Methods, systems, and devices for modulation and coding scheme selection and configuration. A mobile communication device includes a table component, a table selection component, and a communication component. The table component is configured to maintain two or more tables each having entries for a plurality of available modulation schemes. The two or more tables include a default table and a secondary table. The default table and the secondary table have a matching number of entries, and the secondary table includes an entry corresponding to a 256-QAM scheme. The table selection component is configured to select a selected table from one of the default table and the secondary table. The communication component is configured to receive and process a communication from a base station based on a modulation and coding scheme of the selected table.