Here in the US, we like to think we’re ahead of the ball on many fronts, with one of those being mobile technology. I mean, the iPhone started here, and as much as some may dislike, is one of the most technologically advanced phones on the market. (Sales numbers don’t lie.) And yet we deal with mobile broadband speeds that are a joke. No, really. Don’t kid yourselves. We suck when it comes to mobile.
Unfortunately, I don’t have some amazing tale of how Verizon’s 5-12Mbps LTE network is going to magically increase, or how WiMax will break past the speedier-yet-still-not-enough 20-70Mbps speeds they’ve planned for future upgrades. Instead, I’m going to rub Telisonera’s (Swedish carrier) 85-90Mbps/30Mbps down/up speeds in your face. By the way, those are average speeds. Downloads have peaked as high as 100Mbps.
Yes, the truth hurts. And TeliaSonera of Sweden delivers the goods like none other. Besides having the fastest mobile broadband in the world, they were also the first to launch a 4G network. Yup, it’s final. I’m moving to Sweden…
- December 17, 2009 1:24 pm
You know, it’s funny that here in the U.S. of A. we get all hot and bothered about the talk ot 5-10Mbps speeds that will come along with a 4G upgrade in the coming years. Sounds fast and in reality is much faster than what we currently have. But our puny networks are nothing compared to those in Stockholm, Sweden. It is here where a network run by TeliaSonera and tested with Ericsson hardware has pushed the current HSPA boundary from 28Mbps up to 42Mbps. Simply put: It’s faster folks — much faster.
The two best things to highlight are (1) that these new speeds are being achieved on commercial hardware and (2) current 28Mbps networks looking to upgrade need only install a software upgrade. Awesome! When current/older hardware can benefit from new technology via a simply hardware upgrade at that point in time, the world is at peace. Any Swedish readers care to chime in?
PhoneScoop > Ericsson
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- December 14, 2009 10:40 am
If you find yourself a Stockholm, Sweden or Oslo, Norway native, count yourself lucky as you’re one of the very few cities to experience 4G/LTE goodness. The two cities’ carrier — TeliaSonera — has taken the wraps off of their new next gen network which should offer those lucky enough to be graced with it’s cellular presence, dramatically increased speeds over the now instantly obsolete 3G networks’ rather meager 7.2Mbps cap. Proof is the puddin’ however. Do any local residents care to share with us a screenshot or first hand experience with this new blistering wave of quickness?
Adding to the 4G shenanigans, Samsung is simultaneously launching their fully 3GPP LTE Rel-8 compliant B3710 USB modem giving end users access to 100Mbps download speeds. Of course, the standard attached strings apply. Network load, number of users on a particular tower, and other technical stuff all pick away at the triple digit figure. Still, real world speeds of anything above 7Mbps would be a godsend no?
One other notable mention is that these two cities are the two “world firsts” (so would it be world seconds?) to enjoy publicly available LTE. Woo hoo *applause*. Now we’ll just have to wait for the rest of the world to catch up in late 2010. Sometimes it sucks living in the US. This would be one of those times. Damn you extremely large surface are of the states which makes it harder (supposedly) for carriers to roll out new features….
MobileBurn
