More Bands = Better Coverage/Speed?

[bossfan61]

Currently using an unlocked AT&T Galaxy S7 Edge with T-Mobile. I just did a comparison of the various bands on my AT&T S7 Edge vs. the T-Mobile version, and I noticed there is one additional 3G and 4G/LTE band on the T-Mobile model. Does this mean if I switched to the T-Mobile S7 Edge, my coverage and/or speed will improve?

On a separate note, I will be trying out the T-Mobile Galaxy S8 next week, and that model has several more 4G/LTE bands than the T-Mobile S7 Edge. Should I expect even better coverage/speed in this case, too?

Thanks!

 

[jasonandrews25788]

bands are just frequencies I think and it doesn't mean better coverage.
but the S8 should be faster as it has faster modem.

 

[modifier]

...and I noticed there is one additional 3G and 4G/LTE band on the T-Mobile model.

Which band is it? If it's UMTS band 4 (1700MHz) then this could give you coverage in 3G areas that they haven't yet converted to LTE.

 

[bossfan61]

The T-Mobile S7 Edge has the following extra two bands:
3G 1700 (AWS) and 4G 13 (700).

 

[modifier]

T-Mobile still uses UMTS band 4 (1700/2100 AWS) in a few places. But, unless you end up in 3G/3.5G mode often, chances are you'll never need it.

B13 isn't used on T-Mobile. They use LTE bands 2, 4, 12 and 71. Band 13 wound up in conflict with AT&T's 700MHz so TMO focused on 600MHz B71 instead.

Personally, I wouldn't switch phones just for 1700 AWS. Wait until you can get something with LTE band 71.

 

[bossfan61]

What about all these extra bands in the T-Mobile Galaxy S8:
4G: 8(900), 18(800), 19(800), 25(1900), 26(850), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500), 66(1700/2100).
LTE-A (4CA) Cat16 1024/150 Mbps.

 

[modifier]

If you're on TMO and roam on AT&T, you really only need LTE bands 2, 4, 12, 17 and eventually 71.

If TMO and Sprint end up merging, you'll also want LTE bands 25, 26 and 41 plus CDMA BC1 and BC10 — although I don't know how much they use the latter two.