While the media may have created the perception that HSPA+ is in competition with LTE, a panel put on by 4G Americas arrived at a more amicable conclusion about the relationship between the two technologies.
Presentations on the strengths of HSPA+ from Michael Thelander, founder and CEO of Signals Research, and Chris Pearson, president of 4G Americas, at 4G World in Chicago yesterday painted a picture of a network technology that is more than just a transitional technology but rather one that will complement LTE with more robust underlying 3G networks.
Thelander outlined a number of different reasons that operators are attracted to HSPA+, not the least of which was the idea that they could advertise higher data rates.
Given drive test data that Signals Research did in Melbourne, Australia, with HSPA+, one could see where the higher speeds might be attractive to an operator for marketing purposes. On a 400 KM drive through Melbourne, Thelander said his team was able to download 40GB of data.
At what speeds, you ask? A not too shabby peak downlink of 17.6 Mbps and an average of 15.4 Mbps. T-Mobile USA is already talking about theoretical speeds of 42 Mbps by next year.
T-Mobile pegs peak rates at 168 Mbps at the far end of HSPA+'s evolution and will have 100 major markets deployed by the end of the year.
One theme that seems to pervade 4G World this year is that the network of the future will be a combination of technologies, from Wi-Fi to 3G and 4G. In a keynote yesterday, Motorola Networks General Manager Bruce Brda made just that point, saying that he sees LTE being deployed in a way that would see users getting their best coverage at the home and in major metropolitan areas, supplementing their coverage with Wi-Fi and 3G when they're away from those areas.
"LTE is an impressive technology, but it's not a panacea," Thelander said, noting that while the technology will do a lot of good, there's still a lot of traffic on the 3G networks that isn't slowing up anytime soon.
Thelander said that a lack of capable devices could be one major stumbling block for those putting all their eggs in the LTE basket and forgoing HSPA+ upgrades. With customers locked into two-year contracts that keep them tied to non-LTE capable devices, he says it's going to be a while before the networks are actually used en masse. In the meantime, customers relying solely on 3G could see a deterioration in service.
When asked whether HSPA+ might be hurt by consumer perception that it's not true 4G, both Thelander and Pearson seemed in agreement that the kinds of speeds that HSPA+ delivers will speak for themselves.
"If you provide a great end-user experience and people see that, word of mouth will spread and the end user will be happy. They don't really care what it's called," Pearson said.
There's no doubt LTE is on its way, but HSPA+ appears to have its place as a cost-efficient, easily upgradable technology that will benefit not only the end-user but will also help carriers manage their networks.