“HSPA+ has interference cancellation, making it great for weak signal areas,” says Phil Sheppard, director of network strategy at Three UK, so it’ll help spread broadband to areas that are traditionally weak. Dongles that use HSPA+, such as the Huawei E367, on sale now, use an external aerial, that also helps with reception.
But HSPA+ isn’t true 4G, even though some companies might refer to it as. “HSPA+ is a subset of 4G, but it’s built on the 3G network,” says Jonathan Morris, editor of What Mobile magazine. “Three UK is rolling out HSPA+ now, with devices such as the Huawei.” Vodafone also has HSPA+ in the network, so phones like the Samsung Galaxy S2 can take advantage of the extra speed, though a spokesperson would not state where in the country it is active.
Now things get even more complicated, but bear with us. There’s another strand of HSPA+ called dual carrier, which can achieve 42Mbps peak download speeds. (3G will also be going strong for years yet, narrowing the gap between it and 4G.) “We should be rolling our dual carrier next year,” says Sheppard, “but the story after that is all about LTE.”
LTE is the real deal. While HSPA+ and dual carrier might be referred to as 4G, especially in the US, LTE comes packing peak download speeds of about 150-160Mbps. Obviously this is a theoretical maximum, but according to Sheppard, the average speed will move from about 1.7Mbps at the moment to between 5 and 10Mbps. Now that’s a difference you’re sure to notice.
