Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

Gigabit LTE will give your current phone insane speeds. Here’s how it works

David Cogen
By
Despite not getting its fair share of press, Gigabit LTE is an important stepping stone between the current 4G standards and the newly-proposed 5G. Gigabit LTE is capable of delivering speeds up to 1 Gbps. In the real world, this often translates to speeds around 400 Mbps, but compared to the national averages of 23 Mbps (for mobile networks) and 64 Mbps (at home), it is a substantial improvement.
Recommended Videos

Several new technologies, both in your phone and within the towers they reach, allow us to reach these ridiculous speeds. Carrier Aggregation allows carriers to use multiple frequencies on their cell towers to send data to and from your phone, essentially widening the lanes of the highway you can use to access data.

Related

In the real world, this often translates to speeds around 400 Mbps.

256-QAM allows more data to be transferred at one time. Continuing with the highway metaphor, this means that each truck on the highway can now carry more information and prevent that highway from getting more congested. Additional antennas on devices, known as MIMO 4×4, allow your phone to better pick up signals, thus resulting in increased speeds.

Carriers are also using License Assisted Access (LAA) to use their licensed radio waves — as well as the waves used by everyone — to increase speeds, which further pushes today’s smartphones toward the theoretical 1 Gigabit speed.

With Gigabit LTE, you can quickly download games and TV shows on the go, as well as tether multiple devices to your phone, allowing for lightning-fast internet wherever you are. The service is already pretty available, and is quickly becoming more widespread with time. More than 40 operators and 16 devices now support it, and it’s currently available in 25 countries.

Gigabit LTE
Image used with permission by copyright holder

It not only improves speeds for those who have it — you can actually access data online faster than you can access the data on your phone with Gigabit LTE — but it also clears up congestion by Gigabit LTE users faster. It also enhances speeds across the board and is more reliable in areas that aren’t known for having good coverage. This could be the tipping point in wireless technology, one in which mobile data will surpass broadband speeds and change the way we access information.

David Cogen, a regular contributor here at Digital Trends, runs TheUnlockr.com, a popular tech blog that focuses on tech news, tips and tricks, and the latest tech. You can also find him over at Twitter discussing the latest tech trends.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
David Cogen
David Cogen
Former Digital Trends Contributor
After always being the person my friends and family came to for help with their tech (see: resident nerd) and realizing how…
I can’t wait for Nothing to launch this stunning phone
Nothing Community Edition Project winner.

Say what you will about Nothing, but this brand certainly has a taste for flashy design. After all, how many phones out there light up and sync to the beat of music? But the company's latest smartphone endeavor could just be its best yet.

In March, Nothing introduced its Community Edition Project. The goal was to take ideas from its fans for hardware design, with the Nothing Phone 2a serving as the foundation. The company also has similar plans for wallpaper, packaging, and marketing shenanigans. Today, Nothing announced its winning entry for the phone design, and it’s a stunner.

Read more
The best tablets in 2024: top 11 tablets you can buy now
Disney+ app on the iPad Air 5.

As much as we love having the best smartphones in our pockets, there are times when those small screens don't cut it and we just need a larger display. That's when you turn to a tablet, which is great for being productive on the go and can be a awesome way to unwind and relax too. While the tablet market really took off after the iPad, it has grown to be quite diverse with a huge variety of products — from great budget options to powerhouses for professionals.

We've tried out a lot of tablets here at Digital Trends, from the workhorses for pros to tablets that are made for kids and even seniors -- there's a tablet for every person and every budget. For most people, though, we think Apple's iPad Air is the best overall tablet — especially if you're already invested in the Apple ecosystem. But if you're not an Apple user, that's fine too; there are plenty of other great options that you'll find in this roundup.

Read more
How to tell if someone has blocked you on Snapchat
Snapchat on iPhone.

Not everyone will like the content you post on Snapchat. In some cases, some users may even choose to block you, for whatever reason. Although Snapchat doesn’t offer an “official” way to determine whether someone has blocked you on the social network, it is possible.

Read more