Didn't want to start a new thread. Has anyone seen any benefits to having CDMA 800? I know Sprint is just beginning their vision (or whatever it's called) rollout. Just curious if anyone has seen improvements when it comes to building penetration. Signal strength is pretty important to me and I'm trying to get as much info on the EVO3D and Photon as I can before I switch from my Pre.
Good question. Heres how the break down is, somewhat simplified by the way.
the 800mhz spectrum does offer pretty good building penetration at somewhat higher power.
As you get to higher frequencies, the wavelength gets smaller and travels less farther on the same amount of power.
Great example, 1 watt of VHF 155.xxx, 1 watt off UHF 450.xxxx 1 watt of 800mhz, 1 watt of 1.8ghz, and 1 watt of 2.7ghz will all travel at completely different distances. The lower the frequency the greater it can travel.
However throw in building penetration. The higher the frequency the better building penetration. . UHF and 800 penetrate well but VHF not so well. Keep all of this in mind as well as the fact that as you get higher in frequency you are required to use less power. This is why cell phones use such little power, they are on a higher frequency, as well as constantly in use close to our bodies.
Heres a great example of FCC power limitations.
On VHF max RF output on a handheld device is 5 watts, UHF is 4 watts, 800mhz is 3 watts, 900mhz is 2.5 watts. .So you see a downward trend.
This is why our WiMax is having problems with building penetration, its a really high frequency and also at a lower power.
Well now that it is clear as mud were all good.
If and when they open the 800 band for LTE it will still be pretty low power but at least we should get decent building penetration and not have to fight other sources of RF interference.
Yup another crappy explination from yours truly.. Thank me later.