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Forum > Regional > Americas > Why are US frequencies different from the rest of the world?

Author Why are US frequencies different from the rest of the world?
Hlcn Twst
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Posted: 2006-08-22 15:54
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Why do we use 850 and 1900 MHz, while the rest of the GSM world is 900 and 1800 MHz? And why are they using 2100 MHz for 3G, while the US is planning 1700 MHX (IIRC)?

Is this a matter of frequency legacy? E.g., in the US, was some other class of devices already using 900/1800/2100 MHz before GSM came to the US?

It seems crazy that once we have 3G, "world" phones will have to be 6-band
Scorchio
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Posted: 2006-08-22 17:13
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It's a very good question......

Mind you, I'm surprised it happened. As America were amongst the slowest to dump Analog for GSM, they should have seen the benefits of adopting the same frequencies as Europe and Asia.

It's annoying, but then so is DVD regions and PAL vs poorer quality NTSC

I guess it all boils down to American's wanting to be different. Whether that's a good thing or not, I'm not so sure.
The car in front is absolutely unique apart from the one behind it which is exactly the same. Murray Walker
Marino
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Posted: 2006-09-19 01:33
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It’s not the American wanting to be different it’s the Bandwidth Allocation. When ITU implemented the 2100 MHz Bandwidth, that certain frequency is already been used by either military or Satellite communications.

So we are stuck with UMTS 850/1900 MHz Bandwidth. Benefits wise, yeah we’re not able to use the full extent of Asians or Europeans made UMTS units because of the frequency but the unit will still function on GSM mode.

Service wise, probably in close proximity, like those nitty-gritty GPS navigation/locator, Corporate Email, VPN (remote access), Streaming Videos, News, Traffic Minutes to Minutes up date, On-Star (the only thing this wireless can’t do is to change your oil in your car). But are you aware using lower frequency can do better signal penetration in-building coverage and cost reduction for mobile operators?

Plus changing bandwidth is too expensive it will cost the mobile operators for billion of dollars to get a license to operate on certain bandwidth allocation.

You might be right UMTS phone needed to be 6 bander to be fully Universal.
akaPartyman
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Posted: 2006-09-23 20:03
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Yea i agree!!

I moved over from the UK to the USA, and i wasnt too happy with Sprint & Nextel, Verizon not being GSM!!

Americans always have to be different dont they!!hehe
bnk0430
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Posted: 2006-10-02 23:54
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I still say americans wanna be diff than other.
cellcorner
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Posted: 2006-10-11 06:19
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It must be a rhetorical question

Well, America is different in many ways.
It's been almost a hundred years since the world adopted metric system, except for the US. Kilogramms, liters and meters are so much easier then pounds and ounces.
Temperature is mesured differently as well, date format is to say the least strange (MM-DD-YEAR instead of DD-MM-YEAR).
Sometimes i am surprised that time here is measured in hours and minutes like the rest of the world .

TV format...Mobile phone systems, bands...
should i go on?
Is it about conservatism and traditions or the ocean is to blame?
Who knows, that's rhetorics.

I do care about the fact that we are 10-20 years behind Japan in technology (mobile at least). But maybe I am one of the few who does.

You won't beleive how many of my customers have phones that date back into 90s, with black and white screen, no WAP or internet.
..."This phone was in my pocket when i went to the prom and hugged, Cindy"...

They definitely don't care about live TV stream on their phone.
Hence we have iDen, CDMA and TDMA abandoned by the rest of the world


Marino
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Posted: 2006-10-21 00:26
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10-20 years behind, that's overly exaggerated number, where did you get your data?

Since you are associated with the customers or dealing with the cell phone, have you ever open a so-called high-end non-American cell phone?

You will be surprise inside the unit are 50% or more are American technologies. Lets just dissect the K-Jam I-mate for example the processor alone is a TI, running on Windows Operating System. ARM processor on P900 series using Tornado/VxWorks, is that a 10 to 20 years behind technology? To me that is more of borrowed technology!
Kimoscar
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Posted: 2006-11-15 08:49
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America just wannabe different in everything they do.It all boils down to wanting to be d best u know!
jingboyx
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Posted: 2006-11-15 12:16
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Yeah, thats right they wanna be unique. When the whole world plays soccer, they have to invent American football
Dups!
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Posted: 2006-11-15 13:10
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Quote:

On 2006-11-15 12:16:02, jingboyx wrote:
Yeah, thats right they wanna be unique. When the whole world plays soccer, they have to invent American football


Ha! ha! ha!
strizlow800
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Posted: 2006-11-15 17:17
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Well, the americans wanna be unique, but they limited the option to use mobile phone from other country or continent on their network, so it is bad minus for them losing their customers .
Marino
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Posted: 2006-11-16 00:09
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Quote:

On 2006-11-15 17:17:14, strizlow800 wrote:
Well, the americans wanna be unique, but they limited the option to use mobile phone from other country or continent on their network, so it is bad minus for them losing their customers .



You might be right, America limits its option to use the mobile phone to other country. You know why? We have the best replacement warranty there is! Just tell the insurance carrier that you lost your phone and submit a police report they will replace your phone the next day.

Imagine if the whole world has the same Cell Phone Options?


@ jingboyx

soccer comparing to Football , well, I don’t know about that? maybe its fun for you to watch soccer and its too BORING for the american but what's the soccer got to do the cell phone?
banki3z
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Posted: 2006-12-12 06:38
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Quote:


You might be right, America limits its option to use the mobile phone to other country. You know why? We have the best replacement warranty there is! Just tell the insurance carrier that you lost your phone and submit a police report they will replace your phone the next day.




They always give u a cheap phone....
Marino
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Posted: 2006-12-14 20:04
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@ banki3z

Of course if you have a cheap phone they will replace it with a cheap phone. Plus why bother getting extra protection insurance if your unit is below $300.
GSM Puritan
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Posted: 2006-12-16 00:18
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I love going to the US and using the metric system, lol. "Whats that in Fharenheit, or miles"? I don't know, its coming at you in celcuis and meters, if you can't convert too bad, the rest of the world is using it.


And totally true about that dates, MM-DD-YY???? Sunday the first day of the week????? Everyone knows that Sunday was the 7th day, God's day of rest, so it must be the last day of the week.
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