Nokia launches 100Mb/s 4G modem

Author: Gareth Halfacree .

Nokia's Internet Modem RD-3 - sadly not yet pictured - promises a sustained 12Mb/s connection for mobile browsing.

If 3G mobile broadband is just too sluggish for your tastes, and the stop-gap 3.5G isn't boosting things enough, it might be worth having a word with Nokia: the company has just launched the first test versions of its 4G LTE modem.

As reported over on Electronista, the company's Internet Modem RD-3 is the first commercially available version of its Long Term Evolution devices - a modem which is backwards-compatible to 3G HSPA and 2G EDGE devices, but which offers LTE-compatible systems a peak data transfer potential of 100Mb/s.

Peak speeds are fine and well, but it's the sustainable throughput that will get most interested: where 3G technologies offer unsustainable peaks of 14Mb/s downstream, the 4G LTE network should offer a consistent 12Mb/s - which finally brings mobile broadband to a point where it can genuinely compete with fixed-line speeds.

It's not just about the speed, either: improvements to the technology mean that LTE should result in a marked reduction in lag, meaning mobile gaming and high-quality two-way video calling will become far less of a chore.

Thus far the RD-3 is not available as a general purpose device, instead being sold to select carries to test their networks for LTE suitability. However, with the product clearly ready for rollout it can't be long before we starting seeing companies around the globe making use of the technology's global roaming functionality to offer far faster Internet access to their customers.

Sadly, no handset currently on the market supports the technology - although as carries begin testing that is sure to change.

Does the thought of a lag-free rock-solid 12Mb/s mobile broadband connection fill you with joy, or do you think that mobile providers will simply wreck it with ridiculously high charges and low download limits? Share your thoughts over in the forums.

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/bits/2009/09/08/nokia-launches-100mbps-lte-modem/1