Bell Labs BLAST Off With New 3G Chips

Bell Labs has new prototype chips that can increase 3G network speeds from 2 megabits per second to 19.2 megabits per second. The chips use a method called multiple input/multiple output (MIMO) to split a single user's data stream into four substreams. The advantage of the MIMO method is that the chips are very small and low power but provide significant transmission boosts. While this all sounds promising, it seems pretty far given that few real 3G networks have yet achieved 2 megabits per second.

Filed Under: 3g