Int'l Frequencies for Blackberry Wireless Devices?

hargass asks: "My US-based company is entrenched in AT&T. Now, as we look to expand our Blackberry 'fleet' from 1 to 5 units, I am struggling to determine which model will best suit our needs. My options are: the Blackberry 7210, dual band (1900 and 900 MHz); and the Blackberry 7280, tri band(1900, 1800, and 850 MHz). My users travel internationally, from London to Sydney to Beirut, and so on. I've researched what frequencies are most used outside of the States, and it appears that the 900 band is the most prevalent. However, the 7280 tri-band model doesn't operate on the 900 frequency. Is the 900 MHz frequency on the way out? Are the 800/850 frequencies the wave of the future? What are the strongest bands in Europe? Internationally, how much will not having the 900 MHz frequency hurt?"

Comments

GSM Frequencies

[bob_dinosaur]

The standard GSM frequencies internationally are 900 and 1800MHz. 900MHz isn't on its way out - the 1800MHz band was introduced primarily to provide additional capacity.

900MHz and 1800MHz networks usually co-exist in any one country, though in countries with less capacity need or older systems, 1800MHz may not be available.

To the best of my knowledge no country operates 850 and 900 together (nor 1800 and 1900 for that matter). It's unlikely to be technically feasible, but it's a long long time since I've looked at specs for the radios on GSM phones.

1900MHz was introduced in the USA, as 900/1800MHz wasn't available. For the record, if you buy a tri-band phone outside the US it'll be 900/1800/1900.

Most used GSM bands.

[Gadzinka]

Whole EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and Asia uses 900/1800. There were also talks about using 450, but I don't know if anything came out of this.

Both 900 and 1800 are used concurrently. Because of signal propagation issues, the higher the frequency, the smaller (and more densely packed) are the cells.

Hence 1800 is used in urban areas and on communication lines, while 900 is used elsewhere. This whole deal with 450 was to use it in even less populated areas. Additionally, almost everywhere there is 1800 there is also 900 for people with old handsets, or American triband (1900/850/900). Most European handsets is dualband 900/1800 and European triband handsets are usually 900/1800/1900.

So, 900 isn't on the way out by any means. It's rather the most useful GSM freq in Europe.

Robert

GSM 900 all the way

[isaac]

Are the 800/850 frequencies the wave of the future?

Wave of the past, as in US analog frequency allocations being re-used for digital cel service.

GSM 900 isn't going anywhere. If your phone doesn't support GSM 900, don't expect to use it many places outside the US. It's that simple. GSM 1800 is the new kid on the block in Europe (like GSM 850 in the US), and is hardly available outside major cities elsewhere.

Basically, the GSM 900/1900 phone will work in many, many more places than the 1900/1800/850. The latter, however, will have better coverage within the US.

You should, however, make sure the Blackberry devices will function the way you want outside your normal coverage area. I don't know that you'll get the push email you expect in Sydney or Beiruit.

-Isaac

In the UK...

[stu_coates]

...the following frequencies are in use:

• 1800 - Orange
• 1800 - T-Mobile (and Virgin)
• 900 - Vodaphone
• 900 - mm02 (Cellnet)

The new 3G network "3" uses something else as well as piggy-backing on the mm02 network when there's no signal on their own.