T-Mobile announced today it has recently implemented 4x4 MIMO in 319 cities across the United States, effectively doubling the number of data paths between the network's cell towers and compatible smartphones.

4x4-MIMO
The carrier has also launched 256 QAM for downloads and 64 QAM for uploads across half of its network, with a nationwide rollout to be completed by the end of October. These new quadrature amplitude modulation technologies increase the number of bits delivered per transmission for even faster LTE speeds. Combined with 4x4 MIMO, 256 QAM delivers theoretical download speeds up to 400 Mbps.

Meanwhile, T-Mobile said it now covers nearly 312 million customers in the United States, bringing it to within 99.7% of Verizon's coverage.

Qualcomm's X12 modem, an appropriate candidate for iPhone 7, supports 4x4 MIMO, so it is possible that some models could benefit from the technology. However, Apple is expected to use Intel's XMM 7360 LTE modem for a portion of iPhone 7 models, including AT&T models, and 4x4 MIMO is not an advertised feature of that chipset. iPhone 6s and older models do not support 4x4 MIMO.

T-Mobile customers with Samsung's Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 edge will be covered by 4x4 MIMO following a software update later this month.

Tags: T-Mobile, LTE

Top Rated Comments

oneMadRssn Avatar
100 months ago
400 Mbps seems like overkill for streaming 480p video...
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MrXiro Avatar
100 months ago
Switched to T-Mobile 3 months ago. Am back on Verizon. While in town in the metro area, the coverage was good (though it often dropped to 3G inside buildings, but whatever I could deal with that). When I got out of town and into the suburbs and, God forbid, the rural areas, the coverage failed horrifically.

All this said, I hope they can get it together. They seem to be trying to do the right things. I just wish they could get their coverage area increased. And yeah their customer service was abysmal. I was told by the in-store reps that if I called with a "no-coverage report" that I'd get some kind of concern or something. Instead I got, "Oh that zip code shows as covered. You should be good." Wrong answer. At least with Verizon I can get on the network when I go visit my parents.
Or you can just stop visiting your parents like I have. :D
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SuperCachetes Avatar
100 months ago
T-Mobile is covering 312million customers in the US but there are 324million people in the US??? Can someone explain this to me? How much are the other carriers covering then?
"Covered" means able to access T-Mobile's signal, not subscribing to their service.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
infiniteentropy Avatar
100 months ago
Switched to T-Mobile 3 months ago. Am back on Verizon. While in town in the metro area, the coverage was good (though it often dropped to 3G inside buildings, but whatever I could deal with that). When I got out of town and into the suburbs and, God forbid, the rural areas, the coverage failed horrifically.

All this said, I hope they can get it together. They seem to be trying to do the right things. I just wish they could get their coverage area increased. And yeah their customer service was abysmal. I was told by the in-store reps that if I called with a "no-coverage report" that I'd get some kind of concern or something. Instead I got, "Oh that zip code shows as covered. You should be good." Wrong answer. At least with Verizon I can get on the network when I go visit my parents.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
britboyj Avatar
100 months ago
I have T-Mobile in Dallas, and switched after Verizon said "No, we won't let you buy an iPhone 6 because you're one week shy of some ********." I even did the T-Mobile test drive and periodically did tests with my Verizon iPhone 5S and the T-Mobile 5S.

Without exception, T-Mobile had a faster SpeedTest score and general "real life" perception of speed, EVEN IF it had less bars. Hell, T-Mobile's 4G was faster than Verizon's LTE a number of times I tested it. Their customer service has been exceptional, but I will caveat and say that their reception inside large buildings is... Less good. Good thing I rarely make any actual phone calls.

Not to mention T-Mobile let me use data while on a call... (Not sure if Verizon has joined the 21st Century yet)
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Terrinb Avatar
100 months ago
This.

Sprint, T-Mobile, and all the other non-Verizon / ATT carriers in the US keep making these outrageous "within 1%" claims, but they do not let you know that the coverage is 1 bar of minimal cell service with no data in places where verizon will get you decent data speeds and perfect reception. T-Mobile is not an option for a much larger portion of people than they will have you believe.
Maybe you are right, but I've had T-Mobile for over ten years and travel a lot. In the few instances T-Mobile didn't have coverage (far into the country), I just rode on another network. No roaming cost, what's the big deal?

To each their own, but in Michigan where I live T-Mobile works great.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

maxresdefault

Apple Announces 'Let Loose' Event on May 7 Amid Rumors of New iPads

Tuesday April 23, 2024 7:11 am PDT by
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of "Let Loose" and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
Apple Silicon AI Optimized Feature Siri

Apple Releases Open Source AI Models That Run On-Device

Wednesday April 24, 2024 3:39 pm PDT by
Apple today released several open source large language models (LLMs) that are designed to run on-device rather than through cloud servers. Called OpenELM (Open-source Efficient Language Models), the LLMs are available on the Hugging Face Hub, a community for sharing AI code. As outlined in a white paper [PDF], there are eight total OpenELM models, four of which were pre-trained using the...
Apple Vision Pro Dual Loop Band Orange Feature 2

Apple Cuts Vision Pro Shipments as Demand Falls 'Sharply Beyond Expectations'

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:44 am PDT by
Apple has dropped the number of Vision Pro units that it plans to ship in 2024, going from an expected 700 to 800k units to just 400k to 450k units, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Orders have been scaled back before the Vision Pro has launched in markets outside of the United States, which Kuo says is a sign that demand in the U.S. has "fallen sharply beyond expectations." As a...
iPad And Calculator App Feature

Apple Finally Plans to Release a Calculator App for iPad Later This Year

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:08 am PDT by
Apple is finally planning a Calculator app for the iPad, over 14 years after launching the device, according to a source familiar with the matter. iPadOS 18 will include a built-in Calculator app for all iPad models that are compatible with the software update, which is expected to be unveiled during the opening keynote of Apple's annual developers conference WWDC on June 10. AppleInsider...
iOS 18 Siri Integrated Feature

iOS 18 Rumored to Add These 10 New Features to Your iPhone

Wednesday April 24, 2024 2:05 pm PDT by
Apple is set to unveil iOS 18 during its WWDC keynote on June 10, so the software update is a little over six weeks away from being announced. Below, we recap rumored features and changes planned for the iPhone with iOS 18. iOS 18 will reportedly be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, with new ChatGPT-inspired generative AI features, a more customizable Home Screen, and much more....