September 2018
Hi. I am planning on buying a phone (NOKIA x6) It seems like the only bands that will work with FIDO LTE are 2100 and 2600. I am missing 700 and 1700 on the phone.
Do I need all 4 bands to make it work? Or can I work with just 2 bands?
I also read that Fido uses "mostly" 2600 for LTE, is that correct? If this is the case, I guess it should work...? Any help or advise is appreciated! Thanks!
Solved! Go to Solution.
September 2018
Hello Joshbautista,
Welcome to the community!
Firstly, it's a little more clear-cut if we discuss bands (ie band 7 or 17) rather than frequencies (ie 2600MHz or 700MHz, respectively).
Fido currently uses the following for LTE (see here)
@joshbautista wrote:...It seems like the only bands that will work with FIDO LTE are 2100 and 2600. I am missing 700 and 1700 on the phone.
I mentioned that bands are a little more precise because that phone likely refers 2100 as band 1 rather than the compatible band 4 (ie missing 1700). So if those are the LTE specifications, that phone would only have one compatible band or frequency.
No, a phone does not need to have all of the compatible bands/frequencies to work on the networks. However, coverage depends on corresponding bands/frequencies available at your surrounding cellular towers. Not all bands/frequencies are used at all cellular towers. You can get an idea of your surrounding cellular towers here. Fido/Rogers' main LTE band/frequency is band 4 (1700/2100 MHz). The other bands are additional bandwidth.
In addition, it should be noted that the different bands/frequencies have varying characteristics. For example, the higher frequencies generally have a greater potential bandwidth than the lower frequencies (see table here). On the other hand, the higher frequencies tend to decay faster. That is, they do not travel as far, nor penetrate as well as the lower frequencies (see graphic here).
So that phone should work on the LTE network. However, I personally wouldn't chose a phone with a limited band/frequency compatibility.
Hope this helps
Cheers
October 2018
Thank you so much for the detailed answer! This is a big help!