New phones deliver speedier HSDPA downloads

South Korea's three big cell phone makers are speeding the path to higher speed data downloads over wireless networks.

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., LG Electronics Inc. and Pantech Co. Ltd. have all unveiled this month their first phones that are compatible with 7.2M bps (bits per second) variants of HSDPA (high speed downlink packet access) networks. HSDPA is a packet data transmission technology used on WCDMA (wideband code division multiple access) networks.

First generation HSDPA networks supported speeds of up to 1.8M bps. This was doubled in second generation systems and now third generation (3G) are rated as high as 7.2M bps. The speed is a theoretical maximum download speed and users are unlikely to hit that in real world usage, but nevertheless they will see a relative jump in download speed from generation to generation.

The phones are appearing as Korea's carriers begin switching on the latest upgrades and increasing transmission speed. The same thing is happening elsewhere in the world.

In Asia, Singapore's StarHub switched on a 7.2M bps HSDPA network on Aug. 4, and the Netvigator Everywhere service from Hong Kong's PCCW that was launched this week also uses such a network. Networks in various European countries are also offering the faster downloads.

Between them the three South Korean handsets share more than high-speed downloading: all are slider-type phones and have 2-megapixel cameras. The LG-SH150 and Pantech IM-U210 will cost about 500,000 won (US$531) and the Samsung SCH-W300 will cost around 600,000 won.

With the upgrades to 7.2M bps the HSDPA technology isn't done yet. Future upgrades are envisaged to boost speeds to 14.4M bps and work is continuing on a new generation that will push speeds even higher. There's also a companion technology called HSUPA (high-speed uplink packet access) that can boost upload speeds from phones to the network. These networks generally offer around 2M bps at present.