The individual user experience or throughput during a data session is key to wireless customer satisfaction. Insight into this value is not easily obtained. For example, “sample” experiences obtained through drive tests are moderately representative at best; moreover, coarse site measurements such as total data downloaded are insufficient. As the Evolution‐Data Optimized (EV‐DO) standard provides contention‐based access, user throughput can always be improved via carrier addition; however, the absence of specific measures, as well as a means of projecting improvements, makes targeted carrier addition difficult. Using available Alcatel‐Lucent site (“service”) measurements, we demonstrate a means for assessing individual user experience and projecting its improvement upon carrier addition. These results are employed within a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network to implement carrier addition for targeted sites. We assess this strategy via analysis of pre‐ and post‐add network field data, showing that carrier addition not only improved the user experience as anticipated, but unleashed pent‐up data demand. © 2011 Alcatel‐Lucent.