Three’s pending 800MHz network is going to smash through walls
Rejoice people, because I’ve heard a rumour that September 10th marks the day that Three finally puts its 800MHz spectrum into service.
50% of the UK will get access from day one, rising to 65% by the end of the year. The rest will come in 2016.
Even if you’re not sure what I’m talking about, let me say it’s very big news. Very big news indeed.
Three will also see more 1800MHz spectrum handed over from EE later this year, further boosting capacity and potentially increasing speeds further.
Anyone with a suitable phone supporting 800MHz (Band 20) will potentially see a huge improvement in coverage indoors, and this will be used in conjunction with VoLTE (voice carried over 4G) so power levels can be further hiked up to provide a level of indoor coverage that Three has never seen since its original launch 12 years ago.
This is because coverage for 4G will eventually not need 3G to fall back on for voice.
It goes without saying that until Three formally announces the switch on, it isn’t possible to give more detail or to say what handsets will be marked as compatible, or if users with phones obtained elsewhere will be able to take advantage.
Do you mean ‘formally’ rather than ‘formerly’?
Yes, fixed!
This seems likely because of you put your postcode in, for me it mentions maintainance on sept 8th – 9th, so the release date on the 10th seems likely
Put my post code in their checker other day. Maintenance went on on the 2nd&3rd. Tweeted Three, ‘VoLTE is coming soon’ was the reply. We’re so close. Hope that my Huawei P8 gets voice support though they don’t sell that handset.
My very old Samsung Galaxy Note 2 LTE can use the 800mhz band, but unfortunately for me it looks like Three will only allow the very latest devices to use their VOLTE 800mhz band. I mean, why? I was first told that they will release the 800mhz because their current 4G network is so extremely congested it’s barely usable (in London for example). So if it’s meant to help the congestion, why only let people with the very latest handsets use the 800mhz band when I with my very old phone can use it too since it supports it?
I hope the rumours are wrong.
I’m looking forward to it. It’s also gonna smash through Wales! 98% [population] coverage by 2017 though already rated most reliable in Wales. This is huge & exciting for Three & us. My New Huawei P8, 800MHz ready! Roll on 10 September…
Capacity will be interesting.
That makes a long term 3 customer very happy 😊