Telstra opens up 3Gbps 5G Wi-Fi hotspots to public for Commonwealth games

Telstra has switched on the world's first 5G-powered public Wi-Fi hotspots on the Gold Coast, ahead of this year's Commonwealth games. These hotspots are located on Scarborough and Nerang Streets in Southport, and will allow anyone to download up to 10GB of data per device, per day.

"We have said we intend to lead on 5G and with these 5G-enabled Wi-Fi hotspots Australian consumers will be among the first people in the world to try the technology," said Telstra Group Managing Director Networks, Mike Wright. "Taking 5G technology out of a lab and into the hands of consumers is another key milestone on Telstra’s roadmap to offering 5G services in 2019."

While there are no 5G compatible smartphones or tablets available on the market, Telstra has connected its 5G infrastructure to its Exchange in Southport to give everyone a taste. Of course, given the 3Gbps speeds Telstra says its 5G trial is capable of, that 10GB could disappear very quickly.

A speed test from this morning showed real world speeds of over 2,700Mbps. The speeds individual users connecting to Telstra's 5G-powered Wi-Fi will however depend on the Wi-Fi chip in the device being used, distance from the hotspot, and the number of people accessing it simultaneously.

Telstra will begin to sell 5G services in 2019.

Alex Choros

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Alex Choros is the Managing Editor of WhistleOut Australia and an award-winning journalist. He's been writing about consumer technology for over a decade and is an expert on the Australian telco sector, to the point where he knows far too many phone and internet plans by heart. In addition to leading the WhistleOut editorial team, Alex is responsible for ruining the office Sonos with his troubled taste in music.

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