Vodafone speeds up to super-3G

Next month Vodafone will become the first UK operator to upgrade its network to support the latest speed of super-3G.

Not only will the operator upgrade its high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) network to a speed of 7.2Mbps -- all operators currently offer only a maximum speed of 3.6Mbps -- but it will also be the first UK operator to turn on high-speed uplink packet access (HSUPA), the flip-side to HSDPA, that makes it faster to send files as well as receive them.

Vodafone has released a new USB modem, known within the company as the 'Pebble', to take advantage of the new technology. HSUPA functionality -- adding a theoretical uplink speed of 1.44Mbps to the 7.2Mbps downlink -- will only be available in a few major metropolitan areas at first. The uplink speed offered by current HSDPA connections runs at a maximum of 384kbps.

Orange and T-Mobile have not yet said when they will be upgrading to 7.2Mbps HSDPA and adding HSUPA functionality, although O2 promises to have both in place from the end of next year.