Next month Vodafone will become the first UK wireless network operator to upgrade its network to support speeds of up to 7.2Mbps. Not only will the operator up the speed of its HSDPA network, but it will also be the first to switch on high speed uplink packet access (HSUPA), making it faster for users to send files. HSUPA, which will add a theoretical uplink speed of up to 1.44Mbps, will only be available in a few major metropolitan areas at first. The uplink speed offered by Vodafone’s current network technology 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.