How fast is Australia LTE, really?
March 12, 2014 7:01 PM   Subscribe

This recent report from OpenSignal boasts Australia as having the fastest 4G LTE service in the world. How big of a deal is it? I'm moving to Australia and am going to sign up for a mobile plan with Telstra, living in Sydney. The report indicates that while Australia has the fastest speeds, the coverage also isn't that consistent. So how fast is it really in daily use? And how does Telstra adapting the 2600 MHz (Oct. 2014) and 700 MHz (Jan. 2015) factor into that? I presently have a smartphone capable of HSPA+ speeds in AU and I was wondering how much I'd be missing out by not having a device capable of that LTE connectivity, even if it's only a temporary thing until I upgrade my phone.
posted by signondiego to Technology (3 answers total)
 
Best answer: I have not really noticed any complaints about the speed of Telstra's 4G network. When desperate, I have resorted to the 4G network for gaming and streaming, and it was faster than my ADSL2+ connection. However, in Australia the biggest constraint on your use of mobile internet is likely to be the price of data - see here for Telstra's offerings.

You will probably have decent 4G coverage inside major cities, and have little coverage outside of them. Telstra purchased a significant amount of 700 MHz and 2.5 GHz spectrum in the recent allocation auction, and the major impact of that will be to extend their 4G network to many inner-regional areas and help maintain current speeds in major cities for the near-future.
posted by kithrater at 8:54 PM on March 12, 2014


Best answer: You'd probably do well to ask this question at the Whirlpool forums.
posted by pompomtom at 9:29 PM on March 12, 2014


Best answer: I just did a speed test and got 34.47 Mbps downstream and 9.85 Mbps up. I'm in central Adelaide, with Telstra.

If you're not on 4G, speeds can be very ... "variable" in high density areas. The available bandwidth is saturated. My previous 3G phone was pretty much useless for data in Melbourne CBD during peak hours. This situation might change as more and more people get 4G phones.
posted by Diag at 2:36 AM on March 13, 2014


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