LTE/Cell
Long Term Evolution is a both a catch all phrase to some and to others a very particular set of technologies. Many marketing people speak of 3G, 4G and
5G networks. The Mobile Network is a heterogeneous (hetnet) integration of technologies.
Carrier |
4G LTE Bands |
Frequencies |
AT&T |
2, 4, 5, 17 |
1900, 1700 abcde, 700 bc |
Verizon Wireless |
2, 4, 13 |
1900, 1700 f, 700 c |
T-Mobile |
2, 4, 12 |
1900, 1700 def, 700 a |
Sprint |
25, 26, 41 |
1900 g, 850, 2500 |
Europe |
3, 7, 20 |
1800, 2600, 800 |
China, India |
40, 41 |
2300, 2500 |
Cellular Frequency Modulation types
- TDMA: In the simplest case we can imagine, each call gets a time-share of the complete frequency band. It's a bit like callers waiting in line for
a payphone. Each one waits until the phone is vacated by the previous caller, makes their call, and hands on to the next person.
- FDMA: With the total frequency band split up into smaller bands, we can imagine sending multiple calls in parallel. This is a bit like having four
payphones in a line; four callers can use them simultaneously. We could also run TDMA at the same time, dividing each of the smaller bands into
time slots.
- CDMA: We break each call into pieces, code them, and send them down any available channel. This makes much better use of our available frequency spectrum,
because none of the channels is idle at any time. However, channels have to be kept separate to stop them from interfering, which means our total
frequency band is used inefficiently.
- OFDMA: We set up our system so that we can, effectively, superimpose channels on top of one another, packing in even more capacity to give even greater
data speeds.