Project Auckland: Mobile data is priority

If you want fast mobile data now, move to Silverdale. Spark recently installed one of the world’s first 4.5G sites in the suburb.

The tower there can handle about five times as many wireless connections as today’s 4G cellular sites. Data speeds are three, four or even five times faster than you’d see elsewhere.

It’s a taste of the future. With the right equipment, people can download at gigabit speeds, although 4.5G devices are not available yet. In a few years, however, gigabit mobile data will be the new normal.

Spark New Zealand chief operating officer Mark Beder says the company chose Silverdale for its second 4.5G site because it’s a fast-growing area. It is typical of how Auckland’s outer areas will expand in coming years as the city continues to expand.

Read the full story by Bill Bennett in the New Zealand Herald.