The next time you’re frustrated by patchy 3G coverage on your phone, try not to think about the fact that South Koreans enjoy 300Mbps connections on their smartphones.
Whilst most of the developed world makes do with a maximum of 75Mbps on their carrier’s data plan, South Korea has left the world of 4G LTE far behind. Whilst 75Mbps is impressive indeed when you consider how suddenly Wi-Fi and cellular data have become part of our daily lives, but the connections offered by carrier SK Telecom and LG’s U+ puts the rest of it to shame. Don’t forget that South Korea also leads the world when it comes to regular broadband connection speeds, blazing a trail we can only hope to follow soon.
Hot on the trail is Hong Kong-based carrier CSL, who will also begin offering 300Mbps speeds thanks to the combination of two 20MHz LTE bands. South Korea’s service providers use a similar technology called LTE-Advanced, which combines 3 bands to achieve the impressive cellular speeds.
Even more impressively, it seems that the eye-watering 300Mbps internet speed may only be the beginning for South Korean smartphone users. Rumor has it that SK Telecom is set to debut an even faster mobile data connection speed of 450Mbps at the Mobile World Congress 2014, which is set to be held in Barcelona in February.
