NTT DoCoMo tests speedy Super 3G

It's a bird, it's a plane, no, its just Japan's NTT DoCoMo blowing the rest of the world away with yet more steroid-loaded 3G action, or Super 3G in this case. Blending advanced HSDPA and HSUPA technologies, Super 3G is touted as having downlink speeds as quick as 300Mbps -- a fair bit quicker than earlier reports -- to your handset. The indoor tests will begin with only one transmitting and receiving antenna, but switch up to the four Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) antenna system that would be used if deployed. Test are expected to wrap up in 2009, so in the interim we'll all just sit back and cry a little knowing we'll never see this type of tech on these shores.

[Via Unwired View]

[Matt @ Jul 13th 2007 2:45PM]

Yes...I am crying right now. I really wish our cell phone market was more consumer driven, like in Japan, than driven by profit greed, like it is here. American companies are so reluctant to try anything new, anything that may cost them money while japan keeps advancing even more. It doesnt help that our politicians are a joke either.

Sounds like its time to move to Japan

[Miguel @ Jul 13th 2007 3:11PM]

Don't kid yourself. Every company and industry is profit-driven. The only reason NTT DoCoMo is testing this is because they stand to make bank off the tech, provided its acceptance by the market.

Why is America "behind" on over-the-air tech? Because we kick ass on copper infrastructure over which to send voice and data (hence the resiliency of land lines here in the US--it's just not cost-effective to set up a tower to cover 2 people on the family farm in Nebraska when you could cover hundreds in the densely packed city, whereas East Asia has very dense population pockets). When Americans other than Engadget readers bitch about the lack of reliable over-the-air broadband, you'll see the market shift...not to meet consumer demand, but to make loads of cash. That's all they care about, and it's all DoComo cares about, too.

[timatl @ Jul 13th 2007 3:12PM]

i want this kind of speed at my house. a phone can not even process 300Mbps of data. 800-1000kbps should be more than enough for a cell phone.

[silverblackvoid @ Jul 13th 2007 3:13PM]

NTT sure knows their stuff .mindblowing. but i've a got one question---wont this kind of bandwidth require the handset to have a higher capacity cell? just curious thats all.

P.S. i hope we can see this kind of speed in the next year(wishful thinking)

[Matt @ Jul 13th 2007 3:22PM]

I know that all companies are profit driven, it just seems like our countries cell companies are more driven by their greed. I just wish that we werent so far behind other countries with Cell technology. Heck, even Europe is far ahead of us.

I guess in the end though, I am a geek and rather jelous of all the tech that gets released in Japan but never sees the light of day here in the good ol' USA.

[jg @ Jul 13th 2007 3:49PM]

FYI, the united states is one in few who are actually getting WiMAX (70mbs theoretical)in 08 via sprint. I would consider that faster than most WAP networks in the world.

[Seth @ Jul 13th 2007 4:11PM]

And don't forget the hundreds of millions of square miles our wireless companies have to cover. Even limiting their highest data rates to city regions is a much costlier process than for the Japanese telcos. Their entire country is smaller than California!

Also, I think the Japanese consumer is more willing to pay a premium for higher speeds than the average American. Personally, although I am a gadget-o-phile, I still can't bring myself to plunk down $20+ extra a month for data. Especially since most of the places I find myself wanting to get on the net has a WiFi network (or three) available.

[Jim Pollock @ Jul 13th 2007 5:14PM]

Oh, Man! I feel like my iPhone must be sitting next to kryptonite with my less-than-mighty 100 kbps speeds I get on ATT EDGE... when I'm lucky.

Jim

[Constable Odo @ Jul 13th 2007 6:24PM]

Man, it looks like Japan got repeaters on every darn telephone pole in Tokyo. They've got such a high density of cellphone users in their cities so they can easily afford to build a high-speed wireless infrastructure. It's a wonder the residents don't glow at night with all that frequency radiating from everywhere.

Isn't WiMax supposed to get us up to speed in mobile communications? That's if everyone can decide on standards or whatever the case may be.
I keep thinking if we weren't spending billions of dollars on continuing a war in the Middle East, we might have used some of it to improve our communications at home. No such luck. The money is gone and the Middle East situation remains the same as it was years ago. What a waste.

[Yojimbo @ Jul 13th 2007 6:56PM]

Japan is a very different market... there are more cellphones than people in Japan and so COMPETITION is far far fiercer than here. Also, there are no cancellation fees so people are always switching networks there. ALSO, they are a country the size of California so updating their network is far easier there than in the US. Essentially, they have to compete to stay number one and they are doing a great job. The US doesn't know what they are missing.

[James @ Jul 13th 2007 8:57PM]

No, once you are locked into a contract, you have to finish it off like any other consumer in the world or pay cancellation fees. Once the contract is up you can switch free of charge though.

[Paris K @ Jul 13th 2007 9:06PM]

LOL at how someone named James corrects someone named Yojimbo on japanese life facts.

[Yojimbo @ Jul 13th 2007 9:37PM]

James, do you use SoftBank? They are the only ones who do it to my knowledge and that is a recent thing after they took over Vodafone. AU and DoCoMo are a month-by-month deal. Which carrier do you use? I am interested since I just checked AU's pricing sheet and my own contract.

[Jamar @ Jul 13th 2007 10:52PM]

Didn't Vodafone have a "Happy Bonus" contract with fixed 10000yen cancellation fee, or was that really a Softbank thing?

[InakaRJR @ Jul 16th 2008 10:08AM]

I guess this is a year old thread, but docomo also has cancellation fees. If you sign up for the normal service you can a get a small monthly "discount" but it will cost about $30 to cancel before the year ends. So instead of just charging less to begin with, they raise to price so they can tack on a cancellation fee if you sign up for a discount. Then they also have another discount which is about 50% off the basic price, but you pay about $100 if you cancel before two years is up. Keep in mind that Docomo has the highest prices, and even after the 50% discount the price is not lower than the other companies.