T-Mobile announced another 5G milestone on Tuesday. They are now combining three channels of mid-band spectrum on their 5G network. In tests the company achieved network speeds of 3Gbps. While they weren’t specific, T-Mobile said this technology will become available to customers “later this year.”
When we look at what’s possible with 3Gbps (or 3,000Mbps), it’s comparable to the speeds of mmWave. This is the high-band 5G, which has a limited range, but allows you to download a movie in seconds. Mid-band 5G speeds normally max out around 200Mbps. However, T-Mobile is making some adjustments within the network to boost those speeds significantly.
Technically speaking, T-Mobile is using carrier aggregation to combine different sections of spectrum. Carrier aggregation, as you may be used to it, is how LTE Advanced and 5G modems combine frequency bands to achieve more bandwidth speed. So, it has nothing to do with combining multiple “carriers” as T-Mobile is using only their owned spectrum.
This also is not something new for the company, or the 5G world. T-Mobile is already using this technology to combine two 2.5GHz 5G channels on some parts of its network. This most recent test increased speeds by adding a third channel.
Verizon had also used the technology to demonstrate speeds of 4.2Gbps on its 5G network back in 2020. The difference, from T-Mobile’s point of view, is that they are the first to use three-carrier aggregation on a live, standalone 5G network with a commercially available device: the Samsung Galaxy S22. That being said, those with a Galaxy S22 on T-Mobile’s network will be “among the first” to have access to this faster type of 5G.