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T-Mobile To Boost Its LTE Speeds To 400 Mbps (thenextweb.com) 73

An anonymous reader writes from a report via The Next Web: T-Mobile plans to boost its LTE speeds to up to 400 Mbps in the very near future. The Next Web reports: "The company is getting ready to boost its maximum theoretical internet speeds to become the faster carrier in the U.S. by a wide margin. The network will soon support theoretical speeds up to 400 Mbps -- nearly half the speed of Google Fiber. There's a two-pronged approach to the upgrade. First is incorporating 4x4 MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) technology, which will supposedly double the speed from the current 7-40 Mbps customers tend to experience with T-Mobile (about the same as Verizon with LTE-A). This upgrade is available now in 319 cities, although it's a moot point because only the S7 and S7 Edge will be able to use the tech via a software update "later this month." In October, the company will roll out 256 QAM support to the S7 and S7 Edge (and again, more phones later), which increases the amount of bits per transmission. T-Mobile says this will lead to theoretical maximum speeds of 400 Mbps." The Next Web followed-up with T-Mobile to ask about what the real-world speeds would be after the upgrade. The company says "customers can expect to see real world peak speeds of 190 Mbps," which is over four times current peaks speeds, but also far below the theoretical 400 Mbps.
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T-Mobile To Boost Its LTE Speeds To 400 Mbps

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  • I have lightning fast service from T-Mobile where I work, but still 2G at my house. I wish they would fill in the gaps while upgrading the speed everywhere else.
    • by jandrese ( 485 )
      Is that on some other company's tower? I don't think T-Mo has any 2G only towers left.
      • T-Mobile is either done or nearly done with killing off 2G.

        • by SeaFox ( 739806 )

          T-Mobile is either done or nearly done with killing off 2G.

          I believe you're mistaken (and thinking of AT&T [rcrwireless.com]). They're the ones getting ready to turn off 2G service. T-Mobile plans to keep it around a little longer [connectedworld.com]. I'm using a 2G phone now with no issues. They should be hounding me to upgrade my handset if they are so interested in killing it off.

      • No, it's T-Mobile 2G. The whole area I live in has 2G T-mobile coverage. So does the area north and west of where I work (I live south). Just to the north of my house there is 4G non-LTE coverage, then LTE just to the north of that.
      • T-mobile isn't cutting 2G until at least 2020 [https://www.reddit.com/r/tmobile/comments/47eunc/commitment_to_gsm_for_m2m_through_2020/]
        AT&T has cut 2G in most major markets, and 100% by the end of 2016 [https://www.att.com/esupport/article.html#!/wireless/KM1084805]

  • Range not speed (Score:5, Interesting)

    by markdavis ( 642305 ) on Tuesday September 06, 2016 @06:39PM (#52837937)

    >"T-Mobile plans to boost its LTE speeds to up to 400 Mbps in the very near future."

    I don't care. Probably like most people, I would much rather have more coverage/range than crazy speed. Their precious 700Mhz didn't come to my 1.5+ million person area, and my area is certainly not alone. That means mediocre building penetration with existing service and spotty coverage in other areas.

    I like T-Mobile, but I wish they would focus on:

    * Maintaining low prices, and without catches.
    * Coverage/penetration/range.
    * Not penalizing people for not handing over direct access to their banking accounts, so-called "auto-pay".
    * Stopping with the gimmiky stuff like video transcoding, and the misuse of the word "unlimited".
    * Allow us to stop the incessant nagging text messages about "your bill is due" and "your bill is paid" and such.

    • 1. Ubiquitous coverage
      2. Fast speeds
      3. Cheap cost

      Pick 2. If all you need are coverage and low cost, a Verizon MVNO or possibly Cricket would probably work best for you.

      Besides, that 400Mbps isn't so you can get that speed on your phone all by yourself, it's so hundreds or thousands of people can use one cell site at the same time without it becoming so bogged down that you can't load any data. Congestion is becoming a real issue for T-Mobile in many places, these things can help alleviate those problems s

      • I think GP assumes that "most people" (his words) absolutely must have coverage in remote bumblefuck nowhere places, of which verizon is marginally better at since T-Mobile can roam on most of AT&T's network, which is almost as big as Verizons. Though I have to say, he probably lives in bumblefuck nowhere if most people he knows need coverage there. As for myself, if I'm going to a place like that, I'm probably on vacation and the last thing I want is people bugging me.

        • No, I wasn't saying that at all. A 1.5+ million person area is not a "nowhere place". I generally have coverage most everywhere here. But not good coverage TYPE. Coverage at 3G or 2G is not what customers want in a metro area. Sure, I expect it when I *AM* in a nowhere area.

          I am talking about wanting LTE everywhere in the metro area, including inside all buildings.

          • No, I wasn't saying that at all. A 1.5+ million person area is not a "nowhere place".

            That doesn't tell me anything. Phoenix has a population of over 1.5 million. Not the Phoenix metro area; that's much larger. Just plain ol Phoenix. And, if you head to the Rio Vista district, which is a large area that is very much part of Phoenix, then you're officially out in bumblefuck nowhere while still being able to claim that the city you live in has a population of 1.5 million. Hell, you don't even need to go that far, North Gateway and Desert View also qualify as being bumblefuck nowhere, and they'

    • by Anonymous Coward

      I'm curious why you wouldn't want to use credit-card autopay? Its very easy to initiate a chargeback if they continue to charge you after service is cancelled, and its not like direct access to your checking or savings account (I would never do either of those, that's dumb).

      But I don't really see a great reason for caring about credit-card bill-pay, other than the inconvenience of having to get new cards and dispute a bunch of charges if their card database is ever breached.

      • its not like direct access to your checking or savings account (I would never do either of those, that's dumb)

        Do you not have something equivalent to the Direct Debit Guarantee in the UK? We can happily let companies pull money from our accounts (well, less happily than if they provided their services for free), can cancel their ability to do so in a couple of clicks, and can undo any transactions that we dispute, at which point if they actually do believe that we owed them the money then they have to pursue it through the courts. I'd have thought any vaguely modern banking system would have something similar.

      • by Anonymous Coward

        I'm curious why you wouldn't want to use credit-card autopay? Its very easy to initiate a chargeback if they continue to charge you after service is cancelled, and its not like direct access to your checking or savings account (I would never do either of those, that's dumb).

        But I don't really see a great reason for caring about credit-card bill-pay, other than the inconvenience of having to get new cards and dispute a bunch of charges if their card database is ever breached.

        It's about control and limitations.

        I have a near paycheck-to-paycheck income and due to my physical limitations it's difficult for me to find a job without an interviewer getting freaked and immediately making the decision not to hire me just because they're afraid of what they don't understand and legally, in the US, can't ask. In case you're wondering, it's a huge scar that can't be hidden. Hence, with my far above genius intelligence and... wait, that scares people, too. Let's just say I'm stuck at my

    • stop the incessant nagging text messages about "your bill is due"

      The actual message I get is "If you haven't already, please refill your plan to ensure continued service." They own the phone company; they own the billing system. Don't they know if my plan has been refilled or not? These messages would be somewhat useful if they were only sent when I had forgotten to make a payment. But as it is, they are a worthless annoyance.

      • I am a post-paid customer and get paper bills (which is what I want). So I don't need reminders about paying a bill, or confirmation it is paid. Sprint never did that to me, and as a customer, there should be an opt out for such annoyances.

        And yes, they are WORTHLESS noise. If they only sent a notice if the bill was NOT paid, then it would be something useful that I could address.

    • I don't care. Probably like most people, I would much rather have more coverage/range than crazy speed. Their precious 700Mhz didn't come to my 1.5+ million person area, and my area is certainly not alone. That means mediocre building penetration with existing service and spotty coverage in other areas.

      You probably live in a NIMBY area then. It is very expensive for them to provide coverage if no one wants to host at the ideal locations. Dont blame T-Mobile for being cost conscious, blame your neighbors.

  • Samsung Galaxy S5 user here on T-Mobile. 802.11ac with the phone, I can push roughly 350mbps with it at home, so it isn't raw processing power holding back bandwidth on phones right now. My current record with LTE with this phone is about 85mbps with LTE. But per usual, carriers don't give two shits about anything by latest and greatest handsets, so even through the SGS5 is a flagship phone, it isn't the "current" flagship phone, so no updates at all.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      An update won't change your radio or modem hardware.

    • by PRMan ( 959735 )
      The S5 doesn't support MIMO. Of all their phones, only the S7 does.
  • I think better coverage in less populated areas would help me more...
  • by Anonymous Coward

    This speed doesnt do any good at all as long as there are data caps on it.

  • I'm not trying to be sarcastic, asking honestly.

    Aside from atypical usage (cell sticks and laptops), what is the usage model on a smartphone that benefits from more than about 10Mbps? I understand some day more bandwidth will be useful, but is theoretical throughput an issue today?
    • by Anonymous Coward

      Why? Because on an LTE network the resources are shared between all users within the same server. The more users on LTE the slower it gets. By enabling 4x4 mimo, not only do you get faster speeds, you would also increase the number users the cell can handle which would actually enhance the throughput for all users.

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