Band usage distribution: Three

ED E

Hey all,

Tempted by a handset with limited band support so I thought I'd look at how terrible that'd be.

H3G:
800Mhz - 0
900Mhz - 1229
1800Mhz - 1229

Telefonica Ireland Limited:
800Mhz - 2
900Mhz - 1894
1800Mhz - 0

As far as I can tell these figures were valid in 2013 but dont incorporate any changes since then, especially relevant when Three have been prepping to merge both MNCs together.

Anyone with any figures on current prevalence of each band?

For reference

http://www.comreg.ie/_fileupload/MLU1006.pdf
http://www.comreg.ie/_fileupload/MLU1008.pdf

PS: Why oh why did they use bloody eastings and northings...

The Cush

ED E wrote: »

Anyone with any figures on current prevalence of each band?

800/900/1800 MHz liberalised licences (2/3/4 G) - http://www.comreg.ie/radio_spectrum/search.541.874.10031.0.rslicensing.html
2100 MHz licences (3G only) - http://www.comreg.ie/radio_spectrum/search.541.874.10003.0.rslicensing.html

ED E

Thanks Cush but I'm looking at actual deployment vs licensing to deploy. I've since realized that I can test it myself (at least in Dublin, rural may vary) and unfortunately it looks like Band 20 is a non zero part of 3's network which is disappointing.

Gonna do a little more "surveying" tomorrow just to be sure.

ED E

So far from the sites I've hopped on:
Band 3(✓): 11
Band 20(✘): 19

So from this brief test it seems three favor 800Mhz (may be biased by extended coverage of low freq) but it certainly rules out many asian handsets. Dang.

clohamon

You could request the operators' annual licence compliance reports from ComReg, or request a dump of the current siteviewer data, both under AIE Regulations. Not sure which is more unreliable.

ED E

Interesting, would be a good approach if I needed more than an a one off indicator. If results were exclusively B3 in Dublin then that'd be great way to get rural results without a long road trip.

Rockin

clohamon wrote: »

You could request the operators' annual licence compliance reports from ComReg, or request a dump of the current siteviewer data, both under AIE Regulations. Not sure which is more unreliable.

interesting - a siteviewer dump could be very useful to the wider community!