Tag: band

Cellular Industry Lingo – What do those terms mean?

The cellular industry and all the jargon surrounding it can be rather confusing at times. There’s also so many cellular products to choose from that it can be difficult to determine what features you need. In effort to help you better understand, we’ve outlined some important terms and how they relate to the way cellular technology works. 

LTE Categories

You may have heard the term “Cat” before when it comes to Ethernet cables (e.g. Cat 5, Cat 6), but what about when someone is talking about cellular? “Cat” refers to the category of a 4G LTE modem (5G does NOT use categories). 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) is a cellular technology in which both voice and data service can operate.

Categories are used to define the performance specs of the LTE device. They range from 1 to 22 and differ with regards to the frequency band support as well as the upload and download speeds they are capable of running. For example, Cat 1 modems can download at up to 10 Mbps (megabits), while Cat 22 modems are going to receive download speeds of up to 2.5 Gbps (gigabits).

What is MiMO?

Some other differences between LTE categories is the number of antenna connections they use. Categories 1 through 4 are all going to have a main and diversity/ auxiliary port. This is called a MiMO connection (2×2 specifically). MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) is a technology used in wireless communication systems to improve the capacity and performance of the communication link. MIMO systems use multiple antennas at both the transmitter and the receiver to transmit and receive multiple data streams simultaneously over the same frequency band. 

In the case of 2×2 (Cat 1-4) or 4×4 MIMO (Cat 6 and higher), there are two or four antennas at both the transmitter and the receiver, which allows for the transmission of two or four data streams in parallel. This can significantly increase the capacity and performance of the communication link, especially in environments with high levels of interference or noise.

Cat 1, up to Cat 4 support a limited number of frequency bands. They can only connect to one frequency band at a time. This is why some users can get away with having only one antenna attached to the main port of these modems – there’s enough usable signal and bandwidth with just one. 

In comparison, devices using category 6 or higher – known as LTE Advanced modems – can connect to 2 or more frequency bands at the same time. They will also support more frequency bands and utilize carrier aggregation, as it is typically called. This allows LTE Advanced modems to pull in more signal and bandwidth when there are multiple frequency bands available in the area. 

Carrier Aggregation

Carrier aggregation is a technique used in wireless communications that allows a mobile device or wireless modem to combine or “aggregate” multiple wireless channels or carriers into a single, wider channel in order to increase the data transfer rates and overall capacity of the connection. It is often used in the context of 4G (LTE) and 5G cellular networks.

Here’s how carrier aggregation works:

  • A mobile device or wireless modem is equipped with a multi-channel receiver that can receive and transmit data on multiple frequency bands or carriers.
  • The device is connected to the cellular network through a base station, which is equipped with multiple antennas that transmit and receive data on different carriers or frequency bands.
  • The device and the base station communicate with each other to determine the best combination of carriers or frequency bands that can be aggregated to form a single, wider channel.
  • Once the carriers are aggregated, the device and the base station can communicate with each other using the combined channel, resulting in increased data transfer rates and overall capacity.
  • Carrier aggregation is an important technique for improving the performance of wireless networks, especially in areas where there is a high demand for data and the available spectrum is limited. It allows mobile operators to offer faster and more reliable data services to their customers, and it can help to improve the coverage and capacity of cellular networks.

Interested in learning more about cellular? Reach out to us via phone, email, or chat!

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5G Frequency Band Information

With the growing 5G coverage and release of more 5G modems on the router market, we thought it would be nice to ring in the new year with some facts about 5G frequency bands. 

  • Low-band 5G operates between 600-850 MHz. This is similar to what 4G networks currently use and is only moderately faster than 4G, between 50-250 Mbps offering similar coverage areas for each cell tower. Not all cities and regional operators are deploying low-band 5G towers; some are opting to start with mid-band towers. Even so, it’s possible for a 5G device to connect to a low-band 5G network and achieve speeds similar to 4G/LTE.                                                                       
  • Mid-band 5G operates in the 2.5-3.7 GHz range and delivers speeds between 100-900 Mbps. While offering less range per cell tower, this type of 5G is going to be the most common implementation of 5G networks for many years to come. It’s a reasonable compromise between network speed and range in both medium-density urban areas and less dense rural regions. 
  • High-band 5G is the band that is most commonly associated with 5G. Operating at 25-39 GHz, this is known as the “millimeter wave” spectrum and delivers gigabit speeds (some tests have shown as high as 3 Gbps). The tradeoff is that millimeter wave transmitters have very limited range and require the deployment of many small transmitters, so it’s only viable in urban areas where transmitters can be near closely spaced homes and buildings.
  • ISM Band (Industrial, Scientific and Medical band) This is not usually discussed, but it is a part of the radio spectrum that can be used for any purpose without a license in most countries. In the US, the 902-928 MHz, 2.4 GHz and 5.7-5.8 GHz bands were initially used for machines that emitted radio frequencies, such as RF welders, industrial heaters and microwave ovens, but not for radio communications. In 1985, the FCC Rules (Part 15.247) opened up the ISM bands for wireless LANs and mobile communications. In 1997, it added additional bands in the 5 GHz range under Part 15.407, known as the Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII). Europe’s HIPERLAN wireless LANs use the same 5 GHz bands, which are titled the “Broadband Radio Access Network.” Numerous applications use the ISM/U-NII bands, including cordless phones, wireless garage door openers, wireless microphones, vehicle tracking and amateur radio.

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To Be, or Not to Be 5G…

That is the question indeed, on many of our minds! Much like the confusion around AT&T and T-Mobile’s 4G HSPA+ – an update to 3G, but not quite comparable to LTE performance – carriers are leading customers to believe they’ll be getting all that 5G service has been promising – faster speeds and lower latency. However, that’s not quite the case. 5G operates on many different bands, some of which are simply repurposed from LTE. This makes it typically better than LTE, but not quite at the level of 5G (or at least our perceptions of what it should be). 

So what about the coverage maps showing 5G service? And your phone says 5G sometimes, right? Here’s what that can mean…

  • 5G running on Low Band spectrum is the slowest, but it has the advantage of considerable range
  • Mid-band can’t travel as far, but is faster
  • High Band spectrum, which is sparsely available, may travel only a mile but is by far the fastest.

An analysis done by OpenSignal released last week found that their testers connected with T-Mobile 5G just 34.7% of the time, AT&T 16.4% of the time and Verizon just 9.7%. And that’s generally not for the fastest 5G service.

In comparison, the numbers shown have quite a significant difference to what the carriers promise about 5G in their advertisements. This just goes to show you that not everything advertised is in fact true. Carriers admit they are still working on their 5G networks and that there is quite a bit of “dishonesty in advertising.” Still, we can see in the fine print how they manage to get away with it. Though, you wonder for how long? 

National Advertising Division – a division of the independent non-profit organization BBB National Program – has criticized claims made about 5G by all three of the companies. “5G right now is (in) the fake it until you make it stage,” said Harold Feld, of advocacy group Public Knowledge which promotes affordable communication, adding that when new technology is developed, advertising often gets ahead of actual deployment.

For more on this story, head to the Washington Post.

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