Qualcomm Technologies and T-Mobile have successfully demonstrated the speed and power of Gigabit Class LTE on T-Mobile’s network with smartphones powered by Snapdragon Gigabit LTE modems. T-Mobile announced that LTE Advanced, the next generation of LTE, has expanded to more than 920 markets, eclipsing every other national wireless company, with a powerful combination of three speed-boosting technologies – carrier aggregation, 4X4 MIMO and 256 QAM – now live in 430 of those markets.
T-Mobile has also unveiled plans to launch License Assisted Access (LAA), another advanced LTE technology which taps into unlicensed spectrum, on small cells this year to further densify the network for even more capacity and speed.
With LTE Advanced, one can double the previous download speeds. With the combination of carrier aggregation, 4X4 MIMO and 256 QAM, speeds can up to double again. Along with sufficient spectrum and backhaul, Gigabit Class LTE is achieved by simultaneously accessing this trifecta of LTE Advanced technologies in both the device and the network to increase capacity, improve spectral efficiency, reduce congestion, and ultimately deliver faster real-world speeds. That means T-Mobile customers with capable devices could get Gigabit Class LTE download speeds in 430 markets.
T-Mobile has been rolling out LTE Advanced technologies in the network since 2014 and was first globally with 4X4 MIMO and first in the US with 256 QAM. The Un-carrier has more than doubled its LTE Advanced footprint since last year and is rapidly expanding the technology trifecta in its nationwide LTE network on a massive scale. In addition, the capacity and speed capabilities of the Un-carrier’s LAA small cell deployment pave the way for 5G with a dense upgradable infrastructure. Earlier this year, T-Mobile was the first to launch LTE-U, the precursor to LAA, in select locations.
Beyond improving today’s networks, Gigabit Class LTE is an important milestone on the path to 5G, providing a solid foundation on which 5G networks will be built. It also provides an early glimpse of what consumers can expect in the future, and allows app developers to experiment with next-generation experiences today, including augmented reality.
Attendees present at the unveiling event experienced many benefits of Gigabit Class LTE through live demonstrations, including:
- Virtual Reality: Flawless streaming of 3D virtual reality sports and entertainment events by NextVR
- Productivity: Near instantaneous access to files in cloud storage
- Entertainment: Super-fast download of TV shows and movies for offline play
- Network Capacity: Gigabit LTE devices increasing network capacity and speed for all users regardless of device
The demonstrations highlighted the capabilities of premium Android devices powered by the Snapdragon 835 Mobile Platform with X16 LTE -- Samsung Galaxy S8, Samsung Galaxy Note8, Moto Z2 Force Edition, and LG V30 – on T-Mobile’s LTE Advanced network.
Click here to know more about T-Mobile’s network.
Click here to know more about Snapdragon Gigabit LTE Modems.
