Super Fast Data Uploads Are Coming Soon

Verizon, Samsung, and Qualcomm had a 5G breakthrough

By
Stefanie Fogel
Stefanie Fogel
Stefanie Fogel
Writer, Editor, Commerce Producer
  • University of Central Florida
Stefanie Fogel has written about consumer technology since 2009. Her work has appeared on Variety, Engadget, Polygon, and many other online publications.
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Published on October 14, 2021 03:14PM EDT
Fact checked by
Rich Scherr
Rich Scherr
Fact checked by Rich Scherr
  • University of Maryland Baltimore County
Rich Scherr is a seasoned technology and financial journalist who spent nearly two decades as the editor of Potomac and Bay Area Tech Wire.
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Verizon, Samsung, and Qualcomm achieved upload speeds of 711 Mbps during a recent lab trial, the three companies announced on Thursday. It potentially could impact how we use the internet in crowded public spaces, the workplace, and at home.

While the companies say they've recorded multi-gigabit download speeds in testing before, this is the fastest they've reached while uploading data to the network. They achieved this milestone by using aggregated bands of millimeter wave spectrum (mmWave). Also known as "extremely high frequency," mmWave is the spectrum band between 30 GHz and 300 GHz. Commonly used in airport security scanners, military radar, and scientific research, it's also starting to see use in 5G networks.

Woman's hand using smartphone against illuminated financial district in the city, with the concept of 5G communications technology.

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Super-fast upload speeds mean people can send video and pictures to the cloud or social media quicker, or share data directly with others in densely populated areas like downtown streets, concerts, and football stadiums, the companies said.

They also can make online collaboration between students or employees easier. Meanwhile, businesses potentially can use the uplink speeds in their private networks for quality control, security, and augmented reality customer experiences.

As 5G becomes more ubiquitous, mmWave likely will see more widespread adoption, as well. Adam Koeppe, Verizon's senior vice president of technology planning, said his company is "doubling down" on the technology.

Someone taking pictures and holding a map in the winderness.

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"You will see us continue to expand our mmWave footprint to deliver game-changing experiences for the densest parts of our network and for unique enterprise solutions," he said in the press release. "We had over 17K mmWave cell sites at the end of last year and are on track to add 14K more in 2021, with over 30K sites on air by the end of this year, and we'll keep building after that."

Qualcomm used its new Snapdragon X65 5G Modem-RF System for the lab trial. Built for phones, mobile broadband, 5G private networks, and more, it will start turning up in commercial mobile devices by late 2021, the company said. 

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