Verizon, Ericsson and Qualcomm break through gigabit speed barrier

But before you get too carried away, the 1.07 Gbps speed trials were conducted in an Ericsson lab.

It was only a couple of weeks ago the same trio announced they had nearly broken the barrier, hitting 953 Mbps, but the difference here is the previous speed was in the real-world. We’re not too sure which accomplishment is better in this case. Gigabit speeds in a perfect, uninterruptable environment, or almost gigabit speeds in the real world?

“Today’s achievement shows once again that while Verizon deploys the most advanced technologies to our customers in the real world environment, we are always looking ahead to what customers will need tomorrow,” said Nicola Palmer, Verizon Wireless Chief Network Officer.

“Ericsson is working across the industry to improve the end-user experience and to develop new functionalities and advancements with greater spectral efficiency on LTE,” said Fredrik Jejdling, Head of Business Area Networks, Ericsson. “Achieving 1.07 Gbps with Verizon and Qualcomm Technologies on a commercial chipset is a big milestone on the road to 5G.”

“Our work with Verizon and Ericsson has allowed us to be first in surpassing the Gigabit speed barrier with our Snapdragon X20 LTE modem,” said Mike Finley, President of Qualcomm North America. “This is an important milestone on the path to 5G that will allow for better average speeds for all users and will drive new and exciting consumer experiences.”

First and foremost, it is a step forward. Achieving gigabit per second speeds is certainly better than not achieving them; it provides a foundation to build upon, but let’s not forget it was in Ericsson’s lab.

The trio has said the speeds were achieved using three 20 MHz carriers of FDD (Frequency Division Duplex), which is certainly more efficient than previous trials. The 1.07 Gbps speeds were achieved by using 12 simultaneous LTE streams, which allow for up to 20% increase in peak data rates and capacity with a corresponding improvement in average speeds.