T-Mobile USA announced that it has introduced dual-carrier HSPA+ in 41 more markets, including Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio; Sacramento and San Diego, Calif.; and San Antonio, Texas. Dual-carrier HSPA+ effectively doubles the speed of T-Mobile's HSPA+ 21 network to theoretical speeds of 42 Mbps.
In May, the operator announced it launched dual-carrier HSPA+ in 50 markets. T-Mobile said it has seen average download speeds approaching 10Mbps with peak speeds of 27Mbps on the T-Mobile Rocket 3.0 laptop stick, the company's first 42Mbps device. T-Mobile expects more than 150 million people to have access to these increased 4G speeds by mid-2011.
To support the dual-carrier HSPA+ launch, T-Mobile began selling its first 42 Mbps-capable product, the T-Mobile Rocket 3.0 laptop stick, on May 25. Built by ZTE, the stick sells for $100 after a $50 mail-in rebate and with a qualifying mobile broadband plan (2 GB or higher) on a two year service agreement, with voice line and enrollment in Easy Pay. Customers can also purchase the T-Mobile Rocket 3.0 without a contract for $200.
The higher data speeds come about because T-Mobile is taking two 5-megahertz HSPA+ downlink carriers--each supporting theoretical speeds of 21 Mbps--and bonding them together. The resulting bandwidth puts T-Mobile on par with Verizon Wireless' (NYSE:VZ) LTE network.
For more:
- see this T-Mobile release
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Article updated June 16, 1:30 EST to reflect a correction T-Mobile made to the number of dual-carrier HSPA+ markets the operator launched. It corrected the number from markets launched from 47 to 42 and again to 41.