Talk:GSM frequency bands/Archive 1

Channel ranges and other data that may be of assistance

GSM-422? Shouldn't that be GSM-400 or 450? I'm no good at this sort of stuff, so I'll leave it to others to add in this info. Channel ranges: (These are "common knowledge") http://rfengineer.net/gsm_standard.htm . This page also contains the frequency calculations.

P-GSM 900 1 - 124 E-GSM 900 0 - 124, 975 - 1023 R-GSM 900 0 - 124, 955 - 1023 DCS 1800 512 - 885 PCS 1900 512 - 810 GSM 450 259 - 293 GSM 480 306 - 340 GSM 850 128 - 251

Also: http://www.mobileguru.co.uk/Mobile_Technology_Sec.html & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_Data_Rates_for_GSM_Evolution

Essentially, each channel is 200khz wide, and can provide access for 8 or 16 users, depending on the codec used. Users share the channel using TDMA coding. Each GSM channel has an effective data rate of 270kbit/s using GMSK modulation with a single user channel data rate of 9.6kbit/s. EDGE extends this to 473.6 kbit/s using 8-PSK modulation, extending the user single channel data rate to 48kbit/s. It is getting outside of the scope of this article, but it may be worthwhile briefly discussing the audio codecs used: FR, EFR & AMR; most commonly using ACELP algorithm to encode.

Also, is the Canadian coverage maps link required? This information is duplicated on the GSM World website. Although it may be as up to date, the information is updated on a regular basis. It also implies that anyone could add their own, this could get painfully long.

Phone frequency and FM radio frequency

Can a GSM pick up FM signals?no....

No, unless its an added functionality on that phone. The hardware required is completely different. BUT headphones can pick up "bleeps" when a nearby GSM phone receives/transmitts a text in my experience. 91.128.24.70 (talk) 09:38, 8 June 2009 (UTC)

1800/1900 GSM Standards

The are terms GSM-1800 and GSM-1900 used in article, but 3GPP specifications are using DCS 1800 and PCS 1900 instead. Maybe we should folow the specification, and also use DCS 1800 and PCS 1900 terms? Pan Camel 15:01, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

Battery usage

No change in battery life when regarding the frequencies? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Drakuun (talk • contribs) 17:12, 19 December 2006 (UTC).

Alright, last time I talked to an operator, he said battery life does depend on frequency as well. He says a different frequency also has more or less power usage, but I still don't know which takes more and which takes less. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Drakuun (talk • contribs) 12:50, 20 September 2007 (UTC).

battery usage would only depend mostly on moving from analog to a digital signal the power usage difference between AMPS and TDMA/CDMA can be quite noticeable as analog transmission is dependent on the strength of the signal, digital relies mainly on the presence or absence of the signal making it much easier and efficient to detect, the difference between TDMA and GSM would be negligible eg. minutes at most —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.222.241.253 (talk) 11:54, 4 January 2009 (UTC)

In theory the radio may require more energy at some frequencies than others but this couldnt be specified by theory only. Most important is the position of the mobile ( how far to the base station, which frequnecy bands it must use in this cell, whats in the way etc ). 91.128.24.70 (talk) 09:44, 8 June 2009 (UTC)

Radio waves or Microwaves?

I'm trying to find out if GSM uses microwaves or radio waves? Can anyone point me in the right direction. Thannks Bgog 14:59, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Microwaves are radio waves. Like light, it's all just electromagnetic radiation the only difference is frequency. Check out the article on electromagnetic radiation, I think the pictures of the frequency spectrum are especially helpful. Microwaves are typically defined as EM waves with a frequency between 1GHz and 300GHz, although some people define the lower limit as 300MHz or 3GHz. 25 January 2007, not logged in, sorry.

Requested move

GSM frequency ranges → GSM frequency bands — For uniformity with UMTS frequency bands. —Armando82 14:16, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Survey

Feel free to state your position on the renaming proposal by beginning a new line in this section with *'''Support''' or *'''Oppose''', then sign your comment with ~~~~. Since polling is not a substitute for discussion, please explain your reasons, taking into account Wikipedia's naming conventions.

Survey - in support of the move

1. Support --Armando82 14:18, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Discussion

Any additional comments:

'Frequency bands' is indeed the term 3GPP TS 45.005 is using, and I think it describes this article in the best way. So supporting, but due to few edits, I keep my comment only here. --Iwfi 07:53, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

Move done

The move has now been accomplished. --Armando82 17:48, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

Lost frequency bands

What about these exotic frequency bands such as GSM-480 and GSM-710? Are they in use? Why have they been specified? Does any operator/organization own these bands? Thanks, --Abdull (talk) 09:38, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

The frequncy bands are owned and then licensed/sold by the national government, but defined by international agreements ( ie internationally 900MHz is for mobile phones, but each country could use/give that band to anyone it wanted ). So most countires adapted similiar freq ranges for their phones. Critical is that the phone has to be designed and built for a given frequency band ( you can make a phone operate at more than one band but this increases the cost ). This means that countries allowing companies to use other bands must buy special phones which then cannot be used anywhere else. I guess that "GSM-480 and GSM-710" would mean "a GSM standard operating at 480MHz or 710Mhz" : this is non standard and would be expensive and these phones could not roam. In this case I guess a country has freed up this band and rented to space to a telephone company. 91.128.24.70 (talk) 09:55, 8 June 2009 (UTC)

Difference between bcch and 1800gsm frequency bands

what is the difference between bcch and 1800gsm frequency bands —Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.100.112.203 (talk) 09:49, 29 January 2010 (UTC)

Difference between bcch and 1800gsm frequency bands

What is the difference between bcch and 1800gsm frequency bands —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tamilking143 (talk • contribs) 09:55, 29 January 2010 (UTC)

Getting long in the tooth

In Multi-band and multi-mode phones section: ..A new addition has been the quad-band phone..

I own a Cingular Motorola V400 quad-band phone since 2002 AD, so that's not a "new addition". It is decidedly ancient, by mobile phone standards. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.48.14.209 (talk) 01:01, 30 August 2011 (UTC)

Even in the part where it isn't long in the tooth, it is inaccurate.

  "This allows the same handset to be sold for AT&T Mobility, Verizon, and Sprint in the U.S. as well as a broad range of GSM carriers "

There are actually three models of the iPhone 5 - see Apple's iPhone 5 LTE specs. Yes, the A1429 CDMA can work on AT&Ts network, but if you go to an AT&T store, you will get an A1428.

Frequency numbers

It is worth to notice that channels are numbered by 1800.0 not by 1,800.0 as now is being done. I did try to fix this. But the change got reversed. Even if this is clearly wrong by whoever did change this back. I am not going to go into the trouble of changing my correction back. But I am going to refer to SI guide on the matter, http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/pdf/sp811.pdf

Jonfr (talk) 22:27, 21 July 2012 (UTC)

There is a difference between the way the band is represented, e.g. GSM-1800, and the way the frequency is represented, e.g. 1,800 MHz. Wikipedia's manual of style for numbers WP:MOSNUM is quite clear that commas are used in large numbers. Neither this article, nor any other mobile phone article, is exempt from that numbering requirement--Biker Biker (talk) 07:38, 22 July 2012 (UTC)

More specifically, Wikipedia:MOSNUM#Delimiting_.28grouping_of_digits.29 says that commas should be included if there are five or more digits to the left of the decimal point, and are optional if there are four digits. --92.27.34.75 (talk) 14:32, 12 February 2013 (UTC)

GSM-1800 and DCS-1800

GSM-1800 and DCS-1800 are the same band. It is best to use just one of these. In the text GSM-1800 is used (almost everywhere). I suggest two changes: 1) In the table change from DCS-1800 to GSM-1800. 2) Change from the incorrect "Fewer operators use DCS-1800 and GSM-1800." to "Fewer operators use GSM-1800."

Thanks! Lars M — Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.76.85.199 (talk) 15:43, 25 February 2013 (UTC)