Community update: The 850 MHz issue

Jon openmoko at snowulf.com
Tue Nov 6 03:36:05 CET 2007


On Nov 5, 2007 6:23 PM, Michael Shiloh <michael at openmoko.org> wrote:

> That's a good point, Tupshin. You (and the community) can guide us as we
> try to figure out how to proceed.
>
> How many of you must have 850 MHz support, and would be satisfied with
> an 850/1800/1900MHz variant, and how many of you  must have full
> quad-band?
>
> Please put your answers on
>
> http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Talk:November_6%2C_2007_Community_Update
>
> Michael
>
>
I've already put myself down on the list for the 850 tri-mode.  That'll work
"good nuff" for me.  But I also did some digging around on GSM  World to
hopefully answer my questions and others.  If you take a quick look at
http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/cou_us.shtml which is the US list
for GSM based operators, you will see it is universally 850 or 1900 (or
both).  In the case of AT&T you can take a quick look at the two coverage
maps:  850:  http://www.gsmworld.com/cgi-bin/ni_map.pl?cc=us&net=b2  and
1900:  http://www.gsmworld.com/cgi-bin/ni_map.pl?cc=us&net=be

>From what I can see in the maps for AT&T is that 850mhz isn't as well rolled
out, but where it is, has better coverage.  1900mhz is better deployed, but
seems to be spotty when it comes to the fringes.  But the short version is
that without 850 access on the moko, I personally would be unable to use
half the towers around here.  I'm going to go as far as saying that 850 is
critical for U.S. GSM.

I'd suggest everyone find their country on GSM World:
http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/index.shtml and check their
providers.  Unfortunately some of the maps don't differentiate between 850
and 1900 (for example Rogers Wireless in Canada).  The other two Canadian
carriers listed, and the Mexican seem to be 1900 only.  So it looks like the
US just wants to be different, as usual.

-Jon
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