Carrier aggregation is a way for a cellular modem to use two radio frequency bands simultaneously instead of one – like adding a second lane to a motorway. The result is roughly double the peak throughput compared to using one band alone.
In industrial routers, this matters for high-bandwidth applications: video surveillance uplinks, large FOTA packages, or real-time industrial data streams. In 5G Sub-6 GHz, dual carrier aggregation (2CC CA) can push peak downloads above 4 Gbps under ideal conditions.
- Most useful at sites where one band is congested but a second is available on the same tower
- The modem handles band selection and combining automatically
- Benefits vary by operator network configuration and signal conditions
- Paired with MIMO antenna setups for best performance