Summary

Part of "The Mother of All Network Benchmarktests" Series of Reports

SRG just completed its 42nd 5G benchmark study. For this endeavor we tested several “new” 5G uplink features (UL-CA, UL-MIMO, PC2, and PC1.5) that are designed to improve coverage / capacity / spectral efficiency. We did the testing in T-Mobile’s 5G SA network in Seattle, WA using two pairs of Motorola razr / razr+ 2024 smartphones. Nokia is the RAN infrastructure supplier in this market.

Highlights of the Report include the following:

Our Thanks. We did this study with the support of Accuver (XCAL5 and XCAP) and Spirent Communications (Umetrix Data). SRG is responsible for the data collection and all analysis and commentary provided in this report.

The Good News. All 5G uplink features we tested worked to our expectations. UL-MIMO and UL-CA delivered higher throughput than possible with a single layer / channel. UL-MIMO also increased spectral efficiency by an average of up to 50% across the full range of RSRP. Higher power class amplifiers (PC2 and PC1.5) increased network coverage and helped extend the range over which UL-MIMO achieves two layers. Further, UL-CA and UL-MIMO are more current efficient, meaning the higher throughput more than offset the higher battery current resulting in longer battery life.

The Bad News. To date, these features are hard to come by, especially outside of China. 5G SA is an important requirement as well. We tested UL-MIMO back in 2021, yet to this day very few smartphones support it. There are flagship smartphones on the market today which don’t support UL-MIMO and/or UL CA. Likewise, the adoption of PC1.5 and PC2 amplifiers has been limited, although to be fair, PC2 is relatively new to the market. There is a cost associated with the additional plumbing in the smartphone and updated software in the RAN infrastructure, but given the corresponding performance gains, they seem like a no-brainer.

The Test Methodology. Motorola provided us with two pairs of razr / razr+ smartphones. Within each model, one smartphone supported its full suite of uplink features while the other smartphone had these new features disabled, making it easy to conduct an apples-apples study.

Next up. The uplink features don’t stop here. Soon there will be support for switched uplink, which will make it easier for the smartphone to seamlessly switch between UL-MIMO and UL-CA while taking full advantage of each feature’s capability. 3Tx introduces 3 transmitters in the smartphone or FWA CPE, thereby enabling concurrent support for both UL-CA and UL-MIMO. Stay tuned.