Vodafone AU Testing HSPA+ Network in Adelaide

When I checked my phone this morning, I could tell something was wrong straight away. Facebook loaded in a flash and web pages were appearing almost instantly. Vodafone has got quite a bit of backlash the past couple of years with regards to their network, although I have never had major issues with it. But today there was a noticeable difference in speed. Had my phone developed super powers overnight or was it that my data connection had somehow improved? I checked my data connection and my suspicions were confirmed: I was connected via HSPA+ rather than the usual HSDPA or 3G.

H+ Data indicator (circled in red) while surfing your favourite blog.

After a quick Google search, I couldn't find any new information on the HSPA+ network rollout, other than that Vodafone Australia has plans for it. I checked their blog and in particular their latest Weekly Network Update which details any site upgrades for their new network from the past week and couldn't find any upgrades in my area.

After tweeting a quick question to the @Vodafone_AU twitter account, I got a reply sometime later:

Question and response from the Vodafone Australia team

Top marks to Voda for replying! Looks like Vodafone are testing the HSPA+ network in Adelaide at the moment. I had a fairly steady connection throughout the day so I'm guessing the testing process could take some time. I hope they keep testing it for a while- I'm loving the lightning quick data access! If not, I can only hope they rollout the HSPA+ network as soon as possible.

HSPA+ or High Speed Packet Access Plus is also known as 3.5G and is the 'stepping stone' between a trusty old 3G network and an upcoming, face-meltingly fast 4G network. It is enough of a speed increase that it is actually labelled as 4G in the United States. Vodafone have some long term plans to upgrade to 'real' 4G but this will definitely tide me over in the meantime!