With the launch of the iPhone in Australia today, all the carriers will be getting their marketing people onto pushing their unique payment plans and features that their competitors cannot offer.
Telstra released what it said was the fastest mobile broadband modem in the world that is capable of downloads of up to 21Mbps, which is impressive. No doubt as part of their marketing strategy they will be touting this network’s capability, but at the end of the day, it is irrelevant because the iPhone is only capable of 7.2Mbps download anyway. But this brings up an even wider question. Even though the mobile is capable of speeds up to 7.2Mbps, does it necessarily mean it will go that fast? The short answer is no. What affects the speed is how many people are using the tower at the same time. And this is something you won’t hear the carriers talking about. When buying the new phone it is worth testing the various speeds of the carriers. Most shops should have a testing SIM card from each carrier. Of course, this is only important to those who use the internet via their mobile to use downloads. But is it something worth thinking about, and you can be sure that the carriers are not going to make consumers aware of the real reasons behind lack of network speed, or in the case of Telstra, an over capacity.