Telstra’s new portable wireless hotspot is stupidly fast

Telstra's new portable wireless hotspot will be able to achieve download speeds of up to 600Mbps via Category 11 carrier aggregation. Manufactured by Netgear, the Telstra Wi-Fi 4GX Advanced III hotspot will go on sale on September 29 for an outright price of AUD$264.

At present, Telstra's Cat 11 footprint covers the Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Canberra central business districts, and "selected popular holiday locations". Outside of these areas, the will hotspot will switch between the 4GX, 4G and 3G network, depending on availability.

A video of a real-world speed test showed the Wi-Fi 4GX Advanced III achieving download speeds of over 540Mbps while in a Cat 11 enabled area. Network saturation will however affect the speeds a user can attain.

The Wi-Fi 4GX Advanced III can support up to 15 wireless devices simultaneously, and promises up to 11 hours of continuous use per charge, or 260 hours of standby time.

Telstra will also sell the Wi-Fi 4GX Advanced III on its Go Mobile Broadband plans, although has yet to confirm pricing.