The gigabit LTE discrepancy hinges on market availability of carrier aggregation, 256 QAM and 4X4 MIMO
Last week at a media and analysts event in San Jose, Calif., T-Mobile US updated its gigabit LTE deployments. There are three primary elements of offering gigabit LTE: 4X4 multiple-input, multiple-out, 256 QAM and multi-channel carrier aggregation.
T-Mobile US says it has all three of those technologies, based on the LTE Advanced specification, deployed in 430 markets, and one of the three deployed in an additional 490 markets. In an accompanying press release, T-Mobile US described the state of its gigabit LTE availability as “eclipsing every other national wireless company…”
In an email to RCR Wireless News sent on Nov. 9, Karen Schulz of Verizon’s corporate communications team said, “We’ve fully deployed carrier aggregation across our network in close to 2,000 markets, and have 4X4 MIMO and 256 QAM deployed in over 560 markets nationwide on a network that is 700,000 square miles larger than T-Mobile and consistently more reliable for our customers.”
Asked for clarification on the market availability of all three gigabit LTE technologies–4X4 MIMO, 256 QAM and carrier aggregation, Schulz said, “Verizon has all three available in 560+ markets–130+ more than T-Mobile announced when they claimed to be eclipsing the rest of the industry.”
To be clear, the apparent apples to apples comparison here is Verizon has all three gigabit LTE components available in 560-plus markets, and T-Mobile US has those same technologies in 430 markets.
