Telstra Launches First Commercial Gigabit LTE Service

Telstra Launches First Commercial Gigabit LTE Service

So we’ve decided to do an extra blog post, because something very exciting has happened in the world of IT this week and we can’t wait to share it with you!

 

Earlier this week Telstra announced that it has now launched the first commercial Gigabit LTE service1. Now if IT related news isn’t really your forte you’re probably wondering right about now that does this mean for me?

 

Well this new LTE technology (“Long Term Evolution” is the term used to describe improvements within mobile broadband), will provide Telstra’s network with the ability to download at speeds of up to one gigabit per second2. Making “Telstra’s Nighthawk M1 mobile broadband hotspot the fastest mobile device in the world”3.

 

Not only will the Nighthawk M1 be pushing technology speeds to the limit, but customers will have the ability to:

  • Download a typical 3.5MB song in a fraction of a second3.
  • Download a 20MB PowerPoint presentation in a second3.
  • Download a 300MB one-hour TV episode in 16 seconds3.
  • Download a 3GB movie in 3 minutes3.

But that is not all the Nighthawk M1 can do! To meet the needs of their customer’s Telstra and their partners have designed the Nighthawk M1 so that it can charge customers smartphones and act as a server, storing files and movies for customers to come back to later3.

 

The Nighthawk M1 also boasts a range of other features that are sure to make customer’s happy, including:

  • A micro SD slot and USB port for storage1.
  • An Ethernet connection so that consumers can connect to overseas Internet services1.
  • The ability to support Wi-Fi speeds of either 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz1.
  • The ability to support and connect up to 20 users to the Internet1.
  • A battery life of up to 16 hours with continuous use1.

 

With such great features the Nighthawk is sure to be a massive hit with consumers when it hits the market at the end of February this year. With prices beginning at $360 upfront or on a range of plans, the lives of those in the major Australian capital cities are about to get a whole lot easier in the next year with the use this small portable device2.

 

Channa Seneviratne, the Director of Wireless Network Engineering in Telstra Operations, said that the company hoped that by the end of 2017, the major capital cities – Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide – would have coverage and that the overall goal is extend this new service to approximately 87% of the population1.

 

With figures of 1 gigabit per second downstream bandwidth and 150 megabits per second upstream, the Nighthawk M1 is proving to be faster and more efficient than NBN, which is currently only reaching one tenth of Telstra’s peak speeds (100Mbps)2. The Nighthawk M1 is bringing Australia one step closer to the introduction and establishment of 5G3.

 

With such positive reviews, we can expect to see and hear much more about this device in the future!

 

References:

  1. S Corner, Telstra launches 1Gbps LTE data service, ComputerWorld, Australia, 2017, viewed 2 February 2017, <http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/613459/telstra-launches-1gbps-lte-data-service/?fp=16&fpid=1>
  2. N Whigham, Telstra tests incredibly fast Gigabit LTE mobile network, News.com.au, Australia, 2017, viewed 2 February 2017, <http://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/telstra-tests-incredibly-fast-gigabit-lte-mobile-network/news-story/bf03e77489e2990f0fcf180462804319>
  3. A Volard, One step closer to 5G with gigabit speeds, Telstra Exchange, Australia, 2017, viewed 2 February 2017, <https://exchange.telstra.com.au/2017/01/31/one-step-closer-to-5g-with-gigabit-speeds/>

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