HSPA
The Best Thing to Happen on Mobile Phones
HSPA or High Speed Packet Access is the umbrella term that covers two protocols for mobile telecommunications. These are the HSDPA or High Speed Downlink Packet Access and the HSUPA or High Speed Uplink Packet Access. Both extend the performance of current WCDMA protocols used on 3G mobile networks for internet access.
Any Advantage?
Most mobile handsets already sport HSPA features that once belong in high end handsets. When you see their handset’s technical data sheet indicating a 3G HSDPA and HSUPA capability, this just means they sport the downlink and uplink protocols for HSPA and these bandwidths are made available over their 3G network. HSPA benefits can’t happen on 2G networks.
HSPA basically allows a more satisfying internet surfing and downloading experience with its markedly improved data transfer rates peaking at 14 Mbps for downloading and 5.8 Mbps when uploading. That means more than 5 times downloading speed and twice uploading speed over current 2G networks capacities. A no-wait internet access makes the surfing and downloading online experience a breeze.
For network operators, an HSPA roll-out maximizes their utilization of their transmission channels by enhancing modulation schemes to handle more data packets and refining the protocols with which base stations and subscriber handsets communicate. Effectively, the cost per uploaded and download data bit also goes down significantly. Adopting their 3G networks to HSPA capacities is a natural upgrade path that virtually all mobile phone carriers are doing, if they haven’t at this time. In turn, this allows them to offer faster internet speeds at lower cost per bit to their subscribers.
Worldwide Deployment
HSPA is deployed in more than 80 countries around the world in commercial mobile phone networks as a software upgrade for HSDPA and HSUPA to their current 3G WCDMA mobile networks. This gives HSPA an edge over WiMax which still requires its own dedicated networking infrastructure and thus, greater business capitalization.
