European operators Vodafone, Telefónica, and EE have all started testing LTE-Advanced, and are aiming to offer wireless connectivity speeds exceeding 200Mbps. But the hardware isn't as speedy: A lack of devices means commercial services will have to wait.
While LTE is still in its infancy in many parts of the world, operators have started to test LTE-Advanced, which uses a handful of technologies to increase speeds even more. Last week, Vodafone and Telefónica in Germany announced small-scale trials of the speedy technology in Dresden and Munich, respectively. The two join British operator EE, which announced a test in London's startup cluster Tech City earlier this month.
All three are taking advantage of a feature called carrier aggregation to improve speeds. It allows networks to devote more resources to some users by treating two channels in the same or different frequency bands as if they were one. The amount of frequencies used decides the maximum bandwidth. EE is using two times 20MHz to reach 300Mbps, while Vodafone and Telefónica are using one 10MHz channel plus one 20MHz channel for up to 225Mbps.
But carrier aggregation isn't just about theoretical top speeds: Implementing the technology will also mean improved, although lower, speeds even for users who haven't got the perfect coverage needed for the highest speeds, said Per Narvinger, head of Ericsson's LTE radio products, in an interview earlier this year.
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