Multicarrier EV-DO and EV-DO Revision B (Rev. B) are evolutionary steps from CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Rev. A that further enhance the broadband user experience and increase network capacity through a software and hardware upgrade, respectively. Through the aggregation of multiple 1.25 MHz Rev. A channels, software-based Multicarrier EV-DO enables data traffic to flow across a greater bandwidth to improve user data rates and latencies on both the downlink and uplink, as well as increase system capacity through trunking efficiencies. With the option of implementing a new channel card, EV-DO Rev. B further increases the peak data rate in the downlink to 14.7 Mbps in a 5 MHz channel and increases the capacity of the uplink by up to 65 percent through techniques such as interference cancellation.

The Rev. B standard was published by the Third Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2) under document number 3GPP2 C.S0024-B and by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) and Electronics Industry Association as TIA/EIA/IS-856-B. Rev. B was included in the CDMA2000 IMT-2000 standard by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Multicarrier EV-DO became commercially available in January 2010.

Key features of Multicarrier EV-DO and Rev. B include:

• Multi-mega-bit-per-second Broadband Speeds: Multicarrier EV-DO and Rev. B peak data rates are proportional to the number of carriers aggregated. The standard supports the aggregation of up to 15 channels in 20 MHz bandwidth, yet the most common configuration is an aggregation of three carriers within a 5 MHz channel. In this implementation, the Multicarrier EV-DO software upgrade delivers a peak data rate of 9.3 Mbps in the downlink and 5.4 Mbps in the uplink, and with a Rev. B hardware upgrade, the peak data rate in the downlink increases to 14.7 Mbps.
• Higher Spectral Efficiency: Another benefit of the increased bandwidth is greater spectral and network efficiencies. The multi-carrier implementation allows high aggregate data rates to be transmitted with less energy per bit which in turn reduces interference and increases overall spectral efficiencies. In a 5 MHz channel and with a hardware upgrade, Rev. B achieves spectral efficiencies of 0.840 bit/sec/MHz and 0.486 bit/sec/MHz in the forward and reverse link respectively.
• Very Low Average Latency: Below 35 milliseconds node-to-node, RTT - making it ideal for delay-sensitive applications.
• Advanced Quality of Service (QoS): Supports the prioritization and delivery of individual packets based on the type of application or user profile. These mechanisms ensure a consistent, high-quality user experience.
• All-IP: Like EV-DO Rel. 0 and Rev. A, Multicarrier EV-DO and Rev. B networks provide operators with service flexibility and higher bandwidth efficiencies, which translate into greater control and significant cost savings.
• Advanced Services: With multi-mega-bit-per-second broadband speeds, Multicarrier EV-DO and Rev. B can offer advanced broadband connections in the mobile environment and support bandwidth-intensive applications. They also allow operators to consider the deployment of “hot zones” where the demand for data is high in densely populated areas. The lower latencies improve the performance of delay-sensitive applications such as VoIP, push-to-X (talk, video, music, etc.), video conferencing, concurrent voice and multimedia services and 3D multiplayer online gaming. They also incorporate enhanced OFDM-based multicasting capabilities to enable the delivery of rich multimedia content.
• Backwards Compatibility: Multicarrier EV-DO and Rev. B networks support existing Rev. A and Rel. 0 applications and devices. The upgrade from Rev. A to Multicarrier EV-DO requires a simple software upgrade in the network. For the enhanced performance of Rev. B, a new channel card is required. Rev. B handsets will operate on the Rev. A and Rel. 0 networks. Rev. B is backwards compatible with 1X and cdmaOne systems through multi-mode devices.