Telstra's LTE: LighT spEed wireless, but still LiTE on service?

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Wednesday, 28 September 2011 11:19

Opinion and Analysis

Although Optus is far faster this time at getting its customers ready for a faster wireless future with its own LTE plans, Telstra is yet again on the ball and on the money with its targeted, yet still rather broad 2011 LTE launch - and boy oh boy is the service FAST!

No, it's not the death of the NBN, which for most Australians simply isn't available yet and, frankly, won't be for some years yet.

But it is the birth of the ever faster wireless revolution, and with even Einstein's famed theory of relativity and maximum speed of light in doubt, one can only say: nothing's ever future-proof, and anyone who tells you so is plain and simply misguided, a liar - or both.

But now that Telstra's initial LTE network rollout is here, what does it mean to everyday Australians?

One thing's for certain: not very much if you're not in range of the LTE signal. However, if you are in range, you can experience smoking hot wireless speeds and the lowest wireless latency this side of a DC-HSPA+ tower.

Although the LTE network has only officially been 'on' for less than 48 hours, the speeds that the very first Telstra LTE adopters get is obviously going to be the fastest around, with download speeds of 20+ Mbps and upload speeds of 10+ Mbps easily possible through sites such as Speedtest.net.

Speed tests are one thing, however - what about actual downloads in the 'real world'?

To test, I download a 2.5GB .ISO of Windows 7 Professional from Microsoft's MSDN site. I started the download on a Telstra BigPond ADSL 2+ connection, and was getting download rates of anywhere from 300 to 600 KBps, (KBps not Kbps) and was going to take at least 1 hour and 20 minutes to download, if not longer as the download speeds fluctuated.

Putting the download on 'suspend', disconnecting the ADSL 2+ connection and firing up the Telstra 4G LTE dongle delivering a speed boost of delightful proportions.

With the download resumed over the 4G network, download speeds quickly jumped beyond 600KBps, racing through 1000KBps and maxing out at over 2700KBps.

The download finished in about 20 minutes, which as far as I'm concerned seemed to match Dark Helmet's Ludicrous Speed - with no Spaceballs harmed in the process (much to Pizza the Hutt's chagrin).

Does being in range of the LTE network guarantee an LTE connection? And what's this about 'LiTE' service? Please read on to page two'¦