Millions of Sprint customers using a handful of devices just got an upgrade.
A Sprint spokeswoman on Tuesday said the carrier flipped the switch on three-carrier aggregation, pushing out automatic updates to enable the technology on six new devices.
According to the spokeswoman, Sprint customers using the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge, LG V20, and LG G5 received the update on Friday. The move raised the total number of three-carrier aggregation-enabled devices on Sprint’s network to seven; HTC’s Bolt recently launched with three-carrier aggregation enabled out of the box.
The spokeswoman said a total of 13 devices are three-carrier aggregation capable, but the carrier has yet to enable the feature on the other six devices.
The Sprint spokeswoman said the upgrade across all seven devices covers approximately 20 percent of Sprint’s postpaid base. The technology is capable of delivering peak download speeds of more than 200 Mbps on compatible devices, compared to two-channel carrier aggregation’s top speeds of more than 100 Mbps, the spokeswoman said
Sprint announced the first deployments of three-channel carrier aggregation back in September, with rollouts in Chicago and Kansas City, but noted automatic software updates to enable the technology on devices would come at a later date.
While two-channel carrier aggregation is available in more than 250 markets nationwide, Sprint said three-channel carrier aggregation is now available in more than 100 markets, with expanded deployments on the way.