Telstra bumps Next G uplink to 5.8 Mbps

Telstra has increased peak network uplink speeds on its Next G network to 5.8 Mbps, meaning customers will achieve at least 300 kbps up to 3 Mbps in real-use terms.

Customers in metropolitan and "selected" regional areas will achieve uplink speeds anywhere within that range.

Other areas will still receive a minimum 300 kbps but the upper limit will be 1 Mbps.

Telstra said existing users of Turbo 21 modems manufactured by Sierra Wireless can download a software upgrade for their devices from the Sierra website to take advantage of the speed increase.

The same software upgrade will be pushed out automatically to users "over the air" this weekend.

In addition, business customers using the Telstra Turbo 21 mobile broadband USBs can upgrade their device.

"Upgrades to selected other Telstra and BigPond devices will be available in coming weeks," said executive director of Telstra product management, Ross Fielding.

Telstra's Next G network allows typical download speeds between 550 Kbps and 8 Mbps with a peak rating of 21 Mbps.