While Australians are being teased with the prospect of super fast fibre Internet, don't think that wireless is going to remain pitifully slow by comparison.
Huawei has announced a USB modem theoretically capable of download speeds up to (and we stress, "up to") 100Mbps, or in other words, enough to make ADSL users jealous.
The E392 modem, which will be released to carriers later this year, is capable of switching between 3G and faster LTE networks.
Huawei isn't holding back on grandiose claims about the E392's capabilities: "The download speed of E392 is up to 100Mbps, making it possible to download a 4GB, HD movie file in just a few minutes."
The Huawei E392: world's first LTE TDD/FDD/UMTS/GSM/CDMA multi-mode card
The press release states this is "20 times faster than the data transmission speed of existing 3G networks", and will mean the ability for "high definition video downloading".
To put this into context, the fastest wireless hotspot you can get (Telstra's Ultimate Mobile Wi-Fi) will give you up to (again, we stress "up to") 20Mbps in Ultimate coverage areas.
Vodafone plans to launch LTE services later this year, and Telstra is also reportedly planning services this year. Optus and vivdwireless have also tested LTE technology. LTE will "coexist" with 3G for a "significant period", according to Huawei's statement.
Needless to say, it will be interesting to see what sort of shakeup occurs in wireless broadband data prices.
Also read: Wireless Broadband Shootout: which Australian network should you use?
