Optus decides to label mmWave as Optus 5G Max

With the Google Pixel 6 Pro being one of the first big handsets capable of millimetre wave 5G connectivity, Australian telcos have gone a little gaga over mmWave.

Optus announced on Thursday morning that it would now be labelling its mmWave technology as Optus 5G Max.

“Optus 5G Max will work alongside our existing 5G network. So, what’s the difference?” asked Optus managing director of marketing and revenue Matt Williams.

“Well, 5G Max sits in a new league of its own. It’s where we shift from fast 5G speeds to the fastest 5G speeds.”

Williams said the telco has hit 4.5Gbps in a commercial environment, and over 5Gbps in its lab, and also referred to the network as Optu5G Max.

See also: Apartment living is the frontier for 5G home internet

“The average Australian consumer today experiences network speeds in the range of 25-100Mbps via 4G mobile or NBN. With 5G Max we could be looking at speeds 40-80 times faster,” Williams added.

Closer to the real world, Telstra 5G lead Paul Milford posted that Australia’s incumbent telco was able to hit 3.6Gbps in its Sydney CBD innovation lab using a Pixel 6 Pro.

Telstra has 65 sites using mmWave around the country and is looking to triple that number before the end of 2021.

Current sites include the Opera House, QVB, and Darling Harbour in Sydney; the MCG and Flinders Lane in Melbourne; and Fortitude Valley in Brisbane.

Following publication, Optus fired back with an even realer world speed test of its own conducted in Melbourne. In this test, the Pixel 6 Pro was able to pull almost 3.75Gbps. Running the speed test consumed 6.5GB of data, and the upload speed only managed 113Mbps.

Updated at 4:25pm AEDT, 20 October 2021: Added duelling speed test result from Optus .

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