You’ve probably heard by now about the new “blazing fast” LTE wireless networks the wireless companies are building. LTE is the new wireless standard to which all Canadian carriers are expected to eventually transition. It’s potentially much faster and more efficient than the current HSPA networks, and may one day bring speeds comparable to DSL and cable to mobile users and rural areas. Sounds great right? It is, or at least it will be. However, there are a few significant drawbacks to current LTE networks in Canada that might cause you to hesitate when it comes time to pick up a new phone.

The first is that current LTE devices tend to have bad battery life. Since LTE radios are so new, they are not especially power efficient. Anyone who owned some of the earliest UMTS/HSPA phones might remember that issue with those networks too. Over time, LTE radios will be designed to be more power efficient, and battery technology will improve. Right now, however, you should expect poor battery life as a trade-off for the higher speeds of LTE networks.

The more significant drawback to LTE is that Canadian mobile companies are still awaiting the government of Canada’s 700 MHz spectrum auction. If you were confused by frequencies and phone/carrier compatibility before, just wait for the 700 auction. Depending on how the government chooses to handle the auction, things could become extremely messy.

Previously, phone compatibility could be identified by matching frequency band names or numbers to carriers. You may know that Bell, Rogers, and Telus, as well as Sasktel and MTS, use 850 (also known as CLR) and 1900 (also known as PCS) for their HSPA networks. You may also know that Wind, Mobilicity, and Videotron use 1700 (also know as AWS) for their HSPA networks. If you want to move your phone to one of these carriers, you need to make sure that it is unlocked, and that it supports the right frequency bands for the carrier of your choice. Usually, this just requires a quick Google search.

With 700, unfortunately, all that will need to be thrown out the window. Unlike 850, 1900, and 1700, there are at least three unique frequency bands within the 700 range. If that’s not confusing enough, they are all named SMH! Still with me?

This means that a device that claims to support 700, may not work on all 700 networks. In the US, Verizon and AT&T have both built LTE networks with their respective 700 spectrum, but because their frequencies are in separate frequency bands, devices like the new iPad are not interchangeable between the two. Determining which 700 frequency band a device supports could become a much bigger headache than it already is, and depending on the results of the 700 auction, moving your device from carrier to carrier may become even more difficult than it currently is.

All carriers in Canada want 700 spectrum to build their LTE networks. For the moment, Bell, Rogers, and Telus have built their LTE networks with the 1700 (also known as AWS) spectrum they won in the last auction. However, as they have done with their HSPA networks, they want a low frequency spectrum to match it with, in order to provide better coverage. So far, the LTE devices they are selling all include support for the same 700 spectrum as AT&T in the USA, as well as the 1700 they are currently using. However, depending on how the auction plays out, it’s possible that none of Bell, Rogers, and Telus will be unable to secure that particular 700 spectrum. Wind and Mobilicity want this particular spectrum badly and have made a strong case that they need it in order to remain competitive. The government is currently weighing the possibility of a spectrum set-aside, as they did in the AWS auction, and they might choose the AT&T block as the one to set aside. If Bell, Rogers, or Telus are forced to settle for 700 spectrum within a different frequency band (such as Verizon’s), the current LTE devices they sell (including the new iPad) might be unusable on significant parts of their LTE network at worst, and would receive poorer coverage, often falling back to HSPA anyway, at best.

Should this be enough to keep you away from LTE devices? Well, if you are comfortable with poorer battery life and with the risk associated with the 700 auction, then LTE, as it stands, may still be for you. You can rest assured that current LTE devices will at least be able to operate fully on the current HSPA networks for many years to come. However, if you think that with an LTE device you will be future-proofed, don’t count on it. Personally, I will recommend that most people stick with HSPA for their phones until this is settled.

Wow, I didn't realize LTE could end up being this messy! Great write up here TorontoColin.

Thanks for that synopsis, very helpful.

Unfortunately, LTE might end up much more messy than HSPA ever was. At the moment in the US, AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint are all using completely incompatible frequencies, and T-Mobile might use a unique combination of their own. In Europe, there are plans to use three different frequency bands (they all used 2100 aka IMT for HSPA), and we might see still more in Asia. Plus, with more carriers in Canada than available 700 spectrum, who knows what combinations we may see here.

There will be multiband phones, of course, but the sheer number of available bands makes it unlikely that we will see all-in-one chipsets in North America.

Have read that the government will reserve a portion of the 700 spectrum for emergency responders/public safety purposes which will certainly benefit but further complicates matters. Liked the post, Colin, and a good reminder why I shouldn't be bothered that I have 21 months left in my iPhone contract. It sounds like a lot of this will still be unresolved in late 2013 but we can hope the picture is becoming clearer.

With the resolution to the 700 rules (discussed here), it looks like there will be four premium 700 blocks. Two will be in the AT&T band, and two in the Verizon band. This means that at least one, maybe two, of Bell, Rogers, and Telus will end up with spectrum in a band most of their current LTE devices don't support.

If your carrier happens to be the one who ends up with the wrong block, your LTE device might be stuck with inferior LTE coverage, unless you switch providers. If you sign a three year contract for a new LTE device before this is resolved, you might spend a long time with a device with poor battery life and, as your carrier rolls out 700 into their LTE network, it is conceivable that your coverage could actually get worse.

I think this is a non issue for most of us who are on contracts.

By the time 700mhz LTE is instituted it will be time for a phone upgrade and i have to say the majority of people get there phones from there provider(which isnt going to sell a phone that doesn't work on there carrier)

So for the smaller % that buy there phone outright to use on any network they will be (almost always) smart enough to do a bit of research and get the phone/ipad that will work on the network they wish to use.

Its also not like the current LTE band that the carriers are using is going to disappear either.

Your post is very well written(props!) but I dont see this is a monumental change to the existing system. Even back in the days with CDMA/GSM you couldnt cross networks from bell to rogers.

The entire 700 MHz band, as taken from TV, is a total of 18 channels or 108 MHz. The original cell band (Ch 70-83) was 84 MHz. Is it really that difficult to make equipment work across the entire 700 MHz band, considering technology has advanced significantly (software defined radios etc.) over the past 3 decades? Don't forget that equipment will also likely have to work with the adjacent existing 850 MHz band and there are already many "world band" phones that cover most of the spectrum used for cell phones.

Apparently it is. If it wasn't, Apple wouldn't have had to make two different iPads for AT&T and Verizon's 700 bands.

There's the catch though. At the moment, one can't research and find a device that will work on the network they wish to use, because at the moment nobody is sure what that network will be in a year.

Expect to see a 700 roll-out beginning well before the end of 2013. When that happens, while it will only be supplementing the current AWS LTE network, it is possible that in some cases they may reduce some AWS sections and replace them with 700. So it's no guarantee, but it's certainly possible that you might see reduced coverage. Many rural areas will likely never see AWS coverage. It will be especially risky if you sign a three-year contract late this year or early next year.

As I said, personally I recommend people stick with reliable and efficient HSPA+ until this is settled.

Thanks TorontoColin for the very informative posts. For my tech addiction cell phones & carriers are the only segments in which I stay away from the bleeding edge. I just can't get a handle on it & it doesn't sound like that's going to change anytime soon.

It appears the reason for that might not be technical:

T-Mobile has requested that the Federal Communications Commission consider the idea of mandating the interoperability of all LTE networks in the 700MHz band. T-Mobile argues that such a move would encourage LTE roaming and help boost public-safety, which also plans to use the 700MHz band for a nationwide broadband network.

Sounds to me like it's exactly technical. What T-Mobile is asking is for the FCC to mandate that those two 700 bands be combined into a single band. If this happens, then devices would be interoperable across 700 bands, but it is very unlikely that the FCC will accept T-Mobile's proposal.

Unless the FCC does (or even can) enforce T-Mobile's request, 700 devices will not be interoperable across bands, unless manufacturers add support for both bands to devices. As I said, if it were easy to do, Apple would not be making two different LTE iPad variants. It would lower costs for Apple if they could do it all in one device.

^^^^
The 700 MHz "bands" (blocks) are arbitrary divisions to aid in selling spectrum. They are cut out of a continuous 108 MHz wide chunk of spectrum. To claim that equipment can work on one block, but not another is the same as claiming a TV could receive one channel, but not another, back when that spectrum was used for TV. There is certainly no technical reason why a device could not be built to operate across the entire band, just like in the other cell bands. The 1900 MHz "PCS" band is 1850 - 1990 MHz or a total bandwidth of 140 MHz, compared to 108 MHz a 700 MHz device would need to cover the entire band. I haven't heard complaints that phones working at 1900 MHz can't cover the entire band. It's much more likely this is an artificial barrier to the benefit of the carriers. It would prevent a customer from moving to another carrier without replacing their phone.

Lets take a look here at what's happened in the U.S. According to this, AT&T got block B and Verizon, A. You'll notice that those two blocks are right beside each other. Each block is divided into 2 6 MHz slices for up link and down link. Are we supposed to believe it's not possible for one device to be able to cover 12 MHz instead of 6? It'd be more of an issue between blocks A & D, but not something that's insurmountable.

Bands are not the same as blocks. The entire 700 range couldn't have been put into a single band because both sides of the paired spectrum for the lower 700 band is lower than both sides of the paired spectrum for the upper 700 band. The band plan (and the blocks) can be seen here (Figure B2). Don't ask me why it was done this way. This was an American (FCC) decision which Industry Canada, with the support of the carriers, chose to harmonize with in order to reduce potential interference issues.

Verizon A and AT&T B (and C) are both in the same band (lower 700). They would be compatible with each other. However, Verizon only owns a few lower A licenses. Their LTE rollout has been on upper C, which is in the upper 700 band.

You should never trust Wikipedia. That article is missing some very key information, and is flat out wrong in some areas. AT&T has most of their licenses in lower B and lower C (which that article seems to ignore exists). Verizon has some in the lower 700 band (primarily A) but most of their holdings are in upper 700. You can see the US band plan here if you'd like, but it mostly aligns with our own. The notable exception being that Industry Canada divided upper C into two (C1 and C2).

Yes, I know bands are not the same as blocks, which is why I wasn't sure why you said "bands" earlier. I agree about Wikipedia and wonder if the details for block C are correct. However, it's still a decent reference to get you started. Regardless, inter-carrier operation on bands A,B & C shouldn't be an issue, as they are a continuous block of spectrum, spanning 698-716 and 728-746 MHz. Moving between the lower and upper halves of the band is more difficult, but again not a significant problem with today's technology. This issue is similar to the one of a quad band phone working on 850 & 1900 MHz in North America and 900 & 1800 elsewhere. However, I could see separate phones for A, B & C and C1, C2 & D. I find it curious that the blocks A,B,C & D use 30 MHz split between up link and down, but C1 & C2 use 31 MHz. Another factor in favour of a phone capable of operating across the entire 700 MHz band is roaming. It's really going to hurt a lot of people, if they can't roam into the U.S. and elsewhere.

Hopefully, the regional carriers can make it easy to roam across the country.