Confused. LTE 700 Mhz bands

[RogerI]

I have a cottage in the Pontiac, Quebec. The nearly cell tower now supports 700 MHz (and 850 Mhz). It's a Bell tower. I am assuming the 700 Mhz should support LTE. How can I find out what band the tower is supporting, and therefore whether my current phone (Moto 3rd gen) supports that band? Currently I don't get LTE at the cottage, only 3G, sometimes H+.

So, I am not sure if LTE is available, or the signal is too weak, or my phone does not support the band. It's all a bit confusing. Thanks, I am not sure I am even asking the right questions!

[RogerI]

Just to complete this thread, finally got up to the cottage.

I drove up to near Otter Lake, there is LTE. So, my phone does support it just fine. Signal strong. On the speed test got 24 mbs up 7 mbs down. Pretty good for the middle of nowhere.

However, driving back to the cottage, lost LTE and could only get H+, at my cottage.

So, my Wilson amp is only good for the 850 band. Too bad. Still the signal is stable and the speed test gives 4.5 mbs up and 1.5 mbs down. Usable. Nor sure an upgrade to a new amp would help, and at the price I will not be trying.

Well I tried. Thanks for all the help.

[sheytoon]

If you can tolerate 3G for the moment, I would hold off on the new amp. There's a good chance that 850 will be available on LTE in the next few years, it's just a matter of time.

[RogerI]

Just a final comment. Most people think cell phones are simple. You turn them on, and they work! Wrong, just ask the Freedom Mobile folks in Toronto and Vancouver hoping to get LTE on their current phones. They all need to get new phones that support LTE/AWS band 66. Good luck with selling that!

[RogerI]

Thanks for the update.

So the good news is that there is LTE band 17 available, and my current phone does support that band. The bad news is that my current Wilson amp does not support 700 Mhz, and therefore maybe the reason why I don't see LTE on my phone at the cottage. Well, at least I know. I always have believed knowledge is power!

Next week I will drive up to further north and double check the LTE signal. If that works, I may need to invest in a new cell phone booster. (Which is not cheap!)

Thanks again.

[sheytoon]

@RogerI
Confirmed: both sites have LTE B17 and 3G 850 MHz (B5).

Your cell booster will not work on a different frequency than it was designed for, so in this case, it will only help with the 3G signal.

[RogerI]

@sheytoon that's great information.

The Bell tower nearest me is at Omer, Quebec. at N45.9167 W76.4395 and the next nearest is one is at N45.8144 W76.61. If you have information on these towers that would be great, Thanks, in advance.

My phone is not rooted, but I will give the app a try.

I believe my phone (Moto 3rd gen xt1540) only supports band 17. So, if the towers are using another band, I am out of luck. Time for a new phone.

I will try driving up to Omer the next time I am at the cottage. That way I can rule out poor signal as one of the problems.

The problem is compounded by the fact I can only pick up the cell signal at all by using a Wilson cell phone booster amp. It's a little old, and only officially supports 850 Mhz and 1900 Mhz. So, I don't know what kind of improvement (if any) I am getting at 700 Mhz. I may need to buy an updated system. But, before I do that I really need to know all the information.

[Samianauman]

@sheytoon
Thanks for the correction but i didn't come up with these details found at public mobile forum here's the reference link
http://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Getting-Started/How-do-I-know-if-my-phone-will-work-on...

But thanks for updating

[sheytoon · Accepted solution]

@RogerI

700 MHz refers to 4 bands and all of them are for LTE. There's no good way to look up band numbers in advance. In general, assume B17/B12 is available and possibly B13. If you have a specific location, I can look it up for you. Some helpful info on 700 MHz here:
http://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Discussions/Telus-LTE-700MHz-Band/m-p/144394#M46281

CellMapper is a good app, and if you are rooted with a Qualcomm-based phone, use Network Signal Guru. For looking up site info, Samianauman's link is a great one. The app version of that website is available here.

@Samianauman

There's way more bands than that in service. Please try to be accurate with your information.

http://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Discussions/LTE-network-fundamentals/td-p/130581/page/...

@makkahn28

For the most part, 700 MHz bands are not used any differently than any other LTE band. Only B29 is restricted for CA.

[will13am]

Telus runs up to 4 bands of 700 Mhz LTE (band 12, 13, 17, 29).  So, you need to look at the supported bands on the phone carefully. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telus_Mobility

Based on gsmarena information, there are 3 models of Moto G 3rd gen. 

http://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_moto_g_%283rd_gen%29-7247.php

[NDesai]

Here is a post with great explanation of networks sharing by sheytoon: http://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Discussions/Network-sharing-explained/m-p/129092

[Samianauman]

If you have a android there's lots of app even ios search for lte tower you will find one

Check on that as well
https://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel/cancellsites.html

[RogerI]

I am looking for a bit more information. The tower near my location is a Bell tower.

Is there an app that works in Canada, like LTE discovery? 

What are the bands that Bell uses in Quebec on the 700 frequency?

I could try asking in the Bell store, but a really doubt they will know, or even understand the question.

[makkahn28]

The 700 MHz is for the 4G LTE Advanced, CERTAIN devices support THIS

The 4G LTE 1700/2100 MHz is more common, more devices compatible with this, AT least RIGHT NOW

[Samianauman]

@Rogerl
Public Mobile works on following frequencies:
For 3G use (UMTS/HSPA): 850MHz/1900MHz bands
For 4G/LTE use: 1700MHz/2100MHz bands
For 4G/LTE use: 700 MHz band
Which means most of the 3G,4G HSPA/ LTE phones that are compatible with these frequencies will work on Public Mobile.

Hopefully you will get answered by that's this are all required frequencies for pm