Band 71 question

[Carrie Greicar]

For those of you that have it in your area already, how did you know? Was your reception automatically better or did you have to update your phones in order for it to work? Did it work better inside buildings or where did you actually notice a difference? I think my area is supposed to get it early next year so was just curious. Thanks to all who respond.

 

[Rukbat]

If your phone has Band 71, you'll be able to access it when it's in use in your area. If the phone doesn't have it, you have to get a phone that does - you can't "update" hardware.

 

[Carrie Greicar]

If your phone has Band 71, you'll be able to access it when it's in use in your area. If the phone doesn't have it, you have to get a phone that does - you can't "update" hardware.

Thanks I guess what I meant by update was do a network refresh. I have a note 9 which does support band 71. I just wasn't sure if it was an automatic network switch or if you needed to refresh like in the old days when you'd dial *221.

 

[racedog]

When I got my S9+ it could pick up band 71. I noticed it INSTANTLY. The minute I turned on the S9+ my signal went from very marginal to a strong signal.

Previously my area only had band 2 (we are very rural), and our signal 2as usually -115dbm on a really good day to -118dbm. When I turned on the S9+ first thing I saw was a lot of signal bars so I went in and checked and was now getting -98dbm on band 71.

Turns out that band 71 had gone live in my area in late 2017 but my V30 didn't pick it up. The V30 was "supposed" to get band 71 but they don't

Band 71 has made a huge difference in data speed and overall quality of service.

 

[anon(5719825)]

For those of you that have it in your area already, how did you know? Was your reception automatically better or did you have to update your phones in order for it to work? Did it work better inside buildings or where did you actually notice a difference? I think my area is supposed to get it early next year so was just curious. Thanks to all who respond.

You'll probably only know if you had weak LTE signal in your area because that's where bad 71 helps. We have band 71 here in my area but my Note 9/S9+ has never connected to it because my signal is always amazing here.

 

[Carrie Greicar]

I have a good signal around town but in my office building it is horrendous. I am kinda hoping it helps with indoors.

 

[recDNA]

Does Boston area and suburbs have band 71? Do all new phones have it?

 

[soma4society]

Does Boston area and suburbs have band 71? Do all new phones have it?

The answer to your questions, in reverse order, are: no, not all new phones have the 600hz (71) band. The list that does is fairly small at present (OP 6T, Note 9, S9, and a few others). As for the first question you can go to TMobiles site and they have a list of cities where it's live so far. I think it's about 1300 cities and 32 states as of Sept 2018.

These rollouts usually take a while but TMobile has been fairly aggressive. Also, they were open about hitting the more rural areas FIRST with 600 and 700hz access, because historically that's where this company has been weakest.

 

[atlas9171]

Band 71 information can be found here, it can be slow to update so but it is usually pretty accurate. Boston does not have Band 71 yet.

600 MHz spectrum - Spectrum Gateway

 

[recDNA]

Oh I see. None at all in Massachusetts. That sucks.

 

[o4liberty]

I have band 71 in my area and on my phone and have never picked it up called customer service and they are worthless.

 

[racedog]

I have band 71 and am on it every day. What app are you using to know which band your phone is using?

 

[anon(5719825)]

According to that map, we have no band 71 here in Colorado yet. I found another map a few weeks ago that shows we have it in my state mainly on the southern and northern borders in rural cities which makes sense.

Lately, my phone has been connecting to band 66 which is pretty much the equivalent to band 4 so it really doesn't help much with improving coverage. I've only noticed my phone connecting to band 66 this past week when I had no service for about 10 minutes. When it resumed, it was on band 66.

Use LTE discovery to find out what band you are on. There are other apps too, this is just the only one I've ever tried.

 

[racedog]

I use Network Cell Discovery. I found that LTE Discovery didn't recognize band 71 well, maybe they've fixed that.

I've had band 71 for about a year and it has turned my service from very marginal to strong service in my area. I live in a very rural area and with band 71 tmo has better service that any of the other three carriers.