T-Mobile is not letting anyone catch up with its 5G leadership. It has the fastest and most widespread 5G network in the U.S., and it’s constantly innovating to push the boundaries of speed.

WHAT’S NEW

T-Mobile breaks another 5G record, Unmatched upload speeds at long distances
Two years ago, T-Mobile used a cutting-edge technique called 5G Carrier Aggregation (5G CA) to reach amazing 3Gbps download speeds on midband frequencies that were only possible with very high (and very limited) mmWave technologies. Now, it has achieved another 5G milestone by using the latest advancements to overcome the traditional limit on upload speeds over sub-6GHz frequencies.

T-Mobile’s newest 5G record

T-Mobile is using a brilliant new technique to increase its 5G upload speeds. It’s called uplink transmit (UL Tx) switching, and it works by combining different frequencies and sending multiple streams of data at the same time. It’s like having a super-fast 5G highway with extra lanes and no traffic jams!

But how does it work? Well, it’s based on the 5G CA technique that T-Mobile already uses to achieve 3Gbps download speeds. The 5G CA technique is great because it merges multiple 5G channels across three different frequency bands, from 1.9GHz to 2.5GHz, to create more bandwidth. This means you can download more data faster and enjoy smoother streaming and gaming.

But UL Tx switching goes even further. It not only combines different frequencies into one uplink band, but also uses single-user multiple input, multiple output (SU-MIMO) to switch between frequencies and use all the available capacity across the spectrum. This means you can upload more data faster and enjoy better video calls and cloud services.

As T-Mobile puts it in their press release, “It’s like taking the 5G superhighway and adding new faster lanes with spare capacity for traffic to zoom faster than ever.”

The fastest speeds at the best range

T-Mobile has achieved a remarkable feat with its midband 5G network: it has reached download speeds of 345Mbps, which is faster than anything we’ve seen before on this spectrum. Why is this such a big deal? Because midband 5G is the perfect balance between speed and coverage.

You may have heard of 5G networks that can deliver speeds of up to 4Gbps for downloads and over 1Gbps for uploads. But those are mmWave networks, which use very high frequencies above 24GHz. They can offer amazing capacity, but they also have very limited range, about the size of a city block.

On the other hand, low-band 5G networks can cover large areas, but they don’t offer much improvement over 4G/LTE speeds. They use low frequencies below 2GHz, which have a trade-off between coverage and capacity: the lower the frequency, the longer the range, but the slower the speed.

That’s why midband 5G networks are the best of both worlds. They use frequencies between 2GHz and 6GHz, which can offer both decent coverage and fast speeds. They are also sometimes called C-band networks, although that’s not exactly correct, as C-band only refers to a small part of that spectrum, from 3.7GHz to 3.98GHz. C-band is mostly used by Verizon and AT&T, while T-Mobile has focused on the 2.5GHz band.

T-Mobile’s breakthrough shows that midband 5G can deliver speeds that are comparable to mmWave, but with much better coverage. This means that more people can enjoy the benefits of 5G without sacrificing performance or reliability. T-Mobile is leading the way in making 5G a reality for everyone.

If you want fast and reliable 5G, you need the right mix of spectrum. Midband spectrum is the sweet spot that combines speed and coverage, but it can only do so much with the current 5G technology. That’s why T-Mobile is not settling for the status quo. It’s pushing the boundaries of 5G with innovative techniques like 5G CA and UL Tx that can unlock blazing-fast speeds without compromising on coverage.

What does this mean for you? It means that the same T-Mobile towers that you use today could soon deliver speeds that match or even beat the best mmWave networks, without the hassle of installing thousands of extra transceivers to cover a busy city with mmWave signals.