T-Mobile Rolling Out 600 MHz Low-Band Wireless (yahoo.com)

s122604 quotes a report from Yahoo Finance: T-Mobile, the third largest U.S. national wireless operator, has decided to roll out 600 MHz wireless spectrum in its footprints by this summer. Low-band spectrum is essential for wireless operators as the signals can be transmitted over longer distances and through brick-and-mortar walls in cities. Smartphones for this radio frequency are likely to be made available by Samsung and other manufacturers this summer.

Comments

Am I gonna need a new phone

[rsilvergun]

to get the benefit of this?

Re:Am I gonna need a new phone

[EvilSS]

to get the benefit of this?

Read the summary to find out

Re:Am I gonna need a new phone

[RubberDogBone]

to get the benefit of this?

Yes. There are no phones on the market that support it right now. Wait. Wait a year or two. Sooner than that and you might have a new phone but it's going to be a while before 600MHz has much deployment.

I was kinda hoping for software updates.

[rsilvergun]

My Blu HD R1 got one to do 4G LTE. A man can dream, can't he?

Re: I was kinda hoping for software updates.

[corychristison]

I just ordered one of those for my younger brother.

How do you like it? Any quirks or issues I should be aware of? Really can't go wrong for the price.

Too bad its a finance story, and not a tech story

[The Cisco Kid]

and contains no concrete details at all.

Next they will release shortwave phones

[jfdavis668]

Then we can get crappy reception all over the world.

Re:Next they will release shortwave phones

[Zontar The Mindless]

In *2006*, I was able to ring my mother in the US using my mobile from the beach on Koh Lanta Yai, half a world away.

Which decade did you say you were from?

Google Fi support?

[Guppy]

I'd be interested to know if MVNOs / GoogleFi will get access to this new 600MHz spectrum, once the phone support rolls out.

Re:Google Fi support?

[RubberDogBone]

I'd be interested to know if MVNOs / GoogleFi will get access to this new 600MHz spectrum, once the phone support rolls out.

They will, if they support the handsets that support 600MHz.

For Fi, this means whatever Nexus or Pixel or flavor of the moment phone Google is pushing at the time. Google tends to have the latest band support in their Fi devices. The Nexus line was among the first to support T-Mobile's Band 12 700MHz signals and it works with Fi too.

-Former Fi user with a Nexus 6 now on a T-Mo MVNO because it's much less expensive than Fi.

Re:Since when is T-Mobile the largest US carrier

[sexconker]

Since when is T-Mobile the largest US carrier

Uh...

T-Mobile, the third largest U.S. national wireless operator

Re:first cap

[Khyber]

It won't. You'll still be in a 20MHz slice of bandwidth. You'll eat it up just as quickly and they'l likely charge you more to recoup costs since this is new spectrum and this requires new radios and new phones.

Re:First SDR.

[Khyber]

SDR doesn't do shit when it comes to the physical limitations of an antenna.

Re:First SDR.

[speedlaw]

Thank you. I've seen dozens of articles about spectrum auctions, swaps, etc.....but they somehow almost never actually say XXX Mhz. The FCC went to a lot of work to clear out the former UHF TV band and give it to data providers. UHF TV, had it worked as intended, would have been dozens of OTA niche channels, like cable without the cable company. 600 mhz wont let you get away with a fractal antenna on a chip, though.

Re:More RF spectrum in private hands

[RubberDogBone]

It's more accurate to say it is in their trust. The frequencies belong to the United States government. They are effectively being leased and licensed to carriers like T-Mobile. Their use of the frequencies depends on keeping the licenses.

It is the same for TV and radio: the stations have a license to use their assigned frequency but they don't actually own it, and can have their license revoked if there is reason to do so.

Cablecos love it; destroy OTA TV 1 bit at a time

[knorthern knight]

First they took away UHF channels 70-83 (800 mhz band)

Then they took away UHF channels 52-69 (700 mhz band)

Now they're taking away UHF channels 36-51 (600 mhz band)

Re:First SDR.

[Khyber]

Well, you COULD go for quarter wavelength harmonics (2400/4=600) with current antennas (only needs to be 1.25 inches for that) and SDR but that's still going to have its own problems. Full wave would need an almost 20 inch antenna.

for tmobile the benefit isn't the long distance ra

[strstr]

tmobile already has adequate through wall penetration. they already have 700MHz spectrum in most areas.

however tmobile suffers from having virtually no spectrum compared to Sprint, Verizon, or at&t. they nabbed 20-50MHz of 600MHz in nearly every market in America enough to start a second LTE network up alongside their current one. with carrier aggregation they can double or triple speeds in most areas with this 600MHz spectrum.

https://www.trumpsweapon.com/

Re:Cablecos love it; destroy OTA TV 1 bit at a tim

[Known Nutter]

First they took away UHF channels 70-83 (800 mhz band)

Then they took away UHF channels 52-69 (700 mhz band)

Now they're taking away UHF channels 36-51 (600 mhz band)

Yes, we all long for the days of analog TV where you put the top knob on the U and then spin the bottom knob endlessly to get to channel 60 for reruns of the Andy Griffith Show.

If you were lucky, you had a little brother for a remote control. Good times.

Re:Cablecos love it; destroy OTA TV 1 bit at a tim

[Kenshin]

So sad for most of the US where people get maybe 4 OTA channels. /s

Anyway, they're reassigning television channels in most markets to make up for this.

Re:More RF spectrum in private hands

[squiggleslash]

It's the 600MHz spectrum, it's always been in private hands. The difference is now the service it's being used for is more democratic - that is, T-Mobile will allow you and me to use it for a small fee, whereas once upon a time it was for the exclusive use of some TV stations in your area..