3G in Australia | Types of 3G | Which carriers have 3G? | 3G glossary
Types of 3G
Here's a quick overview of the two main flavours of 3G (for a detailed explanation of the terms below, check out our glossary):
- UMTS (Universal Mobile Telephone Service), which uses W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) as its underlying standard
- CDMA2000 1xEV-DO (Evolution-Data Optimised), which brings 3G speeds to CDMA networks.
In Australia, the different mobile carriers use variations of the W-CDMA technology. Recently many of our 3G networks have been upgraded to include high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA). This increases the theoretical maximum download bandwidth for customers by ten fold, from 384Kbps to 3.6Mbps. HSDPA is commonly referred to as "3.5G".
The confusion sets in with Telstra's Next G network, however. It, like its competitors, uses W-CDMA technology, however Next G runs at frequency of 850MHz, instead of the more common 2100MHz. With various other differences in its technology, Telstra is able to offer customers up to 14.4Mbps downlink speeds, while the competition offers up to 3.6Mbps.
The next generation of mobile technology is looking very exciting, even if calling it 4G seems predictable and boring. Long term evolution (LTE) is the name given to experimental technology seen as the obvious successor to HSPA. The term 4G refers to new mobile broadband standards which exceed 100Mbps, however, experiments in LTE to date have yielded much faster results, some in the vicinity of 1Gbps.
Services and speeds
| Technology | Data speed | Features | |
| 1G | AMPS | n/a | Analog; voice only |
| 2G | GSM CDMA iDen |
Less than 20Kbps | Voice; SMS; conference calls; caller ID; push to talk |
| 2.5G | GPRS 1xRTT |
30Kbps to 90Kbps | As per 2G plus MMS; images; Web browsing; short audio/video clips; games, applications, and ring tone downloads |
| 3G | W-CDMA 1xEV-DO |
144Kbps to 600Kbps | As per 2.5G plus full-motion video; streaming music; 3D gaming; faster Web browsing |
| 3.5G | HSDPA/W-CDMA 1x EV-DO Rev. A/B TD-SCDMA (China) |
384Kbps to 14.4Mbps | As per 3G plus on-demand video; videoconferencing |
| 4G and beyond | LTE WiMax WiBro |
30Mbps to 1Gbps | As per 3.5G plus high-quality streaming video; high-quality videoconferencing; Voice-over-IP telephony |
Note: The table above refers to several technologies that are not available in Australia. In the US, CDMA networks are common because of the greater distances the signal can travel. TD-SCDMA is a standard created and used solely in China. The official reasoning for independent technology is to lessen China's dependence on Western technologies, but it's more likely to avoid paying leases on certain patents.
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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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