The video above shows Huawei, one of the world’s leading infrastructure providers, delivering over 20 megabit per second speeds over LTE technology while on a train going over 250 miles per hour. It can be done, and it’s something that we’re desperately waiting for here in Europe and I’m sure in the United States as well. We used to laugh at China, how they’re known for nothing but cloning devices from the west and having an economy that was substandard when compared to the rest of the world, but not anymore. Their trains are faster than what’s available anywhere else, save for maybe Japan, and now their networks deliver more throughput the average fixed broadband line most people have at home.
Now the guy talking makes many references to Australia. That country became the first to offer 42 Mbps dual channel HSPA+ technology and again, in real world environments, mainly sitting on a park bench or in a restaurant, speeds of over 20 Mbps were achieved so you have to weigh the pros and cons of using either the latest that 3G technology has to offer or deploy next generation LTE technology.
Verizon and AT&T are both betting on LTE and they’re due to launch their networks by the end of this year and the middle of 2011 respectively. T-Mobile on the other hand is going with HSPA+ and while their network today “only” gives 21 Mbps download speeds, they’re going to double that in 2011. Unlike LTE, HSPA+ supports such handy technologies like voice and SMS, the bread and butter of operators.
Still, it’s Europe who is taking the lead with real commercial LTE networks. There are currently 2 live in Sweden and Norway with Germany due to be turned on this month and other countries set to become operational by the end of this year. Just recently the EU has recommended that the governments of each of the 27 member states should set aside the 800 MHz band for next generation mobile broadband by January 1, 2013.
[Via: Light Reading]