For the past few years, telecommunications carriers and handset manufacturers have talked a lot about third-generation (3G) services for mobile phones. Despite all the talk, however, the companies haven't done a particularly good job of explaining what it all means; that's where we come in.
3G in Australia | Types of 3G | Which carriers have 3G? | 3G glossary
3G in Australia
For a country with a comparatively small population, Australians are taking to the latest mobile technologies with eagerness. Figures published by technology analysts IDC (seen in the graph below) suggest that the number of Australians who subscribe to 3G services will surpass those of us using the older 2G services by the end of 2008 or early into 2009.
This is in part a product of Australia's willingness to experiment with new technologies, but is also attributable to the retail environment in this country, with all the mobile carriers offering 3G services at competitive prices.
Credit: IDC Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker
Why 3G?
The reason you will want a 3G phone is to have data transmitted to your handset faster. Downloadable content is becoming much more enticing, and our patience for downloads is becoming shorter. We want our Mobile TV to stream without pausing to buffer, and we want our new music now.
In recent times over-the-air content has been the domain of the mobile carriers. All Australian carriers provide Web portals for their customers offering wallpapers, ringtones and astrology charts, amongst other services. 2008 promises to be the year that everyone else gets on board, including manufacturers such as Nokia and Sony Ericsson. It's also the year we'll see a desktop-like Web experience coming to our handsets, thanks to Opera Mini, SkyFire and Firefox Mobile.
Do bear in mind though that 3G network coverage is nowhere near as extensive as 2G. So once you step outside heavily populated metro areas, it's more than likely that you're whiz-bang, mega-buck 3G handset will be utilising an existing 2G network.
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Stephen5
10/04/2006 03:10 PM
Telstra have made it is all very confusing. The 3G implementation in Regional Australia, will use the existing 800MHz CDMA spectrum. Where does this fit? It seems that Telstra will be on their own. No other telco world wide will be using this allocation. Is this correct? Will it be compatible with existing 3G implementations, eg Hutchinson/Three ?
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milton
12/04/2006 10:57 AM
Telstra'a 3G newtork runs at 850Mhz where as hutchs 3 runs at 2100MHz. The difference.....2100Mhz gives you the ability to have capacity (heaps of users) where as 850 gives you depth. (building penetration) distance. This is a good thing as The rurasl coverasge will allow everyone with good broadband access.3g is the beginning of convergance between technologies.It is also a standard that is being used around the world. At least Telstra is doing it for everyone and not just proposing it where they can make money
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Anonymous
15/08/2006 07:54 PM
cingular in the US use 3g850
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Tomas Seda
17/11/2006 04:37 PM
I dont think the technology can converge at all if it uses completly different frequency & protocol such as W-CDMA and 1xEV-DO. You will require a different handset/modem for each of the networks.
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petercox
04/05/2007 07:40 PM
What typ of mobile phone do I need to be able to use it Australia AND both Japan and USA (they have different systms) I frequently travel to both countries.
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wwongalea
25/09/2007 03:15 PM
Telstra keeps sending information on Next G phones which have no reseption where we live. Please dont contact us again until you have a phone that will work where we live B Beaumont
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John
30/01/2008 08:38 PM
Old analog phones worked everywhere...but some people were worried someone might listen in on thier phone calls, so we had digital forced on us. CDMA was supposed to fix all the black spots. Now we are having 3G forced upon us so some trendy people can make video calls and search the web at an inner city coffee shop...make up your minds, and remember people do live out in the bush and need phones too......
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13/05/2008 12:30 AM
I always on journey for my business purpose. I want to take some info about this 3g technology for my business. In this article i found my answers. Thanks for your this great and beneficial information about 3g.
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Martin
06/07/2008 04:51 PM
John: You might be better off with a 2-way that neatly fits in your flannelette shirt pocket. Technology moves on. Get over it. Clearly you like technology enough to use the internet. How about you stop whining and buy a sat phone if you're so worried about coverage, then you wouldn't have to wait for "black spots" to be filled where nobody actually lives and where taxpayers have to fund putting in a base station for idiots like you when there is no sound business case for doing so. If you don't like being remote, don't live there.
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THECAT
06/07/2008 11:41 PM
IF A PHONE IS UNLOCK TO ALL 900MHZ TO 1800MHZ WILL THIS WORK IN AUSTRALAN PERTH CBD DONT CARE ABOUT WEB ECT JUST NEED TO MAKE CALLS
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Moleman
01/10/2008 01:46 PM
I live in a 3G zone, but am in the need of mobile internet access, not interested in today's cost though, if it was to be resonalble like the US market, I'd be very happy.
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