T-Mobile LTE-U Rollout Coming this Spring Sharing Spectrum with WiFi

T-Mobile has been beating up on the bigger carriers in the mobile industry and forcing those other carriers to do things they really don’t want to do. Those new unlimited plans at Verizon are thanks to T-Mobile success with it own unlimited plans. T-Mobile is now set to deploy some new wireless technology around the US called LTE-U.

LTE-U is tech that shares unlicensed spectrum with your WiFi signals. LTe-U uses 5GHz frequencies and the deployment by T-Mobile comes after the approval of the first devices supporting LTE-U by the FCC. The FCC approved LTE-U tech after noting that use of the spectrum for mobile devices wouldn’t interfere with WiFi networks common all around the country.

“With LTE-U, starting this spring, T-Mobile customers will be able to tap into the first 20MHz of underutilized unlicensed spectrum on the 5GHz band and use it for additional LTE capacity,” T-Mobile noted after the FCC approved LTE-U tech. LTE-U is important according to T-Mobile because the tech will help the carrier with its plans to offer gigabit LTE speeds.

LTE-U equipment made by both Ericsson and Nokia has been approved by the FCC for use by wireless carriers. “LTE-U devices and equipment intelligently tap into and share underutilized unlicensed spectrum without affecting other users on the same band, including those using conventional Wi-Fi,” T-Mobile said. “LTE-U constantly seeks the least utilized channels to maximize efficiency and performance for everyone. As demand on the Wi-Fi network increases, LTE-U backs off, and as Wi-Fi demand wanes, customers can tap into that unused capacity for LTE.”

LTE-U isn’t without its detractors though. Michael Calabrese of the New America’s Open Technology Institute said, “Whether LTE-U proves to be helpful or harmful to consumers remains to be seen. Risking a tragedy of the unlicensed commons so that carriers can reduce their costsand potentially begin charging subscribers for using unlicensed spectrummay well turn out to be a big setback for ubiquitous and more affordable wireless connectivity.”