Globe, together with Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel), conducted a live internet surfing demonstration using the yet-to-be-released Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology, the much awaited successor to the current 3G mobile internet protocol.
LTE is a high-performance air interface for cellular mobile technology. It is the next frontier in radio technologies designed to increase the capacity and speed of mobile telephone networks. It addresses the demand for higher data rates and increased quality of service that enables users to experience the fastest mobile broadband service up to 100Mbps. Even if we all know that “up to” speeds are hardly attainable in real life browsing, it’s still a significant improvement over our current 3g/HSDPA connections.
During the demo, the LTE speed test was conducted (via www.speedtest.net) which showed a whopping speed of 43Mbps. Based on my experience with current 3G networks using Globe UnliSurf, I get mobile browsing speeds of 2Mbps tops on lucky days; LTE would be as much as 20x faster than that. It’s mind-blowing. To put things into context, this kind of internet speed will let you download MP3 files within seconds and video downloads within minutes.
Riding on the momentum of rising broadband users, LTE would prove to be a big step forward for Globe and its subscribers. As an internet buff myself, I surely can’t wait for this particular technology to progress.