We know that Verizon will be making a big splash at CES with its 4G LTE smartphones and tablets but T-Mobile will also be pushing its 4G network, too. In fact, T-Mobile will be outlining its plans to upgrade its network to HSPA+42, which could provide double the download speeds.
T-Mobile senior director of engineering Mark McDiarmid said it will show off HSPA+42 at CES and this will be integrated into smartphones in 2011. Existing devices like the myTouch 4G are expected to get a speed bump but these likely won’t be able to fully take advantage of the new speeds.
The T-Mobile HSPA+42 4G network could potentially deliver 42 Mbps download speeds to users. That’s the theoretical limit though, as real-world speeds should be about half of that. Still, we’re talking about 21 Mbps on the go – that’s pretty darn fast.
By comparison, the Sprint WiMax network delivers between 4-8 Mbps download on average, with burst speeds of over 10 Mbps. The recently-launched Verizon LTE network generally gets about 6-8 Mbps on average, with burst speeds above 10 Mbps. Both networks could potentially get faster.
AT&T is also prepping for its next-generation mobile data network, as it just spend close to $2 billion to buy FloTV spectrum to help with its LTE deployment. AT&T is expected to roll out its 4G services in the middle of 2011.
While T-Mobile’s network can now truly be considered 4G, it may not have the latency speeds that Sprint and Verizon are offering, which may be a hindrance when it comes to things like multiplayer gaming on the go. Still, I don’t know many who would be complaining about using a G3 with 21 Mbsp download on the go.
It looks like CES is going to be a heck of a time for the mobile space and you can be sure that IntoMobile will be there to give you all the latest news.
