Though it’s generally known for being stingy with the amount of mobile data it doles out, Telstra has announced a range of new and affordable mobile data plans for use across all of your devices.

First up is the smaller S plan ($15), which gives customers 1GB of data per month, followed by the M plan ($35), which offers 5GB of monthly data, and finally, the L plan ($55), which provides users with a whopping 10GB of data to freely waste on cat videos and other stuff, I guess.

Each of the plans is available for casual month-to-month usage, though you can opt to bring your own device for the 12-month contract, or lock yourself in for two years and receive a free 4G hotspot (except on the telco’s L plan, which brings a $1 monthly repayment fee for its included Telstra Wi-Fi 4G Advanced Pro hotspot).

An extra 10GB of Telstra Air data is also included with every plan, allowing customers to take advantage of over 300,000 hotspots across Australia. As an added bonus, early adopters will get unlimited Telstra Air data usage until September 30, 2016.

For more information on each of the telco’s new mobile data plans, head over to the Telstra website.

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Things are about to get a whole lot faster, with Telstra claiming it has hit the very limit of what can be considered 4G.

Giving us a tantalising glimpse of what happens when LTE is pushed, Telstra and Ericsson have collaborated to successfully test the 1Gbps capability of Telstra's commercial mobile network.

In a world first, the speed was achieved by aggregating 100MHz of Telstra's spectrum holdings across five separate 4G channels.

LTE limits

While 1Gbps is still classed as 4G, the global consensus considers it the absolute pinnacle of what 4G can be. Now that Telstra has reached this limit, anything beyond will be 5G.

To provide a sense of just how quick 1Gbps really is, Telstra currently offers customers speeds that max out at 450Mbps for mobile devices, and 600Mbps for mobile hotspots.

Mark Wright, Telstra's Group Managing Director of Networks, claims the company still has work to do, but promises "the days of commercial 1Gbps services in the market are coming."

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When it's not bringing Next G hotspots to Teslas or free Wi-Fi to landmarks, Telstra is busy trying to maximise the speed of its 4G network, which is about to get something of a boost as we move toward a 5G future.

Telstra has announced that this year will see it partnering with Ericsson to commence work on its 5G network, which will launch in 2020. That may sound like an eternity from now, but the telco hopes to maximise 4G speeds in the interim in an attempt to get them as close to 5G as possible. And it won't be long before we start to see results.

By April, Telstra's LTE-Advanced network with Category 9 capability will launch in capital cities, which will see compatible devices enjoying maximum speeds of up to 450Mbps. This is achieved by combining three bands of the spectrum in what Telstra is describing as a world first.

Fast and faster

Telstra's LTE Broadcast (LTE-B) tech will also rollout in 2015, with commercial trials and a customer launch expected following the establishment of permanent LTE-B channels at key venues and major events in May.

April will also see the rollout of Voice Over LTE (VoLTE) before a full commercial launch later in 2015, enabling Telstra customers to make calls over the 4G network.

Through its collaboration with Ericsson, Telstra will be working to define 5G standards, and if that pushes 4G speeds up in the process then we imagine there will be few complaints.

• Want to know more about Telstra's speed? Discover the Telstra 4GX network.