Mobile broadband heads upstream

The first generation of High Speed Packet Access mobile services increased download speeds to mobile phones. Now carriers are also launching HSPA services, also known as Turbo-3G, with faster upload speeds, making the mobile office even more of a reality.
On Thursday, AT&T Wireless unveiled two new LaptopConnected HSUPA (High-Speed Uplink Packet Access) data cards for its wireless broadband customers.

Another carrier that has upgraded its network and recently launched a service is 3 Sweden.

"We are mainly talking to professional users. It's a really good service for people that need to send large files," said Camilla Bülow, the company's product manager for mobile broadband.

It charges a flat monthly fee of 299 Swedish kronor (US$46) for the service, aptly named Pro.

AT&T Wireless and 3 Sweden are not the only operators speeding up their networks. Around 50 carriers currently support HSUPA, according to the latest figures from GSM Association, a group representing network operators.

"Moving to HSUPA is a logical progression, and it doesn't take a substantial investment to upgrade," said David Pringle, spokesman for the GSM Association.

Heavy e-mail users aren't the only ones who have a lot to gain from faster upload speeds. In a world where consumers create more of their own content and make phone calls from the PC, and where the move to delivering software as a service is gaining momentum, faster upload speeds are becoming increasingly important.

"We are doing a lot of work around virtual desktops, and faster network speeds in both directions would improve the mobile user experience," said Peter Söderholm, field systems engineering manager at Citrix Systems Nordic.

The first iteration of HSUPA supports theoretical data rates of up to 1.4M bps. In the real world that means around 1M bps -- three to four times faster than existing networks. Next year the speed will increase to up to 5.76M bps, and carriers are getting ready for that too.

"Our network is ready for that speed, but we haven't said when we are going to upgrade," said Bülow.

For the technology to become useful, users must have compatible modems and phones. Modems are becoming more common, but mobile phones are still scarce. HSUPA products launched at last week's Mobile World Congress included Sony Ericsson's Xperia X1 and Toshiba's Portégé G810.

"The phones are a bit behind," Bülow concluded.