Tag: Carrier aggregation

How T-Mobile is Speeding Up Their 5G Upload Speeds

BELLEVUE, Wash. — May 4, 2023 — Speed … UP! T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) announced today it achieved another 5G U.S. first by leveraging uplink (UL) carrier aggregation in the field on the country’s only nationwide 5G standalone (SA) network. Working with Nokia and a test smartphone powered by Snapdragon® 5G Modem-RF System from Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., the Un-carrier hit a top UL speed of 207 Mbps in the test – the fastest ever recorded using sub-6 GHz spectrum! This comes just weeks after T-Mobile made the same move in the lab, hitting similar speeds.

“T-Mobile has led the industry with 5G standalone since 2020, and we’re continuing to drive breakthroughs that advance 5G technology around the globe,” said Ulf Ewaldsson, President of Technology at T-Mobile. “We’re building the most advanced 5G network in the world, opening the door for massive innovation and laying the foundation for new capabilities that will transform the world around us.”

5G carrier aggregation allows T-Mobile to combine multiple channels (or carriers) to deliver greater speed and performance. In this test, the Un-carrier merged two 5G channels of mid-band spectrum – 2.5 GHz Ultra Capacity 5G and 1900 MHz. That’s like taking two separate highways and turning them into a superhighway where traffic can zoom faster than before. Customers with compatible devices will begin taking advantage of UL 5G carrier aggregation early next year when T-Mobile begins rolling it out.

This is just the latest in a series of important 5G SA milestones for T-Mobile. The Un-carrier was the first in the world to launch a nationwide 5G SA network in 2020 – one that remains the ONLY nationwide 5G SA network in the U.S. Since then, T-Mobile has been driving toward a true 5G-only experience for customers by spearheading advancements like carrier aggregation and VoNR.

T-Mobile is the leader in 5G, delivering the country’s largest, fastest and most awarded 5G network. The Un-carrier’s 5G network covers 326 million people across 2 million square miles – more than AT&T and Verizon combined. 275 million people nationwide are covered by T-Mobile’s super-fast Ultra Capacity 5G, and the Un-carrier plans to reach 300 million people with Ultra Capacity – nearly everyone in the country – this year.

By 5G , , , , , , ,

5G Carrier Aggregation: How T-Mobile Does it Better 

T-Mobile has been called the best carrier because of a recent cellular report. Though, they want to keep taking their network to the next level. And that’s just what they’re doing, according to President of Technology Neville Ray. He spoke in a keynote at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona yesterday and announced that T-Mobile achieved something epic. They made the world’s first four-carrier aggregation data call on its 5G SA network with a commercial device and reached speeds above 3.3 Gbps.

“We are working with industry leaders around the globe to move the 5G ecosystem forward for the benefit of wireless customers everywhere,” said Neville Ray, President of Technology at T-Mobile. “With the most advanced 5G network in the world, T-Mobile is at the forefront of wireless innovation, spearheading new capabilities so we can continue raising the performance bar and enable future transformative applications that require a seamless and robust 5G connection.”

Four-Carrier Aggregation

Carrier aggregation is a technique used in LTE and 5G networks to increase the data transmission rates and capacity by aggregating multiple frequency bands or carriers into a single logical channel. By combining multiple carriers, the available spectrum can be used more efficiently, enabling higher data speeds and more reliable connectivity.

In their test, the Un-carrier merged four 5G channels of mid-band spectrum – two channels of 2.5 GHz Ultra Capacity 5G and two channels of 1900 MHz spectrum – creating an effective 225 MHz 5G channel. That’s like taking four separate highways and turning them into a massive superhighway where traffic can zoom faster than before. Customers with the Samsung Galaxy S23 will be among the first to experience four-carrier aggregation later this year. More devices will follow.  

VoNR (Voice over New Radio)

With VoNR, T-Mobile is moving voice traffic to 5G so customers stay consistently connected to 5G. In the near-term, customers connected to VoNR may notice slightly faster call set-up times. This means less delay between the time they dial a number and when the phone starts ringing. But VoNR is about more than just a better calling experience. Most importantly, VoNR brings T-Mobile one step closer to truly unleashing its 5G SA network. This is because it enables advanced capabilities like network slicing that rely on a continuous connection to a 5G core. 

Today VoNR is now live in six cities – Cincinnati, OH; New Orleans, LA; New York, NY; Portland, OR; Salt Lake City, UT; and Seattle, WA. The carrier will expand this technology to additional cities covering more than 100 million people in the coming months.

By 5G , , , ,

T-Mobile Wins Big in New Ookla Performance Study

T-Mobile is boasting about its 5G service again, with an announcement that it came out on top in a new Ookla study. This measured things like 5G speed, performance and availability. In the announcement, they added that it would be moving forward with turning on its 5G carrier aggregation (CA), both with 2.5 GHz and 2.5 Ghz combined with 600 MHz. 

Ookla’s nationwide network performance analysis had T-Mobile at the top of all 6 categories. These include: fastest provider, latency, consistency, 5G performance, 5G availability and 5G consistency. Considering the 5G coverage T-Mobile has had in place compared to its competitors, it’s not much surprise they ruled here. This is in part thanks to their ability to rollout coverage on mid-band spectrum that isn’t causing interference risks like the C-Band is for AT&T and Verizon. 

According to an article from FierceWireless, the mid-band spectrum they are using (2.5 GHz), which was acquired from Sprint, provides about 40% faster speeds. Currently, download speeds are running at a top average speed of 187 Mbps nationwide. According to T-Mobile, this is faster than most home WiFi connections, two times faster than Verizon 5G and over 2.5 times faster than AT&T 5G. More importantly, customers were more likely to connect to 5G than Verizon or AT&T customers. Again, this could simply be due to the delays both carriers have experienced with their 5G rollouts. 

With regards to the 5G carrier aggregation, this combines two channels of 2.5 GHz mid-band spectrum for greater speed and capacity. It’s much like bonding in this case, but happens within the one carrier’s network. This should allow for less congestion as there will be more service to go around. 

5G standards set the maximum bandwidth for a sub-6 GHz 5G channel at 100 MHz of spectrum. That is a lot of capacity, but with 5G CA, the operator is able to provide customers with more than 100 MHz of 2.5 GHz Ultra Capacity 5G spectrum, starting with 120 MHz in many places. So, customers in those areas will see a significant boost in speed and performance.

According to T-Mobile, tests have been completed that show 2.5 GHz 5G CA can improve speeds by about 20%. Also, devices reach speeds greater than 100 Mbps twice as often as those without 5G carrier aggregation. In addition, T-Mobile noted that it’s expanded NR CA with 2.5 GHz and 600 MHz to cities across the country.

“These capabilities are live across much of T-Mobile’s network today for customers with the Samsung Galaxy S21 and another popular flagship device, becoming more broadly available – with additional devices – in the coming months,” said a T-Mobile representative.

T-Mobile also highlighted results of record-breaking 5G upload speeds with 5G Dual Connectivity. The test was done by Ericsson and Qualcomm. They found T-Mobile exceeded 1 Gbps on upload – 1005 Mbps, to be precise – by combining 2.5 GHz spectrum with millimeter wave.

“Today’s wins confirm what over a dozen other studies have found in the last year: T-Mobile 5G is #1 in performance and/or coverage,” said T-Mobile President of Technology Neville Ray in a statement. “Our competitors bet on the wrong spectrum for 5G. Now, they’re years behind and scrambling to catch up. We’ll keep blazing ahead, reaching more and more people with Ultra Capacity 5G and spearheading new technologies. This is what you get when you combine the best damn 5G network with the hardest working team in the industry.”

By 5G , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,