T-Mobile US said it has reached speeds of 3.3 Gbps in recent tests of four-carrier aggregation
T-Mobile US said it has begun rolling out four-carrier aggregation for customers, adding that this technology will boost speeds on its 5G Standalone (SA) network.
The telco said it has reached speeds of 3.3 Gbps in recent tests of four-carrier aggregation.
Four-carrier aggregation is live in parts of T-Mobile’s network now and will be available nationwide in the coming weeks, the telco said.
“T-Mobile is blazing the trail for wireless customers around the globe, delivering new capabilities that unleash the true potential of 5G,” said Ulf Ewaldsson, president of technology at T-Mobile. “With the only nationwide 5G SA network in the country, T-Mobile is the only provider bringing game-changing technologies like four-carrier aggregation to customers across the country,” Ewaldsson said.
The company explained that 5G carrier aggregation allows it to combine multiple 5G channels to deliver greater speed and performance. T-Mobile is now merging four 5G channels of sub-6 GHz spectrum — two channels of 2.5 GHz, one channel of 1,900 MHz and one channel of 600 MHz spectrum.
The telco said that customers with the Samsung Galaxy S23 will be the first to experience four-carrier aggregation with more devices to follow.
The carrier’s Extended Range (low-band 600 MHz spectrum) 5G now covers 326 million people across 2 million square miles, while 275 million people nationwide are covered by T-Mobile’s Ultra Capacity 5G (2.5 GHz spectrum). The telco plans to reach 300 million people with its Ultra Capacity 5G offering this year.
According to the latest Ookla Speedtest data, T-Mobile US continues to come out on top in the U.S. when it comes to practically every 5G category.
T-Mobile US achieved a median 5G download speed of 220.00 Mbps during the second quarter of 2023, while Verizon Wireless remained second and saw a slight increase to 133.50 Mbps and AT&T remained third at 86.01 Mbps.
Also, T-Mobile US had the lowest median 5G multi-server latency in the second quarter. However, Ookla noted that latency was a “tight race” between all three carries, with T-Mobile users experiencing a median latency of 51 ms, T-Mobile and Verizon users experiencing 53 ms. AT&T trailed behind at 62 ms.
T-Mobile even surpassed its competitors in its Q2 video score, coming in at 78.70. Verizon Wireless recorded a 5G Video Score of 77.39 and AT&T had a score of 70.40, according to Ookla’s tests.