3G iPhone to be a tasty triple-band treat?

by Alex Zaharov-Reutt

Thursday, 15 May 2008

Page 2 of 3 I certainly hope the iPhone has a tripleband chip for 3.5G, because if so, it means it will work across the world’s three major 3.5G HSDPA frequency standards. An Optus spokesperson told me that the 900MHz 3.5G standard is the new international standard for great coverage 3.5G, and it’s what they are using to build out its 3.5G network to cover 98% of the population of Australia, which is still 0.9% smaller than Telstra already offers. It’s also the technology that Vodafone is using in its 3.5G network that it too is currently building out. 900MHz is great because it’s a lower frequency that can better penetrate buildings, carparks – and travel long distances. But it wasn’t previously available, which is why Telstra chose the 850MHz standard. Already, Optus has two 900MHz towers in Australia, with one Nokia phone that works on this standard – as well as being 2100MHz compatible. So the rollout of 900MHz phones has already begun, and will surely accelerate from all the world’s major phone manufacturers. But 850MHz is vitally important, as not only has Telstra installed it in Australia, but so has AT&T in the US, and Rogers in Canada, and given that AT&T and Rogers are both iPhone resellers (with Rogers due to start selling the iPhone “later this year”), Apple obviously can’t ignore these three major players – but it can hardly afford to ignore the 900Mhz standard either. So, the the 3G iPhone will surely have to have 850MHz compatibility for AT&T and Rogers. And it will need 2100Mhz compatibility for all those existing 3.5G networks. But could Apple sell Optus and Vodafone a 3G iPhone that wouldn’t work on their rural and regional networks? I don’t think so. Therefore, the 3G iPhone chip must be tripleband, as Infineon says it is. We’ll just have to wait until June 9 to find out. Infineon’s chip is 7.2Mbps capable for downloads, but sadly only uploads at a maximum of 384Kbps, instead of HSUPA speeds of up to 1.9Mbps. But uploading still isn’t as important as downloading for the iPhone, and no doubt a future iPhone will incorporate an HSUPA solution as well. So, assuming that the 3G frequencies are all sorted, allowing Apple to sell one 3G iPhone that will work on all worldwide 3.5G HSDPA networks, it will then come down to who has the best iPhone service plan. Who will? Please read onto page 3. << First page <   1 2 3 Next page > Last page - Post your comment >>

 

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