How fast can your internet get? Perhaps it’s able to reach a few hundred megabits per second, or it might even go up to 1 gigabit. If you happen to live somewhere with really reliable fiber and you’re forking up a bit of cash, you might even get more than that.
What if, however, you were told that 5G is able to beat even the best of residential fiber users in speed? T-Mobile has done just that, and has demolished the scoreboard with its latest 5G mmWave test, and its results are making headlines.
T-Mobile has just announced that it performed a new 5G mmWave test where it attempted to aggregate eight channels of mmWave spectrum in order to get a more reliable, faster signal. The result? Download speeds hit a mind-boggling 4.3 Gbps, while upload speeds hit a much lower, but still very respectable, 420 Mbps.
As it stands, users can expect under a gig if they do come across elusive mmWave spectrum, while in optimal conditions, it might reach a gig or go even higher. Still, that doesn’t get near the 4.3 Gbps speeds T-Mobile achieved, which are right up with the theoretical top speed of 5 Gbps.
What’s not clear is when, or if, T-Mobile plans to roll out mmWave connectivity this fast. It’s likely that when the company does roll out mmWave Carrier Aggregation (CA) that typical results won’t hit quite such high speeds.
There is one specific silver lining that home internet users might be interested in. As per Ulf Ewaldsson, President of Technology at T-Mobile, “the spectrum can be put to use in different situations like crowded venues or to power things like fixed-wireless access when combined with 5G standalone.”
This could hint that the company might choose to roll out 5G mmWave spectrum for home internet users, which would also mean that the wireless solution might get very competitive with fiber going forward.
As of yet, none of T-Mobile’s 5G Gateways can connect to mmWave bands, so they’ll definitely need to manufacture yet another gateway for consumers to use if they plan on launching these super high speeds to Home Internet customers.
We’ll have to wait and see, but the future of high speed internet competition is looking great, and surely making the cable companies sweat.
