Australia’s biggest telco has dropped an interesting nugget at CES 2020. Apparently, they’ve found a way to make gaming on “portable gaming devices like the Nintendo Switch” a lot better when using Telstra’s mobile network.
The release came from Telstra on Friday morning, and follows noise the telco made at the end of last year about making infrastructural improvements to their network that would improve gaming over 4G/5G.
And that work is part of what Telstra’s calling “low-latency concepts”. It supposedly lets devices like the Switch run over the mobile network without affecting games:
We have also been trialling low-latency concepts across the mobile network with gamers that enable a huge opportunity for portable gaming devices like Nintendo Switch to be connected over the mobile network without impacting online gaming performance. The results so far are really promising, and we’re continuing to develop the concept for next year. This is critical when we think about coverage and consistency of experience across the mobile network, particularly as we head into cloud gaming where the demand from a bandwidth and latency perspective is key.
The technology won’t be properly rolled out until next year, although it’s likely (as was the case with their 5G tests) Telstra will show it off to press before then. The key thing here is the mobile network, so if you’re playing the Switch on the go and you’re tethered to your phone. You won’t get any extra bonus if you’re just playing the Switch through your home Wi-Fi that’s running off a regular ADSL/cable/NBN connection through Telstra; it’s purely the mobile network only.
Telstra added that they’re continuing to work on a “gaming optimised broadband product” that might convince people they don’t need better gaming routers or, curiously, VPNs for gaming.
The work we teased late last year on creating a gaming optimised broadband product also isn’t too far away. We think it offers a real point of difference from customers that are purchasing additional gaming routers or gaming VPNs today in a way that’s simple and integrated into our Smart Modem.
Of course, none of this has an actual release date. The only thing in Telstra’s news this morning that does is the Xbox Elite Wireless controller, which is being added to Telstra’s Plus Rewards Store as something you can buy … and pay off over two or three years. Jedi: Fallen Order has also been added to Telstra’s Xbox All Access subscription model, too.
[referenced url=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/2019/10/telstras-xbox-all-access-vs-just-buying-an-xbox-one/” thumb=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2017/09/xbox-one-s-showcase-410×231.jpg” title=”Telstra’s Xbox All Access vs Just Buying An Xbox One” excerpt=”So consoles as a service are a thing in Australia. And if you don’t want to pay any upfront cost then maybe a once a month payment is actually a good deal. But it’s not the cheapest way to grab a console in the long term, especially when we don’t know what the cost of Project Scarlett is like. So instead of paying several hundred dollars or more over the long term, here’s all the other options available.”]
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