Vodacom South Africa says it has witnessed an upload speed of up to 254 Mbps in its advanced 5G test.
The technology is called SuperUpload, and the peak speed is achieved because it uses two different channels to send data. The phone uses only the channel with less traffic or a better signal to perform at maximum.
Uplink speeds of approximately 250 Mbps are typically associated with high-end fiber-to-the-home connections.
“On SuperUpload, customers experience the same lightning-fast performance on their mobile devices, enabling seamless cloud backups, rapid large file transfers, and high-quality video conferencing, all without being tethered to a desk,” Vodacom said in a presser.
Download speed doesn’t dominate talks much; however, it remains a solid metric of how good a network’s performance is.
Vodacom says that the uplink performance is the next evolution in 5G wireless technology.
Modern applications, from video conferencing and cloud gaming to AI, all demand powerful, consistent upload capacity. SuperUpload directly addresses this critical need with clear benefits for customers, it said.
Further, it added that the 250 Mbps upload speed is the “first demonstration of this capability on the African continent.”
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How much it matters?
For most uses, upload speed won’t matter much. What that means is that even 10 Mbps of upload speed is enough for most uses. Unlike download speed, upload speed is used for video conferencing, streaming, and uploading files. But they are not the mainstream activities for users. Therefore, a huge spike in upload speed will go unnoticed for most.
However, in terms of technology, high-speed upload is still very key for the future. Mobile data is the future, and solid symmetric internet speeds carry meaningful value for the evolution of advanced cellular technologies. The gist is, while a 3-digit upload speed won’t carry major value to most users, it is a boon for the technology and its future.