High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) as defined in Webopedia.com is a set of mobile telephony protocols that includes two popular standards; HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) and HSUPA (High Speed Uplink Packet Access).HSPA was deployed in 2005 and has been evolving ever since. HSPA services are mostly found in mobile devices such as mobile phones or laptops with HSPA modems. Compared to Wideband Code Division Multiple Acces (WCDMA), which was what most mobile devices use to access the Internet or transfer data, HSPA was a big step up to Internet access through mobile devices. WCDMA supports up to 384 Kbps downlink speed and uplink speed. While HSPA supports up to 14.4 Mbps downlink speed and 5.7 Mbps uplink speed.
HSPA+ also know as "Evolution of HSPA" or "I-HSPA" is the successor of HSPA. It supports up to 42 Mbps downlink speed and 11 Mbps uplink speed. Not many Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) carriers provide HSPA+ service. As mentioned in the previous post, T-Mobile in North America does provide this speedy data connection. The video below gives a clearer explanation of what HSPA is with visuals.
References
Internet References
- PC Magazine, HSPA Definition from PC Magazine Encyclopedia [Online], Retrieved 20th October 2010, URL: http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=HSPA&i=58942,00.asp
- Webopedia, What is High Speed Packet Access? [Online], Retrieved 20th Ocotober 2010,URL: http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/H/High_Speed_Packet_Access.html
- The Free Dictionary, HSPA definition of HSPA in the Free Online Encyclopedia [Online], Retrieved 20th October 2010, URL: http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/HSPA
