T-Mobile US Boosts Speed With New Modulation, Antenna Technologies

Spectrum, network architectures, modulation techniques and radio platforms  matter because bandwidth matters.

T-Mobile US is upgrading its network using two of those tools.

T-Mobile US is deploying a new antenna technology known as 4x4 MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) that doubles the number of data paths between a cell site and a user’s device, essentially doubling speeds.

The new features are available in 319 cities, initially for users of Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge devices.

T-Mobile US also is using 256 QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) for downloads and 64 QAM for uploads, boosting the number of bits that can be transmitted in any unit of time.

Together, the two upgrades will boost speeds potentially to 400 Mbps.

The new 256 QAM and 64 QAM capabilities are active in half of the T-Mobile US network, and network wide by the end of October.  Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge devices can take advantage of the new capabilities.