With today’s network enhancements and bug fix update for the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+, Telus has added support for quad-band LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) service, allowing for theoretical data speeds of up to 750 Megabits per second.
In practice, customers can likely expect to see mobile data speeds in the range of 22 to 174Mbps — like those promised by Bell in its recent announcement of support for quad-band LTE-A in late April.
The close timing of these two announcements is likely no coincidence, considering Telus and Bell have a long-held infrastructure sharing agreement.
At the time of Bell’s announcement, however, the carrier had yet to push a software update that would allow S8 and S8+ users to take advantage of the new, faster speeds.
In a statement from a representative, Telus says it is “the first network in North America capable of delivering quad-band LTE Advanced (LTE-A) service on the Samsung Galaxy S8.”
However, Bell recently rolled out an update to the S8 and S8+ that is somewhat obscure and could possibly carry the same enhancements, though it only explicitly noted security enhancements and what appears to be an RCS-type feature.
Update 02/06/17: Bell has confirmed to MobileSyrup that it launched its software update on June 1st and that users can expect an average download speed of 174Mbps. A carrier representative also notes that contrary to Telus’ statement, Bell believes it was the first to deliver quad-band LTE-A service on the Samsung Galaxy S8.
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