I had posted a table earlier about the LTE UE Categories here. Just came across the 3GPP official UE Categories table today as shown in the picture above.
It would be very interesting to see a device supporting 4x4 MIMO later that can be useful in transferring high amounts of data.
I wonder about the data rates that will be available for mobile users. In the table we see the peak rates, that are usually not available for normal use in mobile. So, what is the expectations for LTE for data rate for normal use?
ReplyDeleteI wonder about data rate for ordinary use in LTE, not a peak rate, but usual.
ReplyDeleteThe practical data rates will depend on lots of factors but will typically be 4Mbps to 24Mbps. See http://www.3g4g.co.uk/LteA/LteA_Pres_0909_3GAmericas.pdf page 14.
ReplyDeleteLink didnt come properly so try here
ReplyDeleteHi Zahid, looking for formal definitions of LTE UE categories found your nice blog.
ReplyDeleteInteresting Q: may UE exhibit different categories in UL and DL?
The question is caused by the fact UL Cat3 and Cat4 is the same..
Hi Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteYou have to look at it the other way. You specify that a UE is category 3 or category 4 and the technical people will immediately know what the UL and DL rate it supports and not vice versa. Hope, Im clear.
Zahid
Hi Zahid, thanks again for coming to my rescue :) I was just wondering if the UE categories is due to processing limitations of UE or RF limitations. Kindly enlighten me. Thanks in advance.
ReplyDeleteHi Anonymous (I am sure you can give your name the next time :),
ReplyDeleteThe reason for UE categories is to create UE with different specifications mostly for cost reason (Developing world) but also in cases where higher category UE may not be required.
Take for example a network thats rolling out LTE only in hotspots and its going to limit the max DL speed to 10Mbps. In this case Cat 1 UE is more than enough. Even if you have higher Cat UE, it wouldnt give any extra advantage.
Similarly Cat 5 UE is very high end and my guess is that the form factor will have to be slightly bigger for this. It could be inbuilt in netbooks and laptops but will be difficult to put in a phone due to 4x4 MIMO.
Hope that gives an idea.
Do you know what is the expected DL/UL throughout for TDD UE cat-2 config -1 special subframe-3 ?
ReplyDelete