Three's 4G

Hi all.

Can someone answer a few questions regarding Three's 4G?

1. Do they support LTE-A (Carrier Aggregation) yet?
2. If LTE-A (CA) is supported what frequencies (LTE Bands) does the phone need to support?
3. How many (CA) bands, just 2 (~300Mbps if 2x 20Mhz channels) or 3 CA bands (450Mbps)?
4. Is Three's "Super-voice" (LTE) only used for voice only or does this support data?
5. If Super-voice supports data what speeds are likely, I seem to remember that they have a pathetic bandwidth allocation for this (5 or 10Mhz, so I'd guess only 30~60Mbps per cell).
6. Is there any point in getting a phone now that supports Gbit LTE? - Will Three actually be rolling out better LTE support anytime soon?

Thanks

4)
I've never heard of "Super-voice" but have a Three 3-2-1 PAYG chip in my car (built-in "Communications Module)" satnav and it frequently shows an LTE connection, with phone use disabled in the PCM control panel.

In reply to a post by 5km:

1. Do they support LTE-A (Carrier Aggregation) yet?

Yes but not everywhere.

2. If LTE-A (CA) is supported what frequencies (LTE Bands) does the phone need to support?

Three has LTE on Band 20 (800 MHz) Band 3 (1800 MHz) and Band 1 (2100 MHz). Phones designed to be sold in UK/Europe will support all of these. Some imports can leave out some of these bands.

3. How many (CA) bands, just 2 (~300Mbps if 2x 20Mhz channels) or 3 CA bands (450Mbps)?

Three has 5MHz on B20 (800) and 15MHz on B3 (1800). So if you had 2CA on Three in most areas you would just get 20MHz of LTE capacity. As B1 (2100) comes online in congested areas (reducing 3G capacity) then you may get 3CA.

Your numbers imply multiple amounts of 20MHz and you would need to look at networks with larger spectrum holdings for these speeds. (hint: try EE or Vodafone). Three also has some supplemental downlink capacity, 10 MHz at Band 32 (1400). Sadly very few handsets can use this, and it has to be used in a CA configuration, otherwise no uplink!

4. Is Three's "Super-voice" (LTE) only used for voice only or does this support data?

It does support data. You can ONLY connect to B20 if you have a device that supports VoLTE on Three. It may be possible some data only devices are permitted to connect, if recognised. Devices that do not support VoLTE on Three, will not access B20.

5. If Super-voice supports data what speeds are likely, I seem to remember that they have a pathetic bandwidth allocation for this (5 or 10Mhz, so I'd guess only 30~60Mbps per cell).

"pathetic" is quite critical - Ofcom only sold two lots of 10 and two lots of 5 in this band. So two networks had half the other two. If you are the only user on 5MHz of LTE then this would be very very rare, and quite rural. The mast will ensure your device gets the best coverage available.

6. Is there any point in getting a phone now that supports Gbit LTE? - Will Three actually be rolling out better LTE support anytime soon?

You can see from Ofcom's press releases the spectrum the networks have.

This chart may help: http://i.imgur.com/wMggQna.png

Three however ALSO own a LOT of spectrum in the 3.4GHz band, some of which they obtained when they purchased Relish / UKBroadband, and some they won this year in the auctions. It is expected Three will use this for 5G.
https://www.ispreview.co.uk/wp-content/gallery/2018-...


You'll find a lot more on Digital Spy's forum for mobile, a LOT of people whom are experts in this hang out there.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

I've never heard of "Super-voice" but have a Three 3-2-1 PAYG chip in my car (built-in "Communications Module)" satnav and it frequently shows an LTE connection, with phone use disabled in the PCM control panel.

"Super voice" is Three's marketing department speak for using the lower frequency spectrum they won to handle voice calls. Due to being lower frequency it can get into some buildings that other frequencies can't reach. However your phone handset has to support the VoLTE technology on Three (which for Android generally means the phone has to use Three's software). VoLTE is known as "4G calling" on the other networks.

LTE is the protocol name for what is 4G. In the USA marketing depts stole the term, so handsets show "LTE" on the screen, where in the rest of the world they show "4G".
(In comparison 3G is UMTS (with HSPA for data), and 2G is GSM (with GPRS for data))

Yep. My EE phone shows 4G, but now my memory fades. I forget the detail but IIRC EE offer two levels of 4G at the contract level. LTE and pukka 4G. I have the higher end package on my phone and anywhere but my house get speed tests above 40Mbps. But it is literally years since I tested.

The Three one in the car shows 3G at home and most times that I look, but not far away from here I discovered recently it showing LTE. Then several miles away the other day.

The PBC (Communications Module) in the car claims "any 3G or 4G SIM" will work, but doesn't specifically state anything better than 3G will result. I now know it can, but I doubt if it will give true 4G.

I think the OP is concerned about the data speeds rather than the voice quality. Whether Three support true 4G or not I don't know. The fact I don't see it means nothing, as it's a PAYG service not a contract.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Yep. My EE phone shows 4G, but now my memory fades. I forget the detail but IIRC EE offer two levels of 4G at the contract level. LTE and pukka 4G. I have the higher end package on my phone and anywhere but my house get speed tests above 40Mbps. But it is literally years since I tested.

Since purchase by BT , EE has offered different speed tiers, but these are all the same protocol, just with a throttle applied. The problem with this is not every area CAN get even as high as the first level. All EE PAYG SIMs are throttled to 32megabits I believe.

The Three one in the car shows 3G at home and most times that I look, but not far away from here I discovered recently it showing LTE. Then several miles away the other day.

Three was one of the slower networks to add 4G/LTE technology to their network. It takes a lot of money per cell mast.

The PBC (Communications Module) in the car claims "any 3G or 4G SIM" will work, but doesn't specifically state anything better than 3G will result. I now know it can, but I doubt if it will give true 4G.

Yes, the 4G will be LTE. There are multiple sub versions of each protocol, but that will only affect speed.

I think the OP is concerned about the data speeds rather than the voice quality. Whether Three support true 4G or not I don't know. The fact I don't see it means nothing, as it's a PAYG service not a contract.

All 4 physical networks in the UK do "proper 4G" !! Even on PAYG. There may be other limits based on price plan decisions, such as speed, amount of data, amount of minutes etc.

Some of the MVNO's (e.g. Virgin Media) don't allow a device to use 4G on PAYG, but this is now very rare.