Carrier Aggregation is a technique used since the launch of LTE-A or LTE Advanced that allows, broadly speaking, to “add” the speeds of two frequency bands in a single connection. That has allowed the 4G download speed to skyrocket in what has been sold commercially as 4.5G or 4G +. Now, all of this is intended to lead to fifth-generation networks so that 5G can combine multiple bands to offer 10 Gbps. We already have at least one operator that has tried it successfully, achieving what is, until now, the new 5G speed record .
The current 5G is still in its infancy, but we are already seeing more clearly what it can offer. In fact, they promised us gigabit speeds, latencies of less than 10ms and many devices connected at the same time to an antenna. At the moment, 5G NSA is being deployed and using techniques such as DSS that will have nothing to do with the real performance that the technology will give in 2 or 3 years.
Optus achieves a new 5G speed record
The Australian operator Optus , in collaboration with Nokia , has achieved a new 5G speed record. In Strathpine (Brisbane), the operator has used the Carrier Aggregation technique to achieve a speed of 10 Gbps in its quest to offer the fastest 5G in the entire country. To do this, it has combined the 3.5 GHz bands (one of those considered a priority in Spain) with the 28 GHz band of the mmWave spectrum. In the case of our country, it will be the 26 GHz band that is enabled for this.
With those two bands they have achieved the incredible speed of 10 Gbps. According to the operator, this is what mmWave technology will offer when available. In fact, the other day we echoed an OpenSignal study that compared 5G mmWave vs 5G vs 4G vs WiFi in the United States. The first offered measured speeds of 640 Mbps, well above the 60 Mbps of 5G or 80 Mbps of home and office WiFi.
The estimate is that mmWave will offer a lot more speed, but we also know that the range of this band will be much more limited. For this reason, the aggregation of carriers becomes important. Optus aims that they will be able to offer about 250 videos in 4K resolution from a single node with this technology. The operator currently offers 5G with 1,200 base stations to cover more than 800,000 Australian homes.
