Talk:GSM frequency bands

Question

hi.

i just want to ask a question. can a phone that supports freq. gsm 850/1900 be used in a country like nigeria that uses gsm 900/1800?

hi.

i just want to Know, countries in Europe where are using gsm 1800?

124 channels?

Hello, 890MHz - 915MHz spaced at 200KHz. That is: 915M - 890M = 25MHz.
Spacing is at 200KHz.
So, 25MHz / 200KHz = 125 channels, not 124.
Should this page be changed to say "125 channels" instead of "124"?

Hi, 124 is correct. Channel 1 is at 890.2 MHz center frequency, Channel 124 is at 914.8 MHz. 890.2 + (123 x 200 kHz = 24.6 MHz) = 914.8 MHz. :) JohnTechnologist 08:20, 24 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

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)[reply]

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)[reply]

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).[reply]

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).[reply]

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)[reply]

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)[reply]

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)[reply]

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

Support --Armando82 14:18, 17 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Survey - in opposition to the move

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)[reply]

Move done

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

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)[reply]