release of the 3G version of the iPhone Down Under will finally satisfy the cravings of thousands of users who have been dying to get their hands on Apple's slick little touchscreen smartphone and portable internet device. It just couldn't happen until Apple produced a version that would work with our 3G networks, rather than the sluggish EDGE technology still widely used in the US.
The iPhone is designed for fast, easy web browsing as well as making phone calls and listening to music. It needs speed, and HSPA is seriously fast, especially at handling data, such as the internet.
Telstra claims speeds up to a theoretical 7.2Mbps on its Next G network although 3Mbps with occasional bursts up to 6Mbps is more like the usual experience.
Vodafone and Optus currently offer a maximum 3.6Mbps, but are working flat out on faster networks.
As noted above, it isn't just the iPhone that aims to make use of the nifty HSPA technology. It's increasingly turning up in laptops and other portable devices, such as HTC's Shift and Nokia's 810 ultra-mobile personal computers.
It will also be in the BlackBerry Bold, an interesting new handheld from Research in Motion, aimed at stealing sales from iPhone.
Recently Asus, Dell and Toshiba started offering optional 3G cards for some of their laptops: Asus linking to the Vodafone service, Toshiba to Telstra Next G, and Dell to a choice of Vodafone or Next G.
Last week Ericsson, the Swedish telecommunications equipment maker that built Telstra's Next G network, announced a deal with Dell that should result in more and faster HSPA connections in Dell laptops.
Ericsson will supply Dell with HSPA modules, which the PC maker will embed in certain laptop models.
They will replace the current Vodafone and Telstra cards and will offer 7.6Mbps connections and lower power consumption.
The modules, due in the next month or so, also include a GPS navigation system receiver.
Dell Australia is pretty excited about the deal. HSPA is now pretty well everywhere, local executive Jeff Morris told Doubleclick the other day.
These modules will give travellers global roaming without the need to carry separate cards, cables or dongles.
He predicts many consumers will also plump for a 3G-equipped laptop as their everyday internet connection, rather than a fixed-line broadband service.
The pervasive growth of HSPA is threatening to knock the stuffing out of chipmaker Intel's plans for WiMAX.
Intel has long been planning to put WiMAX into its Centrino chipsets used in most laptops, and pumping big money into companies such as Australia's Unwired, which plan future WiMAX networks.
Those networks are taking much longer than expected to materialise.
Unwired now does not expect to begin rolling out its service in Australian cities before late 2009 or 2010, and the Rudd Government has cancelled the previous government's $1 billion plan to have Optus and Elders deliver WiMAX services to the bush.
Meanwhile 3G/HSPA is running away with the market and faster connections lie ahead: Telstra executives predict they'll have Next G running at 28Mbps in the near future and up to 42Mbps when a new 4G version dubbed HSDPA+ is introduced.
Beyond that, there's technology dubbed LTE, or long-term evolution, which would top out at 100Mbps.
Just think what you might be able to do with that on an iPhone: watch high-quality full-length movies and television, for instance, as you head home on the train.
Your Comments:
9 Comment(s)
Imagine if someone came up with an idea that provided free to reduced charge mobile coverage over wifi or WimAX networks and let the internet surfers pay for the the expensive G3 stuff. Reckon that would be a winner. We all need to pay less and get more. Watch this space Tony of Melb.!
@ Mario G. Do you know how to read? The end of the article stated that the network would eventually reach speeds of 100mbps NOT that you would stream 100mbps for 1hr to watch a show. And just an FYI 100mbps is 12.5MBps so your maths is a bit off there too buddy
Great, but the question that really needs answering is how long will the battery last? HSPA, Streaming video on the train home would be great - but its going to need serious battery life to last a trip on a Sydney train...
Mario G of Sydney: I believe the AT&T 3G network which is being rolled out as I type is also at 850MHz, so it would be unlikely a 3G iPhone would be released which wouldn't be compatible on the network of the iPhone's biggest market to date. 3G chips are available which work on both these, and the one rumoured to be included in a 3G iPhone is one of them.
Tony of Melbourne WiMac or any other form of wireless network is the only way to cover country, the expense of running optical cable would triple and would take 5 to 6 years, reach about 80 to 85 % of the population. This makes Mr Conroy is no saviour and has already stated that stopping the Wireless Rollout was a mistake and that they will need both for this would end up taking over from fibre in the near future. It is better not to have all your eggs in one basket
If Vodafone & Optus are already confirmed, the iPhone will support 3G at 2.1GHz. Unless Apple decides to install a more expensive phone module that also supports 850MHz, Telstra NextG (3G-850) customers miss out on choice yet again. You won't see any iPhones in the "bush"! And, as for David Firth's closing comments "(eventually) watching tv/full-length movies at 100Mbps ...": Well, that's (ballpark) 10 MegaBYTES per sec. So a streamed 1-hr program is about 36 GigaBytes! What do you think you'll pay for that!? Yeah, I know I'm not taking into account compression, etc, but you get the general idea.
Yes lets give Telstra a run. Maybe I can take out another mortgage to cover the monthly bill. It is irrelevant what the download speed is if it is not priced realistically and from what I have seen of Telstra's ADSL2 offering there is not much hope of that for anyone that actually has a life outside away from the Net as well.
Remember that just because a faster network connection speed is possible doesn't mean that the iPhone will load data at that speed. The current generation iPhone is only about twice as slow over EDGE than it is over a 24Mbit WiFi internet connection due to the fact that it simply doesn't have a hugely powerful processor (relative to a laptop computer) to perform the page rendering. So whilst it is a huge leap forward over any other mobile device I have used for web and data consumption, increasing the pipe size without putting a better tap on the end doesn't necessarily mean you'll get more out. I hope to see that any 3G iPhone will have a similarly advanced processor to take advantage of these speeds, ideally without sacrificing any battery life.
Are yes WiMAX wasnt that the junk the old government was trying to flog to the bush ! Mr Conroy saved the bushies from this WiMAX trash and good on him,next step is for Mr Conroy to give Telstra the nod for the go ahead to start laying the first fibres for the massive FFTN Network a worldclass System in the waiting,so far Mr Conroy has shown how up to date he really is and how much of a communications minister he really is unlike the previous minister who had no idea,and what a worldclass company Telstra is evolving into what with its cutting edge technology with its worldclass NextG network and forward looking management not to forget those hilarious commercials hehehe .
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