Kris Carlon / Android Authority
TL;DR
- T-Mobile is rolling out new 5G wireless tech.
- The carrier claims its tech can reach speeds of up to 3.3Gbps.
- At the moment, you’ll need to have a Galaxy S23 series phone to take advantage of the faster connection.
Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile all offer mmWave 5G networks. However, T-Mobile has found another way to achieve high-speed connections. The technology could be even faster than mmWave 5G, but there’s one catch.
According to The Verge, T-Mobile has started to roll out new 5G wireless tech that can supposedly reach speeds of up to 3.3Gbps. This would be notably faster than mmWave 5G, which is capable of getting up to 1.6 Gbps, as Ookla reports.
To achieve this feat, it appears T-Mobile is using a technique called carrier aggregation, which combines four different 5G channels into one. Specifically, the carrier is repurposing its own 1,900MHz spectrum and using Sprint’s 3G networks, along with two 2.5GHz channels and 600MHz. The technique is reportedly similar to a trick that Wi-Fi routers do to create faster connections.
Not only is this new 5G wireless technology faster than mmWave 5G, but it also doesn’t have mmWave’s limitations. For example, mmWave tech has limited range and is dragged down by obstacles like trees and walls. That’s not the case for T-Mobile’s solution.
However, the wireless technology isn’t perfect, as only phones that can handle this network can use it. Only the Samsung Galaxy S23 series has the components necessary to take advantage of this super-fast network at the moment.
According to the outlet, the technology is already live for parts of T-Mobile’s network, but the carrier didn’t mention where it’s live. But, T-Mobile says it will be available nationwide in the coming weeks.