T-Mobile’s G4AR Home Internet gateway now supports 5G Standalone (5G SA) service. This 5G SA implementation should provide a decent boost in upload speeds for T-Mobile customers with the correct gateway, and it lays the groundwork for future, more dramatic improvements.

All smartphones on T-Mobile’s network receive 5G SA service, which in layman’s terms is best described as “pure” 5G. There are no fallbacks, concessions, or hybridizations to 5G SA—it’s just a straight 5G connection without smoke or mirrors.

But T-Mobile Home Internet utilizes LTE networking for uploads. It isn’t “pure” 5G. This non-standalone (NSA) approach made sense when 5G was in its infancy, as it reduces 5G congestion by offloading uploads to the LTE spectrum (and therefore increases reliability for all customers). It’s also something that very few customers will notice, since upload speeds are relatively unimportant when web browsing, streaming, or performing other common tasks.

Of course, the drawback to 5G NSA is that upload speeds are naturally quite limited, so large file uploads are slow, video calls are choppy, and online gaming can be a bit choppy. Plus, because LTE networking isn’t available in every city, 5G NSA artificially limits T-Mobile Home Internet availability. A 5G SA implementation is far more desirable.

Customers on the r/tmobileisp subreddit say that the G4AR 1.00.13 firmware update, which added support for 5G SA, began rolling out on March 22nd. And although some customers saw no noticeable changes in network performance after the update, others reported a mild boost in upload speeds. Some customers also claim that their connections are more stable when gaming or streaming, though stability improvements likely depend on 5G quality within a given area.

Increased T-Mobile Home Internet availability may also come as a result of this update, as 5G SA eliminates the requirement for LTE coverage. But T-Mobile hasn’t announced an expansion of its service. In any case, if we’re going to talk about the future benefits of 5G SA, we should focus on carrier aggregation and network slicing, which are arguably the most exciting aspects of this update.

Carrier aggregation has the potential to deliver multi-gig wireless speeds by combining multiple 5G channels into one. In an experiment conducted last year, T-Mobile managed to achieve a 3.6Gbps connection through aggregation—a genuinely incredible feat that challenges the dominance of wired internet, although it isn’t something we can take advantage of today.

As for network slicing—well, a network slice is just a provisioned segment of a network that isn’t impacted by external congestion. For example, police and other first responders on the “T-Priority” mobile network slice do not encounter reductions in speed when the broader T-Mobile 5G network is experiencing peak usage. T-Mobile could offer similar network slices for business or government customers through 5G SA home internet service, though it could also use network slicing to build priority-access subscriptions for everyday consumers who require maximum speed or reliability.

To reiterate, T-Mobile 5G SA service is currently limited to the G4AR gateway and requires the 1.00.13 firmware update. Other T-Mobile gateways may gain 5G SA functionality in a future update, though this hasn’t been confirmed by T-Mobile. The carrier has not implemented any carrier aggregation or network splicing features for Home Internet customers, nor has it announced a service expansion into new markets through 5G SA.

Source: r/tmobileisp via The Mobile Report