[SOLVED] Is band 12 important?

Hadesfriend · August 9, 2016, 5:35pm

Im converting over to t mobile and am looking at getting a new phone. I was talking with one of my friends who was insisting that i need a phone with band 12 support. I did some research and having found anything extreme definitive about how much of a benefit it is. Any thoughts on it?

Hadesfriend · August 9, 2016, 6:01pm

well im guna be on wifi all day so i shouldnt have any issues with that then.

blaxa · August 9, 2016, 6:11pm

Android Central:

. First, band 12 penetrates structures and walls substantially better than band 4, which should improve indoor reception, as well as in built-up urban areas, by leaps and bounds. Secondly, band 12 offers much greater range. This allows T-Mobile to expand their coverage in rural and less populated areas without having to resort to putting up more towers. Band 12 has its own weakness; bandwidth. Band 12 is a lot tighter than band 4, so it can't support as many concurrent users (or data speeds that are as high).

Why is it rolling out now? Well, T-Mobile had to go in and tweak the hardware in their towers to be able to use band 12. Not to mention that phones had to support it (both HW and SW). But there's one other factor. The frequencies that make up band 12 were kind of stolen from UHF television stations... I think it was all part of TV's shift to digital signals some years back. But there were still several hold-outs... and if there was a UHF station that used the frequencies, T-Mobile couldn't roll out band 12 within something like 100 miles. I know that here in Massachusetts, we just recently (August) had band 12 go live as they resolved a conflict with a UHF station in Rhode Island. The same happened around NYC as well. So now it is rolling out pretty much across the US.

What does this mean for all of us? Well, for most of us (and most of the time) we'll still be on band 4. That will not change. But if you pop into Walmart, or drive out of town to go cut down the Griswald Family Christmas Tree, you might notice (if you use an app like LTE Discovery) that your phone will switch over to band 12 as your band 4 connection starts to degrade. Band 12 is not a replacement for Band 4, it is there to augment 4 and kick in when the situation calls for it.

If I understand correctly it is only important if you live at the edge of a coverage zone.

http://www.t-mobiletowers.com/TowerSearch.aspx

Hadesfriend · August 9, 2016, 6:33pm

but is it going to really benefit me in any way? Im on wifi all day and am in a fairly populated area (a town of over 170k people), one that does have t mobile coverage and has for a while.

blaxa · August 9, 2016, 6:37pm

If your phone does not have WiFi Calling enabled and you are in a building that Band 4 can't easily penetrate, sure, it's important. WiFi Calling isn't always reliable due to a number of constraints and considerations.

PhaseLockedLoop · August 10, 2016, 12:56am

Band twelve penetrates better primarily because of its frequency

Generally the idea is the lower the frequency the better the penetration but the lower the amount of throughput per channel and vice versa

Its secondarily penetrates thanks to a better modulation and data going through materials can be error corrected for better.

To delve into the complexities this requires knowledge of constellation points etc

I LOVE IT WHEN PEOPLE ASK RF QUESTIONS .. feel free to make any number of threads about questions like this and @ me into it

Bottom line does it matter? yes if you live in areas that arents along interstates or in bigger cities. Band 12 is used in the rural locations alot. It would be nice IF tmobile puts up technical maps lol

We have a real world success story with @kewldude007 experiencing sub standard wireless performance before upgrading to a phone with band 12 support. He then upgraded and he has a full set of bars. It makes big difference when roaming. It IS however slightly slower and requires more channel bonding for the same amount of throughput

Hadesfriend · August 10, 2016, 1:03am

i ended up with the honor 5x, it supports band 12 so i think i should be in good shape, thanks for the info though.

PhaseLockedLoop · August 10, 2016, 1:04am

your welcome

@MisteryAngel @Destroyed007 @Kat @Novasty

[SOLVED]