T-Mobile Boosts LTE data speeds by 50 percent before Uncarrier 8.0 event

By Malarie Gokey December 15, 2014

T-Mobile termination fee refund 12 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Any New Yorkers with T-Mobile who noticed faster LTE data speeds over the weekend weren’t imagining things. T-Mobile confirmed on Monday that wideband LTE is now available in New York City and the surrounding metropolitan area.

The Uncarrier boasts that its wideband LTE boosts network speeds as much as 50 percent. Some customers’ data speeds reached 100 Mbps and up. According to T-Mobile, that’s fast enough to download a 90-minute HD movie in just three and a half minutes or a whole album in about nine seconds. The carrier estimates New Yorkers use about 2.6 GB of data each month, and before now, download speeds averaged around 22.2 Mbps. It seems that data speeds are about to get a lot faster in the city — that is, until you reach your high-speed data limit, at which point speeds will slow.

T-Mobile’s wideband LTE officially covers customers in Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Long Island, and Northern NJ. Westchester County and Central New Jersey will soon join in on the fast data.

In other news, T-Mobile teased yet another Uncarrier event for December 16 shortly after it announced wideband LTE for NYC. It gave no hints as to what its famously outspoken CEO John Legere will reveal during a live webcast with Yahoo Tech’s David Pogue, but it’s clear he has something big planned for the Uncarrier 8.0 event. The CEO will also answer questions sent to @TMobile with the hashtag #Uncarrier8. T-Mobile’s webcast starts on December 16 at 10:30 a.m. EST, and we’ll be reporting on the event, so stay tuned.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

As DT's Mobile Editor, Malarie runs the Mobile and Wearables sections, which cover smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, and…

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