The 3G mobile phone platform is the most advanced form of mobile communication as it allows users to stream video, receive TV signal, send large files and even have voice calls, all that using just a mobile phone. But, what if all that suddenly got a lot better, let's say 7 times better...what would you think about 3G?

According to Ericsson, as of Q2 2006, we will get to know exactly what 3.5G can offer in terms of bandwidth and users and media will be offered a more impressive range of services which will leave 3G in the dust.

The 3.5G solution promises a data download speed of up to 14Mbps (megabits per second) and an upload speed of up to 1.8Mbps. Compared to that, the mere 384Kbps (kilobits per second) download, and uploads up to 64Kbps that a 3G network now offers are somewhat of a bad joke. Just to point out exactly the bandwidth difference between the two, let's take a 1MB MP3 file and send it over a 3G network. It would reach its destination in 22.4 seconds. The same file, sent over 3.5G would be received in 4.1 seconds. This will mean improvements in mobile voice telephony, video telephony, mobile TV, mobile broadband to laptops, and fixed-broadband services.

3.5G relies on the new High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) protocol which is basically its secret weapon for its blazingly fast transfer speeds over those of 3G.