Verizon's AWS data upgrade - DNA compatible?

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BBEgo

Senior Member
Sep 14, 2011
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346
I saw a blog via Blinkfeed today saying the Galaxy S4 would support Verizon's new AWS data band.
Will our DNA be able to use it?

Sent from my HTC DNA
 

greekmanx

Senior Member
Mar 30, 2010
55
14
verizon stated the S4 is the first device to support the new spectrum so no previous phone will get it and even the S4 will need a software update first
 

BBEgo

Senior Member
Sep 14, 2011
1,526
346
I hope the frequency change will improve the signal's ability to penetrate into buildings where I work. My service is magnificent, except for at work. There, it is positively dreadful.

Sadly, looks like it's a moot point anyway, til I upgrade to my next device.

Sent from my HTC DNA
 

jodell22

Senior Member
Mar 30, 2011
120
30
Burley, Idaho
www.odellhosting.com
Right now Verizon runs on 750 mhz which which is very good at penetrating buildings. The new freq they are moving to is 1.9 ghz and 2.1 ghz which will not penetrate objects as well or travel as far through open space. The higher the frequency the bigger impact objects, trees, and distance have on your connection. But higher frequency also allows for more throughput so look for better LTE speeds

Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Tapatalk 4 Beta
 
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Gorilla*

Senior Member
Nov 25, 2010
493
39
Tallahassee,FL
Aww shux

HTC DNA

---------- Post added at 02:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:39 PM ----------

Should have bought the gs4 aye?

HTC DNA
 

BBEgo

Senior Member
Sep 14, 2011
1,526
346
I'm wondering what Big Red and HTC will have in store for us in about 6 months.

Til then (thanks to this development community), I am quite happy with this phone.
I hope that Newt, Z, Nit, Vin, Micro, Joel, and all the other great devs here stick around for a while.

Sent from my HTC DNA
 

jodell22

Senior Member
Mar 30, 2011
120
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Burley, Idaho
www.odellhosting.com
Personally I think Verizon is crazy to be giving up 750 MHz spectrum to go with 1.9 ghz and 2.1 ghz spectrum. I think they're doing it because you can place more towers in closer proximity using higher frequencies than you can using 750 MHz. The signal traveling further in 750 MHz also causes you to interfere with yourself, so by going to higher frequencies they can place more towers, which enables them to distribute the bandwidth across multiple towers.

So look for higher speed capabilities, and also more consistent speeds. It should improve the reliability if they are in fact going to put up more towers. Just don't expect to get much better performance than ATT or TMobile inside, since these are similar frequencies to what they run on.
 
Jul 7, 2008
36
5
Personally I think Verizon is crazy to be giving up 750 MHz spectrum to go with 1.9 ghz and 2.1 ghz spectrum. I think they're doing it because you can place more towers in closer proximity using higher frequencies than you can using 750 MHz. The signal traveling further in 750 MHz also causes you to interfere with yourself, so by going to higher frequencies they can place more towers, which enables them to distribute the bandwidth across multiple towers.

So look for higher speed capabilities, and also more consistent speeds. It should improve the reliability if they are in fact going to put up more towers. Just don't expect to get much better performance than ATT or TMobile inside, since these are similar frequencies to what they run on.

They're not "giving up" anything. The AWS bands will be an overlay in congested areas.
 

jodell22

Senior Member
Mar 30, 2011
120
30
Burley, Idaho
www.odellhosting.com
They're giving up frequencies in the 700 MHz band that they acquired in 2008 in an auction. I'm not saying they are doing away with 700 MHz altogether, but they are giving up channels in the 700 MHz band. Hopefully the hand off between their "AWS" and LTE network (aws just being the license name of the frequencies) will be more seamless than the hand off from 3g to LTE. Otherwise we will have 3g, LTE, and "AWS" that our phones will search for and need to jump between. Every time you enter a building you'll drop AWS, try to get LTE, may or may not get LTE, then drop to 3g...
 

nrfitchett4

Senior Member
Oct 12, 2009
6,724
608
San Antonio
I hope the frequency change will improve the signal's ability to penetrate into buildings where I work. My service is magnificent, except for at work. There, it is positively dreadful.

Sadly, looks like it's a moot point anyway, til I upgrade to my next device.

Sent from my HTC DNA

They're not "giving up" anything. The AWS bands will be an overlay in congested areas.

GOD I hope they don't drop the 700 series down the road. I went with them strictly for the building penetration (I work in a hospital). T-mobile would give me zero signal indoors.
I can't see them giving it up completely until at least 2 years after they stop making phones those radios.
 
Jul 7, 2008
36
5
They're giving up frequencies in the 700 MHz band that they acquired in 2008 in an auction. I'm not saying they are doing away with 700 MHz altogether, but they are giving up channels in the 700 MHz band. Hopefully the hand off between their "AWS" and LTE network (aws just being the license name of the frequencies) will be more seamless than the hand off from 3g to LTE. Otherwise we will have 3g, LTE, and "AWS" that our phones will search for and need to jump between. Every time you enter a building you'll drop AWS, try to get LTE, may or may not get LTE, then drop to 3g...

They're giving up lower A and B block licenses that they never did anything with anyway, due to the antenna design issues. Their existing 700mhz footprint will be entirely unaffected.

I have to assume that cross-band LTE handoff is much more robust than failover to 3g. It has to be, if they're expecting to use this network as the basis of VoLTE.
 

jodell22

Senior Member
Mar 30, 2011
120
30
Burley, Idaho
www.odellhosting.com
Its all in how its handed off. If you think about it as going between 2.4 ghz and 5.8 ghz on a router using the same technology just different frequency the handoff isn't smooth at all. Time will tell.

Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Tapatalk 4 Beta
 

jodell22

Senior Member
Mar 30, 2011
120
30
Burley, Idaho
www.odellhosting.com
I'm not saying we have the right radio, I'm just saying we have the right antenna. Our antenna is tuned for the right frequency, but whether or not our radio can demodulate LTE at those frequencies is a whole different story. I don't know enough about cellular wireless technology to tell you for sure.

Also, I believe other carriers are already running close to 2ghz LTE networks, so I would expect to see speeds similar to theirs. I think ATT, TMobile, and Sprint are all licensed for LTE at around 1.7 ghz - 2.1 ghz

Personally I wouldn't buy the first phone capable of running between the two different bands until it's proven itself. And I hope our phone isn't capable of running in the new bands.
 
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Bsanborn

Senior Member
Dec 18, 2008
200
89
Google Pixel 5
OnePlus 9
Anyone know if our phone is capable of doing this? Verizon just rolled it out in Seattle (where I'm at) and my friend on his Note 3 had to go into his "Service Mode" and enable it manually but is getting 78megs down and 26 megs up (first test in a congested area). Here's a link to the article he had to read in order to enable it: http://forums.androidcentral.com/ve...enable-band-4-aws-sm-n900v-requires-root.html

After doing some searching it looks like we're SOL. Can anyone confirm? It's been a while since the last post in this thread so I am assuming things may have changed since this last post.
 

Johnson90512

Senior Member
Feb 7, 2010
150
6
Atlanta
Anyone know if our phone is capable of doing this? Verizon just rolled it out in Seattle (where I'm at) and my friend on his Note 3 had to go into his "Service Mode" and enable it manually but is getting 78megs down and 26 megs up (first test in a congested area). Here's a link to the article he had to read in order to enable it: http://forums.androidcentral.com/ve...enable-band-4-aws-sm-n900v-requires-root.html

After doing some searching it looks like we're SOL. Can anyone confirm? It's been a while since the last post in this thread so I am assuming things may have changed since this last post.

http://androidcommunity.com/verizon...206/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pulsenews
 

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    Right now Verizon runs on 750 mhz which which is very good at penetrating buildings. The new freq they are moving to is 1.9 ghz and 2.1 ghz which will not penetrate objects as well or travel as far through open space. The higher the frequency the bigger impact objects, trees, and distance have on your connection. But higher frequency also allows for more throughput so look for better LTE speeds

    Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Tapatalk 4 Beta
    1
    I'm not saying we have the right radio, I'm just saying we have the right antenna. Our antenna is tuned for the right frequency, but whether or not our radio can demodulate LTE at those frequencies is a whole different story. I don't know enough about cellular wireless technology to tell you for sure.

    Also, I believe other carriers are already running close to 2ghz LTE networks, so I would expect to see speeds similar to theirs. I think ATT, TMobile, and Sprint are all licensed for LTE at around 1.7 ghz - 2.1 ghz

    Personally I wouldn't buy the first phone capable of running between the two different bands until it's proven itself. And I hope our phone isn't capable of running in the new bands.