What effect will the new spectrum purchase have?

[trophynuts]

T-Mobile buys Verizon’s Lower 700MHz spectrum to enable broad-coverage 200Mbps LTE | ExtremeTech


What affect will this have on T-mo's network? Will it offer better indoor penetration? Will it do anything for the rural areas that have little to no coverage?
Or will this spectrum strictly only expand the LTE portions of Tmo? TIA

 

[Bodycount]

I like it. T-Mobile will be in more places in Michigan. So when I travel to my parents or the inlaws I'll finally get some 4G speeds instead of 28.8k modem speeds lol.

 

[kate]

700Mhz does provide better indoor penetration compared to higher frequencies, yes.

 

[jhawkkw]

If T-Mobile rolls this out, it will improve coverage in areas they deploy it significantly. It would be the lowest frequency spectrum rolled out by any carrier thus far and thus would travel longer distances and penetrate buildings better than any frequency currently deployed. However, IIRC, the original stories said that T-Mobile only bought this spectrum in some of the largest metro areas. So it will help out those areas, but unlikely rural areas. The real story will be when the entire 600 MHz block of spectrum is auctioned off this summer.

 

[DirtyDee]

This will make my Atrix HD work better indoor with LTE

 

[mogelijk]

If T-Mobile rolls this out, it will improve coverage in areas they deploy it significantly. It would be the lowest frequency spectrum rolled out by any carrier thus far and thus would travel longer distances and penetrate buildings better than any frequency currently deployed. However, IIRC, the original stories said that T-Mobile only bought this spectrum in some of the largest metro areas. So it will help out those areas, but unlikely rural areas. The real story will be when the entire 600 MHz block of spectrum is auctioned off this summer.

If you look at the map, they could actually cover most of California, East Texas, Northern Colorado, Minnesota, most of Michigan, northern Georgia, Northwest Missouri, parts of Ohio, most of Florida, and several states along the East Coast. Of course, the other side of this is the interference issue in Channel 51 areas.

It seems like it would really help T-Mobile, particularly their reputation, if they could get those areas covered with 700 Mhz LTE.

 

[jhawkkw]

Too bad upstate ny isn't covered.

 

[chong67]

Low freq means it will travel further. Its the same with 2.4 ghz vs 5 ghz that is on your router. 2.4 ghz travel further.

 

[Deleted User]

I wonder how many current phones will benefit from this. I have a Nexus 5 and it doesn't work on 700 MHz, so even if T-Mobile turned on 700 right now, I wouldn't benefit from it.

 

[jhawkkw]

I wonder how many current phones will benefit from this. I have a Nexus 5 and it doesn't work on 700 MHz, so even if T-Mobile turned on 700 right now, I wouldn't benefit from it.

I don't think any phone currently on the market supports band 12 lte.

 

[DirtyDee]

Wait so my Atrix won't ? So just because my phone has LTE radio in the 700 means it will not gain it? Because it is too old?

 

[jhawkkw]

Wait so my Atrix won't ? So just because my phone has LTE radio in the 700 means it will not gain it? Because it is too old?

The 700MHz block is broken up into multiple bands. Band 12 is what t-mobile just bought, band 13 is what Verizon runs its main lte on, band 17 is what AT&T runs it's main lte on. There's a 4th band, but I don't remember it off the top of my head. Just because a phone lists 700 as a compatible frequency doesn't mean it's compatible with all 4, only that it's compatible with at least 1 band.

 

[codesplice]

Wait so my Atrix won't ? So just because my phone has LTE radio in the 700 means it will not gain it? Because it is too old?

The 700MHz block is broken up into multiple bands. Band 12 is what t-mobile just bought, band 13 is what Verizon runs its main lte on, band 17 is what AT&T runs it's main lte on. There's a 4th band, but I don't remember it off the top of my head. Just because a phone lists 700 as a compatible frequency doesn't mean it's compatible with all 4, only that it's compatible with at least 1 band.

Also check out this page on phonearena which lists the specifics of the Atrix HD radio - it supports only Band 17 LTE on the 700MHz range; Band 12 won't work with that device.

While we're on that subject, I did a quick search on phonarena for any/all devices that support 700MHz Band 12 LTE, and got three results: ZTE Imperial, Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini, and Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3.

 

[trophynuts]

good feedback. I did read in another article that the Channel 51 interference would be an issue. I think it said the FCC has mandated that by 2015 there should be no Channel 51's. Some markets have already gotten rid of channel 51 so hopefully that would help with the rollout.


The phone support though is a great point. With no phones yet having that band built in i see this being a year at least until it is truly beneficial.

 

[Carolina Media]

Most of the ch 51 issues will be resolved later this year and T-Mobile should have service up and running on the spectrum by the end of this year as well.

In addition to helping with building penetration in those markets, it will also help T-Mobile broaden its coverage to include the outer suburbs and exurbs of those markets which may currently have spotty LTE coverage or EDGE. It won't solve the rural coverage issue as it looks like the only rural areas it covers are in California and parts of Colorado. That's what the 600mhz auction from next year comes in.

Too bad none of the 700mhz covers Charlotte or any other parts of North Carolina. T-Mobile could really use some rural LTE here.

 

[trophynuts]

Most of the ch 51 issues will be resolved later this year and T-Mobile should have service up and running on the spectrum by the end of this year as well.

In addition to helping with building penetration in those markets, it will also help T-Mobile broaden its coverage to include the outer suburbs and exurbs of those markets which may currently have spotty LTE coverage or EDGE. It won't solve the rural coverage issue as it looks like the only rural areas it covers are in California and parts of Colorado. That's what the 600mhz auction from next year comes in.

Too bad none of the 700mhz covers Charlotte or any other parts of North Carolina. T-Mobile could really use some rural LTE here.

hopefully the next round of phones that come out will have radio's to support said frequencies.