Last wednesday, I took the time to attend Globe‘s media event to demo its new HSPA+ mobile technology. I was interested as I’m part of the majority of people here in the country who is not satisfied with the speed we’re getting currently from our data subscription.
The media event was conducted by Peter Bithos, senior adviser for consumer business and Erwin Roque, head of access technologies. They shared with us that Globe subscribers can expect improved services with the rollout of its 4G mobile technology.
Global standard HSPA+ or evolved high-speed packet access will be the 1st phase of this exciting 4G mobile technology rollout.
Globe executives went on explaining what HSPA+ is, how it works and what the future phases are.
Lastly, they did a demonstration of HSPA+.
They setup different workstations connected to the internet using available mobile broadband services today namely Smart Bro, Sun wireless broadband & their very own Globe Tattoo. Globe used speedtest.net to test their speeds against each other. Not surprisingly, Globe HSPA+ won the test.
Here are the results:
Globe Tattoo – DL: 2.55 Mbps, UL: 0.34 Mbps
Smart Bro – DL: 1.12 Mbps, UL: 0.34 Mbps
Sun Broadband Wireless – DL: 0.83 Mbps, UL: 0.09 Mbps
Globe HSPA+ – DL: 7.51 mbps; UL: 1.02 mbps
So what is in store for us? Since Globe is utilizing HSPA+ for its first phase, current subscribers will already experience improved performance. It’s not a new technology but an enhancement to the current technology. You won’t need to buy a new gadget to benefit from this rollout.
As of now, the Globe 4G mobile technology has been deployed in 19 areas in Metro Manila, which covers Marikina, Quezon City, Makati, Pasay, Las Pinas, Taguig & Manila. More areas will be covered by the end of year 2011.
On May 2011, Globe will offer 4G-enabled devices to allow subscribers to enjoy 4G mobile experience fully. No details yet as of which devices they are but announcement will come soon.
On a personal note, I had been struggling what 2G, 3G and 4G are. I’ve been hearing stuff that HSPA+ and LTE aren’t really 4G. I tried to research and luckily, I have a lot of contacts who are well aware of what they are. So let me share with you the information that I’ve gotten so you can be enlightened as well 🙂
Hope this helps. I’m really excited that Globe is investing a lot (US $500 million) to be available to provide 4G mobile technology to us. I can’t wait to see this in full circle. Time to upgrade my phone and my data subscription too! Let’s see when! 😀
They better release a new way of fast internet connectivity, they have a bad reputation on their USB dongle Globe Tattoo, plus the so-called “unlimited offer” they say which is really not unlimited.
i did not believe it until my girlfriend bought a globe tattoo kit.. i tested it and i was shocked! i tried couple of times but still it 2.3 mbps up. yes “2.3MBPS up!”