Will 4G improve Rural coverage?

I actually find 3g fast enough for my smartphone use. The fault I find with 3G is that once one is away from a town there is no sigmal and one is back on 2G. Somewhere I have gained the impression that a gain from 4G aswell as speed would be better rural coverage. Is this true? Does it demand on the frequencies a particular 4G network is using? Hence when all the newworks reach the required 98% population coverage, the rural 4G performance of the networks could differ. If so which would be best for rural coverage.

In reply to a post by pmgreenwood:

If so which would be best for rural coverage.

O2 are the only network with a legal obligation (in their licence from ofcom) to hit a percentage target.

They all have bought 800mhz frequency space which should give the longest reliable distance from a mast, similar range to the O2 and Vodafone 2G services today.

So in theory if you can get O2 or Voda 2G service, you could very likely get 4G in the next 3 years, even when you haven't had 3G from that provider.

EE is building using 1800mhz so far, so if you could get Orange or T-Mobile 2G then you could get 4G, even without any 3G.

The higher the frequency the less distance it travels in open space - BUT - the less number of concurrent users it can support. All UK networks (and all EU) use 2100mhz for 3G.

Hope that helps.

the 800mhz 4g LTe is the best frequency for rural coverage and will penetrate buildings better than the 2.6 4g lte and 1800 4g lte.

As stated with the 98% indoor coverage obligation lot o2 will provide the best 4g for rural areas. This along with the cornerstone agreement with vodafone will see more o2 sites.

To do the upgrade to 4g o2 has to either put in new base equipment that will also provide 3g to areas only previously 2g or if already installed do a software upgrade of the base equipment.

If you look at the o2 coverage checker and enable 4g look outside of the london borughs and you will find o2 have not just launched in 3 cities but also many towns around london that are technicaly nothing to do with london eg woking reigate redhill etc o2 have not realy given a full launch picture.

But lets see how it dvelops

In reply to a post by adamtemp:

the 800mhz 4g LTe is the best frequency for rural coverage and will penetrate buildings better than the 2.6 4g lte and 1800 4g lte.

but with less simultaneous users, which is why for cities they've also acquired 2.6ghz. (and why EE also got some 800mhz and 2.6ghz to go with their 1.8ghz).

As stated with the 98% indoor coverage obligation lot o2 will provide the best 4g for rural areas. This along with the cornerstone agreement with vodafone will see more o2 sites.

Cornerstone doesn't cover 4G stupidly. :-/

To do the upgrade to 4g o2 has to either put in new base equipment that will also provide 3g to areas only previously 2g or if already installed do a software upgrade of the base equipment.

Hopefully they'll put in decent backhaul too - this is where Vodafone are struggling. 3G signals with very low throughput in my area.

If you look at the o2 coverage checker and enable 4g look outside of the london borughs and you will find o2 have not just launched in 3 cities but also many towns around london that are technicaly nothing to do with london eg woking reigate redhill etc o2 have not realy given a full launch picture.

But lets see how it dvelops

Vodafone the same.