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9:35 pm
July 12, 2009
Offline
I have a European 3.5G phone that is quad band. for the GSM channels.
So I know it will work fine with Speakout. It has both the North American and European channels installed.
It has the following GSM frequencies: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
However it has the following 3G frequencies: HSDPA 900 / 1900 / 2100
To be fully compatible with the Rogers and/or Fido (and I'm assuming Belus) networks it should have the North American Channels: HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100 -- American version
The phone works and finds 3G here in Victoria -- so obviously there is coverage here on the 1900 or 2100 Mhz band.
Does anyone know where I can find maps that differentiate what channels are used where in the Rogers (and Belus if possible) systems. Google and the Rogers Site find coverage maps that tell me where the 2G/GSM network is the only option, and where the HSPDA network is available -- but there is no differentiation of which individual frequency ranges are used where.
The Bell/Telus system is even more cut and dried -- since they don't have a 2G GSM system the maps showing coverage for their iPhones and other HSPDA services are the only places those phones will work -- but again no differentiation as to where each of the channels may be used.
There are a couple of potential options that I see.
1) If the two systems are completely duplicated, that would provide some diversity and system security to prevent lost and dropped calls.
2) Since the propogation will be better (with some bandwidth loss) at the lower frequencies it might make sense to use the 850 MHz channels in rural areas to reduce the number of repeaters. That is what I understood to be the difference in how the two channel groups in the basic (2G) GSM networks were deployed.
I'm going traveling next week and was curious to see if I could expect less 3G coverage than that shown on the Rogers Maps.
7:33 am
April 22, 2009
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None of the big carriers will do the 2100 mhz frequency as of yet. Wind mobile can, but you need an AWS phone. The 2100 mhz frequency is alloted differently in North America than in the rest of the world. It seems the only working 3G frequency that European phone is has 1900 mhz.
Almost certainly, all Rogers towers do 1900 mhz because of FIDO. FIDO only had a 1900 mhz licience, then Rogers bought it out, I think it is a safe bet all Bell/Telus towers also do 1900 mhz everywhere also, especially since the whole network got a complete overhaul last year. The 1900 mhz band gives the carriers much more bandwidth, they would be crazy not to use it.
As for better range, technically 850 mhz should be go further. But the by law, the carrier have to fine tune their transmitters and antenna so that the signal gets to where intended to be sent. That could mean detuning the 850 mhz band in some cases. If the carrier is doing their job, there should be little difference between the range from 850 mhz or 1900 mhz. As you would guess, there will always be exceptions and variables, but that is the goal.
2:08 am
July 12, 2009
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Thanks for the info.
My post had a couple of errors in it that I fixed up.
Yes it would make sense that the carriers would use the channels that would give the most bandwidth. That means that my European phone should work on 3G anywhere Rogers has 3G -- which is good news.
There are always lots of variables as soon as you get radio frequency signals involved. I started making my living servicing radios and fine tuning transmitter and antenna systems in the 1960's and did it for a lot of years.
In my early days we thought that anything over 400mhz ran as much on superstition and luck as on electronic principles.
