BELLEVUE, Wash.—T-Mobile has become the first U.S. carrier to offer four-carrier aggregation of spectrum to provide much faster 5G speeds to consumers.
While the launch is targeted to consumers and top speeds are currently only available to users of the Samsung Galaxy S23, the service is expected to spread to more devices, making the offering potentially important for news organizations, professional videographers and others needing fast connections for ENG and live streaming.
T-Mobile said that four carrier aggregation can deliver speeds up to 3.3 Gbps. The speeds went live on July 25 in part of its network and are expected to be available nationwide in the coming weeks.
“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 standalone network in the country, T-Mobile is the only provider bringing game-changing technologies like four-carrier aggregation to customers across the country.”
5G carrier aggregation allows T-Mobile to combine multiple 5G channels (or carriers) to deliver greater speed and performance. The carrier is now merging four 5G channels of sub-6 GHz spectrum – two channels of 2.5 GHz Ultra Capacity 5G, one channel of 1900 MHz and one channel of 600 MHz spectrum.
T-Mobile said 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 the first to experience four-carrier aggregation with more devices to follow.”
More information on T-Mobile’s network is available here.
