Ericsson hits 100Mbps for mobile broadband IRL
Imagine opening up your mobile browser and having the page load almost instantaneously. Or typing in a new link or clicking on a new page and having it load faster than you can say “What’s IRL?” By now, most of you are familiar with the testing that has been going on in Europe with LTE and the speeds they were able to reach even when driving at high speeds between base station to base station. In their latest test, Ericsson engineers hit 100Mbps in the real world under the best conditions possible. At worst, they were hitting 40Mbps at about 4 km away from the base. With EV-DO, Sprint and Verizon average speeds of anywhere between 800Kbps to 1.4Mbps, while AT&T has been hitting anywhere between 700Kbps to 1.7Mbps (for downstream, the high end for any of these carriers are seriously under the most optimal conditions). Word has been that carriers are planning on rolling out LTE as soon as 2010, but don’t hold your breath as carriers were saying they’d be ready for 3G in ‘04 and ‘05. Even now the 3G footprint in the U.S. isn’t that great but we do have something tasty to look forward to.
So, way to explain what IRL is. I contextually assume it isn’t the Indy Racing League.
Is IRL part of the LTE (non)standard? Or something else on the distant horizon?
If this is going to be on US handsets in the next 5+ yrs, awesome. US carriers need to “skip” 3G at this point and get a jump on 4G/LTE so we can be a *leader* in wireless technology instead of the fat kid with cramps about to pass out, trying to catch up with everyone else. Look forward to this developing.
US carriers can’t start on LTE until Feb of 09 and we switch to digital TV signals. But the work US carriers are doing overseas will definitely help here in the states. Who knows how long it’ll actually be before we really see LTE though.
The US companies are smart. They probably just didn’t see the point investing too heavily in 3G too soon when they new LTE was right around the corner.
@ Stop-N-Go
It may be that they can’t *turn on* LTE until the DTV switch in 2/09, but they can work on it now.
I wasn’t aware that LTE was going to utilize yet another frequency for services. I certianly hope that it is the same worldwide, or at least in the US. (T-Mo v AT&T v ? is pretty ridiculous)
@ Yonith
LTE wasn’t “right around the corner” when Europe had (some) 3G roughly a decade ago.
All I am saying is, I hope we are leaders in the global roll-out of this technology ie – not just getting noticable coverage/scrambling, before the next big thing comes out a decade from now.
@JaggedXJ IRL is online gamer/ forum talk for “in real life”
Posted from BGR Mobile on iPhone from: Pasadena CA, 91101
Well VZW is rolling out LTE in 2010, its already in testing and i’m sure once the switch is turned off in Feb 09, they will roll out with the usual test market in San Diego…etc, AT&T has committed to finishing the roll out of there 3G for another 5 YEARS!!! So they will be considered very far behind.
@ Jagged, I meant that most of the spectrum AT&T and Verizon paid over $15 Billion for won’t become available until Feb. 09 when TV broadcasts go digital.
I’m moving to Europe
Why do you feel the need to be the leaders? You have everything else best really.
@ Fegan
I really hope you’re not talking about wireless when you say we “have everything else best”…
We get crappy, secondhand, watered down versions of phones that countries in Europe, Asia, etc get to see months before they hit our borders, IF they come at all (see: HTC Touch HD).
When we DO get something that doesn’t totally suck, it’s still either locked down or filled with so much third-party bloatware (or both) from the carriers that it still ends up GARGLING BALLS by comparison.
I could go on for days, but suffice it to say that we do NOT have the best when it comes to wireless tech.