Telstra's 42 Mbps modem. Photo: Telstra supplied
Telstra doubled the speeds of its Next G network but delayed its announcement for a week after the election campaign, fearing it may "influence the debate" between the independents who are deciding who will govern the country.
The telecommunications company yesterday launched a 42 megabits per second (Mbps) USB wireless modem capable of typical user speeds of between 1.1 and 20 Mbps in selected areas. Upload speeds vary from anywhere between 0.3 and 3 Mbps.
The previous modems were capable of 21 Mbps peak speeds, half that of the new modems. Real-world download speeds were between 0.5 Mbps and 8 Mbps.
To put this into some perspective, the new wireless modem, if operating at full real-world speeds, allows users to download a 3 megabyte song three times faster. It will now download in 1.2 seconds instead of 3 using the new modem. For movies, which are of a greater file size, it will be much more noticeable.
Broadband was a key policy difference between the parties during the election campaign and it is also shaping up as one of the concerns of the country MPs who are deciding who will form the next government. Telstra's speed bump could be interpreted by some as supporting the Coalition's claims that existing wireless networks could be substitutes for Labor's more expensive fibre-to-the-home proposal.
“We just didn’t want to feel like we were influencing the [telecommunications] debate,” Telstra spokesman Craig Middleton said of the announcement timing, which was delayed from 25 August.
The dual-carrier technology used will cover approximately 50 per cent of the population at launch. It allows networks to send and receive wireless data using two channels simultaneously
If elected, the Labor government plans to spend $43 billion on a nationwide fibre network supporting speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second, whereas the Coalition would spend $6 billion on a mishmash of technologies that would include upgrading existing copper networks and more wireless to support 12 megabits per second peak baseline speeds.
Opposition leader Tony Abbott has said in the past that Australians shouldn’t assume wireless technologies won’t ever be comparable to fixed-line technology. Telstra's upgrade shows that wireless broadband is creeping up to the 100 Mbps minimum speeds promised by Labor's national broadband network.
ZDNet reported that Telstra said its new service shouldn't be seen as a substitute for Labor's National Broadband Network.
In a video presentation, Telstra wireless engineer Jared King tested the speed of the network using the device in various locations around Melbourne. In one test at the top of the Eureka Skydeck - Melbourne’s tallest building - King was able to achieve speeds of around 24 Mbps down. That speed is comparable to fixed-line ADSL2+ speeds currently available in homes today.
Telstra currently has only 2000 devices capable of the new speeds in the country and is only at first giving its business customers the opportunity to put them through their paces.
Come October 5 the device will be available outright for $299. Business customers will be able to purchase it on a $69 plan over 24 months with 6 gigabytes of included data allowance.
Consumer plans would be similar when launched later this year, company representatives said. The speed boost wouldn't appear in mobile handsets for a couple of years, they said.
The author of this article is on Twitter: @bengrubb
Telstra logo.
On Monday, Australian telecommunications company Telstra has introduced dual carrier  standard for broadband Internet business customers in the  network. This is the first time this technology is being introduced on national scale. The bandwidths the users can deploy increased into two to three times, with Telstra becoming the world’s fastest national mobile broadband service. The switch started with enabling the service for premium users. After some feedback, Telstra may expand the plan.

=== Introduction ===

The higher speeds for wireless are intended to simplify and ease multitasking of users.

John Paitaridis, Telstra's executive director, network products and services in Enterprise & Government, said "One of the reasons we decided to launch first to Enterprise And Government and Business customers is that clients are saying that their ability to access applications quicker makes a difference to their business and when they start to equate time savings and doing calculations around productivity it does become a return on investment."

Telstra Business Group Managing Director Deena Shiff also stated that the efforts aren't as sudden as it might seem, having feedback of many users as the base.


=== Technology ===
Telstra GSM and NextG mobile phone tower
Previous modems were able to reach peak speed 21Mbps, with real life speeds ranging from 0.5Mbps to 8 Mbps. The theoretically expected maximum of the new technology is 42Mbps with user speeds varying between 1.1 and 20 Mbps. The new speed is twice as fast. This is caused by that the dual-carrier "Evolved High-Speed Packet Access" technology allows networks to send and receive wireless data using two channels simultaneously. This technology can be deployed on Next G networks. Telstra switched to them in February, thus making the switch to HSPA possible now.

=== Election campaign ===
Tony Abbott in 2010.
Telstra delayed the implementation of the new technology until elections end. This decision was intended to avoid wrong interpretation of them by . Coalition's claims include that wireless networks can be an alternative to the  "''fibre-to-the-home''" proposal to introduce more expensive wired Internet. The announcement of the new technology, initially planned on August 25, was delayed, with Telstra spokesman Craig Middleton explaining, "We just didn't want to feel like we were influencing the telecommunications debate."

The political parties have different plans on development and funds on the Internet. The Labor party aims to spend AUD 43 billion to bring 1 Gbps wired Internet nationwide, and the Coalition plans to spend AUD 6 billion to introduce a variety of improvements including upgrade of existing copper Internet as well as expansion of wireless Internet to support 12Mbps. Opposition leader Tony Abbott has said in the past that Australians shouldn’t assume wireless technologies won’t ever be comparable to fixed-line technology. Telstra's upgrade shows that wireless broadband is reaching the 100 Mbps minimum speeds promised by Labor's national broadband network.

=== Distribution ===
A NextG Telstra wireless USB modem
Telstra has only 2000 devices which support the new technology. This is why the opportunity to try it out is being given only to the Business plan customers, and they receive it for the same price as they were paying for the previous NextG plan. Since October 5, the device will be available for sale, with the Business customers able to buy it with 75% discount and a prepaid data allowance. The upgrade is expected to cover roughly 50% of the population. This is happening at the same time as one of Telstra's competitors  is doubling data download quotas on mobile cap plans.

As some testing showed, real life download speeds reached only about the half of the maximum. Telstra executive director of wireless Mike Wright explained that the predicted figures were the estimates, with real life speeds lower due to interfering environmental conditions: "It's possible to achieve better than the typical user speed claims, but those claims occur in the ideal network environment with good signal quality. When you're out on the streets you get a lot of variation where the network is subject to signal quality, your location and the network load."