Never mind 4G when we’ve got Ultrafast 3G says 3UK

Rating: It’s all about more than just numbers

It’s something of a huge irony that a network whose name and brand are based around a numeral – 3UK, is adamant that consumers aren’t really that bothered by numbers. And the four as in 4G number in particular. That’s because it’s plotting to roll out what it describes as ‘Ultrafast data’ in a very short time-span. GoMobile News suspects the speedy roll-out of Ultrafast is thanks to the fact that the upgrade to its ‘switches’ for Ultrafast is just a software one. We think it has Ericsson 3G network infrastructure.Anyway, who really needs 4G/LTE when Ultrafast can offer speeds of over 20 Mbit/s?

For the technically minded, Ultrafast is DC-HSPDA. Which means Dual-Carrier HSPDA.

Funny we thought that the ‘D’ had been dropped and it was called DC-HSPA these days.

The good news is that Ultrafst is already up and running in 50 major towns/cities on the 3UK network which translates to about 39 per cent of the population having access to it now.

That figure will rise to over 50 per cent by Q1 2013 and 80 per cent by Q2 2013.

Pretty impressive in terms of roll-out speed, huh?

Now back to the UK’s 4G complete mess. 3UK CEO, Dave Dyson, revealed he isn’t really allowed to talk about the up-and-coming 4G spectrum auction under the [Ofcom] rules.

Significantly, though, that does confirm that 3UK is interested in bidding for the new 4G spectrum which will be at 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz .

Ironically, it doesn’t have to worry too much about whether its bids are successful or not.

That’s because it is already allowed to use the 1800 MHz spectrum it has acquired from EE for 4G/LTE.

Dyson claimed that 3UK is in no hurry to get its hands on this spectrum which under EU rules, EE won’t have to hand over until September 2013.

GoMobile News suspects this is for two reasons. Firstly, 3UK should be able to ‘throw the switch’ in September 2013 and have a large percentage of the country covered.

So it is quietly installing LTE infrastructure equipment from Samsung to enable it to offer LTE over 1800 MHz.

None of this – initially only 10 cities – for 3UK. Which is what EE launched with.

Secondly, 3UK doesn’t know how to tariff for 4G yet. After all, if you can get 20 Mbit/s on its Ultrafast network now, how can you charge extra for 20 Mbit/s under LTE?

The only thing which mega-techies need to know is that to enjoy Ultrafast you need a DC-HSPA compatible handset.

So we are talking the iPhone 5, the Sony Xperia T, and HTC’s Windows Phone 8X – if you are a 3UK smartphone customer.

Most new smartphones come with DC-HSPA support these days anyway. The same can’t be said of LTE @ 1800 MHz support.

For the Apple fanboys amongst our readers, it should be possible to walk past 3UK’s offices in Maidenhead and ‘see’ the company’s LTE network. You won’t be able to access it, of course.