Nokia Siemens Networks plans to show off gigabit wireless speeds using the variant of LTE networking that Clearwire plans to deploy. NSN said it had already managed to deliver gigabit speeds in a test environment last month, and had the following video to prove it, but it’s going to recreate the demo next week at the CTIA trade show occurring in New Orleans.
For those who won’t be in the Big Easy drinking from the wireless networking firehouse, here’s what NSN is so excited about and why it matters. The test showed off gigabit speeds on a TD-LTE Advanced network. Gigabit wireless demos are not new. Huawei has shown them off, as has NSN for the more traditional style of LTE-Advanced network that carriers like AT&T and Verizon will likely deploy. Today’s test was of TD-LTE, which Clearwire and other former WiMAX operators are planning to deploy.
Other than being of the TD-variant, the test also used the next generation of LTE standard called LTE Advanced. We don’t expect to see LTE-Advanced hit the market in a real way until much later this decade, although carriers are using some of the features associated with the standard to aggregate their spectrum. And speaking of spectrum, to achieve the blazing speeds of this test would require a lot more spectrum, much more power and uncrowded airwaves, so don’t wait up for those gigabit speeds. Anyhow, they’d totally bust through your data cap.
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