Devices lag behind as mobile networks pick up speed

Mobile network bandwidth is increasing quickly, with some operators supporting 14.4Mbps transmission using HSPA (High-Speed Packet Access). But users won’t be able to take advantage of the higher speeds for a while.

For one thing, modems are still a no-show. The current top speed for modems is 7.2Mbps.

“We are being told by our suppliers that the first modems will be available by the end of the year,” said spokesman Erik Hörnfeldt, at 3 in Sweden. The operator has already upgraded its network in a couple of larger Swedish cities, including Stockholm, to support 14.4Mbps, and if devices had been available it could start selling a service today, according to Hörnfeldt.

The lack of support for 14.4Mbps in devices is in part due to the fact that not enough operators have upgraded, according to Björn Ekelund, vice president, product management at Ericsson, which supplied base stations for 3’s network. Via its Mobile Platforms division Ericsson also sells chipsets for phones and modems, recently announcing a deal to equip laptops from Dell with support for mobile broadband.

“Before you launch a product you need to do testing in a number of different networks, to ensure they don’t act strange,” he said.

Currently only a few operators have made the leap to 14.4Mbps, making testing difficult.

Ericsson Mobile Platforms have also made the decision to prioritize upstream bandwidth, up to 2.9Mbps, over faster download speeds, at the behest of its customers, according to Ekelund. Surfing the Web with only 384Kbps upstream bandwidth, which is the most common speed in existing HSPA networks, is not a good experience.

Ekelund also questions whether carriers have enough backhaul capacity, which is the capacity that feeds base stations, to take full advantage of higher download speeds. To offer 14.4Mbps you need 100Mbps in backhaul capacity, he said.

“That is really expensive,” said Ekelund.

But the gap between network capacity and user devices appears to be temporary: sometime next year Ericsson will launch its M570 device platform, which is used in laptops and modems and supports up to 42Mbps downstream and 11Mbps upstream. By then, backhaul issues may be solved.