Shoud I Care about 850mhz?
I was always under the impression that it was imperative to have a 850mhz capable cell phone to use in the US. I knew that it would work, but only in the 1900mhz areas, but I just came across this: http://www.gsmworld.com/cgi-bin/ni_map.pl?cc= us&net=be and if I understand that correctly 1900 has the same if not more coverage in the US.
I read that south american countries are the only ones who use soley 850 can anyone talk more about that?
Thanks
I read that south american countries are the only ones who use soley 850 can anyone talk more about that?
Thanks
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Lets just say it's good to have both 850 and 1900. Different areas have different coverage, so if you have both you won't have to worry. If you don't have both, you won't get reception everywhere you go because different companies use different bands and roam off of each other.
A quad-band (850/900/1800/1900) phone will give you world wide coverage, whereas a dual-band (850/1900) will get you GSM anywhere in the States.
A quad-band (850/900/1800/1900) phone will give you world wide coverage, whereas a dual-band (850/1900) will get you GSM anywhere in the States.
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thank you for the response, but did you look at that coverage map, and even roaming partners map? 1900 is in the same and more places than 850
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OK i I remember right 850 MHz is a shorter wave length and can penetrate the buildings. so in the cities it is better and the 1900 can travel over a farther distance. So most carriers will use both.
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That is right crash, The shorter the wave length is the better the penetration. However, I have noticed that the 850 used for 3G is not the same. I tested a new Nokia phone that only had the 850mHz band on the HSDPA side and it had terrible penetration into a building that my N95 with both 850/1900mHz HSDPA has.
@ Jstick I would be best to make sure you have a quad band device as the Northeast varies in its coverage of the two bands (850/1900). Depending on what part you live. I live in western PA and we are more 1900 but if you go further east/northeast in the state you start to get into the 850mHz areas. I know what you mean though, it seems that all the good devices are only tri-band. It sucks that SE doesn't make more quad but ...
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@ Jstick I would be best to make sure you have a quad band device as the Northeast varies in its coverage of the two bands (850/1900). Depending on what part you live. I live in western PA and we are more 1900 but if you go further east/northeast in the state you start to get into the 850mHz areas. I know what you mean though, it seems that all the good devices are only tri-band. It sucks that SE doesn't make more quad but ...
(continues)
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Jstick said:
thank you for the response, but did you look at that coverage map, and even roaming partners map? 1900 is in the same and more places than 850
With AT&T there are some places that do not use 1900MHz for GSM and HSPA with 850MHz. 1900MHz is currently in use in about 40% of the AT&T Mobility footprint and broadcasting UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA. I would caution you to get a quad-band phone as this mix is ever changing 😉
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so if i am getting what you are saying...you are just referring to 1900 w/ 850 3g...your saying that combo is only 40% right now.
cuz im just concerned with the northeast us.
thanks all.....and why cant SE just make everything quad band!!!
cuz im just concerned with the northeast us.
thanks all.....and why cant SE just make everything quad band!!!
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sorry to bump my own thread, but is it correct in saying that t-mobile operates on just 1900 (not including fellow roaming companies)
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T-Mobile now has 850 in some portions of the Carolinas, Georgia and Puerto Rico and the USVI. This is due to the SunCom buy who got it as a deal for the Virginia assets a while back.
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Where I live in Georgia in order to have a working phone you must have a 850mhz phone. It will not work. I am about 1 and 30 minutes from Atlanta and if you have a 1900mhz it will work. Crazy! We have customers who buy international unlocked phones that do not have 850mhz...say it works when they are in Atlanta...but when they come back to where I am at...they wont work.
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now that example is exactly why i am confused. if you look 850 and 1900 maps on GSMworld.com 1900 far surpasses 850 coverage in georgia?!?!?!!?
1900: http://www.gsmworld.com/cgi-bin/ni_map.pl?x=6 &y=3&z=2&cc=us&net=be
850: http://www.gsmworld.com/cgi-bin/ni_map.pl?z=2 &x=6&y=3&cc=us&net=b2
1900: http://www.gsmworld.com/cgi-bin/ni_map.pl?x=6 &y=3&z=2&cc=us&net=be
850: http://www.gsmworld.com/cgi-bin/ni_map.pl?z=2 &x=6&y=3&cc=us&net=b2
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