Result of turning on "Carrier Aggregation" on HUAWEI P9

Result of turning on "Carrier Aggregation" on HUAWEI P9

By huaweicomputers
21/11/2022

HUAWEI P9 supports "Carrier Aggregation (CA)", which uses multiple frequencies simultaneously. The specs say "B1+B19/B3+B19/B1+B3/B1+B8/B3+B8" as a combination.

Since the SIM I am using is a BIGLOBE SIM that uses NTT Docomo lines, Band1 (2.1 GHz) + B19 (800 MHz), Band1 (2.1 GHz) + Band3 (1.7 GHz) Band3 (1.7 GHz) + Band19 ( 800MHz) should be available in three combinations.

Enable

If the carrier's smartphone supports CA, and if communication is more efficient using CA, it will automatically connect to CA (I've heard). When I thought that HUAWEI P9 would connect without permission, I found an item called "carrier aggregation" in the "mobile network" setting. It was off by default and had to be turned on manually.

By default, "Carrier Aggregation" is turned off. When turned on, such a notice is displayed. After selecting 'Enable', the '4G' display on the antenna changes to '4G+' when it connects to carrier aggregation that needs to be restarted

I wanted a slightly faster communication speed, so I turned it on. However, I don't feel like I'm getting any faster. Also, my honest impression is that there are surprisingly many places where you can't connect to CA.

So, I compared the communication speed with CA turned on and off at a place connected to CA. I've only tested it in a few locations in Tokyo, including Shinjuku, Shibuya, Jiyugaoka, and Futakotamagawa. Rather, it is also faster to turn off CA .... The only places where I could really feel the benefits of speeding up by CA were the Fukutoshin Line Shibuya station platform and the south exit of Jiyugaoka station.

I used a free app called "Speed Test" (developed by SpeedSpot.org) for the measurements. This is the result when the CA is turned on at Shibuya Station on the Fukutoshin Line.This is the result when the CA is turned off at Shibuya Station on the Fukutoshin Line.

The main purpose of CA, whose downlink speed has been cut in half, is to use the bandwidth without gaps and to communicate efficiently. This is what I've heard from interviews so far. Depending on the location and time of day, it may be possible to speed up with the effect of CA, but at least in the scope of my activities, I can't expect too much. However, I'm hoping that it will be easier to connect, and I'm thinking of continuing to use it with CA on.

As an aside, there are still few people who know the word "career aggregation" and its meaning. People who buy Huawei terminals and don't know "carrier aggregation" will probably continue to use it with it turned off. I wonder if there should be some kind of explanation. I'll make a suggestion next time I do an interview.