Three L-Band rollout

Three have today announced that they plan to roll out 1.4GHz L-Band Spectrum to the majority of their network to improve LTE performance and also refarm some 3G spectrum to 4G

All sounds good, but does anyone know where and when this rollout will take place?

I've been thinking of switching to Three for a while, but their LTE speeds in Aberdeen are a bit on the low side, this upgrade would be enough to tip it over the edge for me to make the jump, but I have a suspicion that this roll out will be slow and be years before Aberdeen (or anywhere in Scotland, really) to see the benefit

Or is my skepticism misplaced and this will be a fast rollout involving mainly software updates and very little physical site upgrades. This tweet seems to imply it'll be everywhere by Christmas https://twitter.com/ThreeUK/status/1174669760832913408

I don�t read that tweet as implying anything other than some of their 4G will be faster.

In reply to a post by andynormancx:

I don�t read that tweet as implying anything other than some of their 4G will be faster.

If you have a compatible device. The list is quite short, and only mentioned phones.

Techradar say:-

Those with a compatible handset will see performance improve by 150 per cent, while those without will still see a bump of 50 per cent.

That seems a dubious claim in itself, but I can�t for some reason pick up the URL on my iPad. I just went to google and typed three l-band and a banner result appeared, with other results below.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

That seems a dubious claim in itself, but I can�t for some reason pick up the URL on my iPad. I just went to google and typed three l-band and a banner result appeared, with other results below.

The assumption there is that enough devices will move to the L Band frequencies to release capacity for other devices on the old frequencies.

The spectrum in the L Band for cellular is shared between Three and Vodafone, and is known as Supplemental DownLink (SDL) in the jargon. This is because it is only one way, from the mast to your device. So it only works where there is existing capacity on another frequency to allow the device to transmit to the mast.

Three and Vodafone have spectrum at 1400mhz (the L band), and they bought this from Qualcomm in 2015:
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/09/23/ofcom_appro...

This is known as LTE Band 32, so check handset specifications for Band 32 support. I think the B525 might support.

Three's own press release has the supported handsets listed:
http://www.threemediacentre.co.uk/news/2019/19-08-20...

Edited by jchamier (Fri 20-Sep-19 11:19:56)

In reply to a post by connormill:

Three have today announced that they plan to roll out 1.4GHz L-Band Spectrum to the majority of their network to improve LTE performance and also refarm some 3G spectrum to 4G

All sounds good, but does anyone know where and when this rollout will take place?

I've been thinking of switching to Three for a while, but their LTE speeds in Aberdeen are a bit on the low side, this upgrade would be enough to tip it over the edge for me to make the jump, but I have a suspicion that this roll out will be slow and be years before Aberdeen (or anywhere in Scotland, really) to see the benefit

Or is my skepticism misplaced and this will be a fast rollout involving mainly software updates and very little physical site upgrades. This tweet seems to imply it'll be everywhere by Christmas https://twitter.com/ThreeUK/status/1174669760832913408

WOW customers are really slating the rubbish speeds Three are supplying.

In reply to a post by busterboy:

WOW customers are really slating the rubbish speeds Three are supplying.

In the USA?

Edit: Ah, I see you aren't talking about providers, but World Of Warcraft players. Doesn't that rely on latency, rather than speed? I didn't think any serious gamers used mobile broadband.

Edited by RobertoS (Fri 20-Sep-19 12:18:20)

And their press release also say they need to install new antennae.

"6,000 sites carrying 80% of our traffic will be upgraded with new antennas"

In reply to a post by andynormancx:

I don�t read that tweet as implying anything other than some of their 4G will be faster.

They are staring the rollout now, so if the tweet was meant as "some sites will be done" why don't they market it as our 4G is already faster and will get faster in more areas

Saying "by christmas" to me implies the rollout will be complete by then

Their own press release states

"The upgrades have already started in our busiest areas, so customers will start to see the benefits by the end of the year."