Speed on the internet – especially when it comes to upload and download speeds – we just cannot get enough of it. Ever since the networks were upgraded to 4G LTE, I think back and wonder how did we ever survived with 3G and slower speeds. If I lose my LTE and have to use 3G, I just want to pull out my hair (what little is left of it) as it seems as though the wait is forever – my how fast we are spoiled.
The next big step will eventually be 5G, but that is years away, so until that time arrives, our carriers have come up with LTE-Advanced strategy, and Category 6 LTE (Cat-6 LTE) is the next step to achieving its goal. The idea behind it is to use carrier aggregation along with compatible hardware to achieve download speeds of 300Mbps. Rogers announced that it has turned on this feature in Toronto, Guelph, Vancouver and Victoria, and that they will be adding cities in the coming months.
Just to set the record straight – the theoretical limit is 300Mbps, but most networks will not actually be able to offer speeds that fast. Rogers, for instance, can achieve speeds of 225Mbps by combining 2100MHz and 2600MHz spectrum. Since Rogers uses 10MHz and 20MHz blocks respectively to offer such speeds, their maximum Cat-6 LTE carrier aggregation is 40MHz and Cat-4 LTE maxes out at 20MHz.
We mentioned that you needed carrier aggregation – okay, we have that now on Rogers. We also said that we need compatible equipment and it looks like the new Samsung Galaxy Note Edge will comply in that department. The Galaxy Note Edge was especially configured for the Canadian carriers and has the same 9 x 35 modem found in the Korea-only version of the Galaxy S5. Best Buy and Future Shop have begun taking pre-orders for the Galaxy Note Edge and both Bell and Rogers are expected to begin their own pre-orders today. Rogers had this to say about its LTE-Advanced strategy, “This is just the first step – carrier aggregation will allow us to further leverage our spectrum, and create even more network capacity and customer benefits.”
Please hook up with us on our Google+ Page and let us know if you will be picking up a Galaxy Note Edge and giving it a try on the Rogers’ network…as always, we would love to hear from you.