David Flynn02 April 2009, 7:41 PM
Smartphone and mobile broadband customers of Three’s limited 3G-only network will soon be able to roam onto Telstra’s fast and far-reaching Next G network for 'just' 50c per MB.
Three is set to flick the switch for roaming onto Telstra’s Next G network this month, and the speed boost will be accompanied by a welcome drop in pricing for road warriors.
An internal carrier memo leaked to
Whirlpool allegedly pegs the price for data roaming at 50c per MB, down from the long-standing $1.65/MB incurred when Three subscribers roamed onto Telstra’s GSM network in a low signal or no signal area.
While Three’s 3G network is currently rated to 7.2.Mbps HSDPA, roaming onto Telstra’s GSM network chokes the connection speed to under 100Kbps – a speed at which mobile broadband is virtually unusable.
The Next G network will supplement Three’s existing 3G coverage to form what the carrier will brand as its new ‘3G Roaming Zone’. Three estimates this will almost double its broadband coverage from a current 56% of the population, which is largely confined to the capital cities, to mirror Telstra’s claimed 96% reach of Australia.
However, modems and smartphones will need to work on Next G’s 850MHz band using UMTS or HSPA technology, in addition to Three’s 2100MHz 3G allocation, in order for customers to enjoy ultra-rapid roaming.
This capability is currently limited to a small number of handsets available on Three, including the BlackBerry Bold, HTC Touch Diamond and HTC Touch Pro. A Three spokesperson told APC that some form of over the air activation or upgrade may still be required to activate the 850MHz HSDPA radio of a dual-band device.
Whirlpool reports that Three will launch a new ‘Mega 3G Mobile’ branding campaign to help customers identify devices which work across both 3G and Next G.
This is likely to include a next ‘Mega 3G Mobile’ edition of its mobile broadband modems, which are produced by Huawei – the Chinese telecoms manufacturer already has five such models on the books, in both USB and ExpressCard formats.
While Three’s current mobile broadband and smartphone plans offer a ‘national roaming allowance’ of between 1MB and 5MB before the Telstra tariff kicks in, it’s expected this limit will be increased in line with the customer’s ability to burn through such relatively small data allowances data a lot faster over Next G compared to GSM.