Even though mmWave isn’t common, the even faster style of 5G looks set to hit seriously strong speeds, with a new device out shortly.
With 5G rolling out support to much of the country over the past few years, faster mobile speeds are becoming a reality for more Aussies, and they could well get faster again.
Support for the standard 5G technology sub-6 is available across parts of Australia, but the faster technology, mmWave, is rolling out, and it is capable of some impressive speeds.
At Mobile World Congress this week, Telstra has noted that together with Qualcomm and Ericsson, it has managed to break a new record in Australia, hitting a staggering speed of 5.9Gbps, or to put it more simply 700MBs per second, roughly a gigabyte in a second and a half.
That speed is staggering, and while it’s unlikely you’ll be able to hit those speeds at home, especially given there’s only one mmWave phone in Australia at present — the Google Pixel 6 Pro — there will be more devices to let you jump on shortly.
In April, Telstra will release the Netgear Nighthawk M6 Pro, a 5G mobile hotspot capable of jumping onto the Telstra mmWave network, also supporting an impressive 32 devices at once, working over both WiFi and Ethernet, because there’s an Ethernet port found on the unit, as well.
“This time last year we pushed our network to a new top speed of 5Gbps, now, twelve months on we have added almost another Gigabit per second on top of that,” said Iskra Nikolova, Network and Infrastructure Executive at Telstra.
“Speed tests and records are fun, but what this network technology can offer our customers when coupled with commercial devices such as the Netgear Nighthawk M6 Pro is where things really get interesting,” said Nikolova.
Like all new technologies, however, you shouldn’t expect the upcoming mmWave hotspot to be inexpensive. As such, Telstra has noted the Nighthawk M6 Pro will launch in April for a recommended retail price of $749, while the standard M6 will cost $200 less at $549.
