Telstra are looking to launch the Samsung Galaxy S4 with Cat4 4G on November 12 according to a source. The device is identical, in terms of design and most of its hardware, to the Galaxy S4 except the Cat4 4G version supports a faster 4G connection thanks to a newer radio in the device as well as Telstra’s Cat4 4G network with 20MHz of contiguous spectrum — currently in very few places, Perth is one.
All of Telstra’s Cat4 4G devices are rated at 150Mbps peak downlink speed, with Cat3 maxing out at a ‘measly’ 100Mbps. You can obviously expect slower speeds in real world usage, but that’s the gist of the technology.
It’s unknown if the device will completely replace the current Galaxy S4 4G, however, it will cost more. Our source indicates that the device will cost $13/mo on the $60 Everyday Connect plan over 24 months — that’s around $2 more than the current Galaxy S4 4G pricing.
