In the last few weeks, T-Mobile introduced its One plan for unlimited data and then tweaked it after customer complaints. For power users, T-Mobile’s claiming several tech advances that combine for a max download speed of 400 Mbps. But you’ll only get those blindingly fast rates using a Samsung Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge within one of 319 cities, and only after a pair of software updates by the end of October.
The first announced speed boost, 4×4 MIMO (multiple in, multiple out), alleges to double upload and download rates by increasing data paths between device and cell tower by twofold. According to T-Mobile’s post, that’s already active in 319 cities and will go live on the aforementioned Samsung phones after a software update later in September. This alone will double data speeds up and down.
But you’ll only get to that magic 400 Mbps max when using both new speed-augmenting technologies. The other one, 256 quadruple amplitude modulation (QAM) for downloads and 64 QAM for uploads, will be available nationwide with an end-of-October software update to supported phones. Like MIMO, it’s only available for Galaxy S7 and Edge, though more supported devices will be named later on.
