UMTS and LTE frequencies in Russia: new generation standards. Cellular frequencies in russia Clock frequency 800 MHz

For all of us who love "cinafonini", we often come across the speech of the infamous "Banda 20" or simply called "800Mhz". In reality, this question is at the same time simple but difficult, and in this article I will explain why.

I do not want to bore you with technical data, incomprehensible to the majority (including me), I intend to explain in a simple way what the inconvenience can be when buying a phone that does not support this frequency band.

What is 20 band (800Mhz)

The 800 Mhz frequency band, also called the 20 band, is one of 3 available with public auctions in 2011 for data transfer high speed 4G LTE. At the same auction, the other available frequencies were 1800Mhz and 2600Mhz. These 3 frequencies carry data at different rates and different characteristics. faster and suitable for very crowded places 2600Mhz, the fastest of them is 800Mhz which has extended range and penetration in buildings the best of 2600Mhz. The 1800Mhz band (arguably the most used today) remains a good middle ground.

At the famous auction, 4 major Italian operators divided the frequencies as follows:

• TIM
• Vodafone Band 20 (800Mhz) / Band 3 (1800Mhz) / Band 7 (2600Mhz)
• H3G Band 3 (1800Mhz) / 7 Band (2600Mhz)
• wind Band 20 (800Mhz) Band 7 (2600Mhz)

It is quite clear from this table that whoever has it as an operator 3 Italy (H3G) You won't notice any difference between using a phone with or without a 20 band.

clients Tim and Vodafone depending on the work areas, they may suffer from a lack of bandwidth 20. Both operators, with both 1800Mhz and 2600Mhz at their disposal, in large urban centers and in all those areas near the transmitting antennas will not notice any difference as they will “plug in” one of these frequencies, both in rural areas and inside buildings. especially "closed" reception in 4G can be compromised.

Different is a conversation for users wind that, being unable to provide the frequency of 1800Mhz, using the 800Mhz band as the main one. Thus, in large urban centers, served by a frequency of 2600Mhz, the sail is in 4G, while in all other cases, the maximum connection speed that HSPA +

What is the Difference Between LTE 20 Band and HSPA +

As we said, 800Mhz speed is the slowest of 4G can actually reach 75Mbps downloads in Italy (while 1800Mhz and 2600Mhz reach 150Mbps). The stage below is that an HSPA plus (H +) connection can get up to 42Mbps and will be accessible from any smartphone lacking band 20. These values ​​are a theoretical reference because in fact the actual baud rate is almost always much lower. These speeds obviously depend on the quality of the signal our phone receives. So not even sure if a 4G connection in the 20 band is faster than one on HSPA +. At the same time, the presence of the 800Mhz group will always be better than not having it, but not having it in many cases does not matter.

imposition of a new

• It would be better to have a group of 20
• 20 Band (800Mhz) - * This is the slowest of 4G * Covers long distances * Better penetrates buildings
• Band 7 (2600Mhz) - * This is the fastest of 4G and is suitable for crowded areas * Covers less distances * Difficulty of penetrating buildings
• Band 3 (1800Mhz) - * Average path between 800Mhz and 2600Mhz
• In large urban centers, the band used by all carriers is 2600Mhz, so no carrier should have difficulty watching LTE
• In the current state of Italian mobile networks, browsing in HSPA + instead of LTE on 800Mhz band does not compromise browser performance and may not make any difference.

Among other things, the merger between H3G and Wind recently became official, so a new operator is coming soon, which will probably use all frequencies available for 2. In this case, even former Wind users can benefit from the 1800Mhz band.

What is 4G (LTE)? According to Wikipedia, LTE (literally from the English Long-TermEvolution - long-term development, often referred to as 4G LTE) is a wireless high-speed data transmission standard for mobile phones and other data terminals (modems, for example). It increases bandwidth and speed by using a different radio interface while improving the core of the network. The standard was developed by 3GPP (a consortium that develops specifications for mobile telephony). The LTE wireless interface is not compatible with 2G and 3G, so it must operate on a separate frequency. In Russia, three frequency ranges are allocated for LTE - 800, 1800 and 2600 MHz.

LTE FDD and LTE TDD

The LTE standard is of two types, the differences between which are quite significant. FDD - FrequencyDivisionDuplex (frequency separation of the incoming and outgoing channel) TDD - TimeDivisionDuplex (time separation of the incoming and outgoing channel). Roughly speaking, FDD is parallel LTE and TDD is serial LTE. For example, with a channel width of 20 MHz in FDD LTE, part of the range (15 MHz) is given for download, and part (5 MHz) for upload. Thus, the channels do not overlap in frequencies, which allows you to work simultaneously and stably for downloading and uploading data. In TDD LTE, the same 20 MHz channel is completely given both for downloading and for unloading, and data is transmitted to both sides alternately, while download still has priority. In general, FDD LTE is preferable because it is faster and more stable.

Frequency bands LTE, Band

LTE networks (FDD and TDD) operate on different frequencies in different countries. In many countries, several frequency bands are operated at once. It should be noted that not all equipment can operate on different "bands", ie. frequency ranges. FDD bands are numbered 1 through 31, TDD bands 33 through 44. There are several additional standards that have not yet been assigned numbers. The specifications for frequency bands are called bands (BAND). In Russia and Europe, band 7, band 20, band 3 and band 38 are mainly used.

In Russia, four frequency ranges are currently used for 4th generation networks:

As an example, I will give the distribution of frequencies among the main Russian telecom operators in the LTE2600 (Band7) range:

As you can see from this diagram, Beeline got only 10 MHz. Rostelecom also got only 10 MHz. MTS - 35 MHz in the Moscow region and 10 MHz throughout the country. And Megafon and Yota (this is the same holding) got as much as 65 MHz for two in the Moscow region and 40 MHz throughout Russia! Through Yota in Moscow, only Megafon in the 4G standard works virtually, in other regions - Megafon and MTS. In the TDD range, television (Cosmos-TV, etc.) will operate throughout Russia, except for Moscow.
For the full distribution of frequencies of mobile operators in Russia, see.

4G LTE networks in Russia

The distribution of frequencies among operators by regions of Russia can be found.

For those who find it difficult to remember the numbers of band ranges or do not have a suitable reference at hand, I recommend a small android application RFrequence, the screenshot of which is given below.

LTE Categories

Subscriber devices are classified into categories. The most common devices today are Category 4 CAT4 devices. This means that the maximum attainable speed of mobile Internet for reception (downlink or DL) can be 150 Mbit / s, for transmission (uplink or UL) - 50 Mbit / s. It is important to note that this is the maximum achievable speed in ideal conditions - the main of which is that you are not far from the tower, except for you there are no more subscribers in the cell, optical transport is connected to the base station, etc. The most common categories of subscriber devices are shown in the table.

The table requires some explanation. Mentioned here are "carrier aggregation" and "complementary technologies". I will try to explain what it is.

Frequency aggregation

In this case, the word "aggregation" means a union, i.e. frequency aggregation is the aggregation of frequencies. What this means - I will try to explain below.
It is known that the transmission reception rate depends on the transmission channel width. As we saw from the table in the previous section, the channel width for loading, for example, MTS is 10 MHz in the Band7 range (except for Moscow), and also 10 MHz for return. To increase the download speed, the operator redistributes the purchased frequencies in the ratio of 15 MHz for download and 5 MHz for return. Other providers do the same.

Once one of the developers came up with a bright thought - what if the signal is transmitted not on one carrier frequency, but on several at the same time. Thus, the transmission / reception channel is expanded and the speed will theoretically increase significantly. And if each carrier is also transmitted using the 2x2 MIMO scheme, then we get an additional gain in speed. This scheme of reception and transmission is called "frequency aggregation". This scheme is used by the Internet 4G + or LTE-Advanced (LTE-A).

The table indicates that for Cat.9, the transmitter and receiver must be able to transmit and receive a signal at three carrier frequencies (in three bands) simultaneously, the width of each channel must be at least 20 MHz. For Cat.12, it is additionally necessary that the antenna devices are connected according to the 4x4 MIMO scheme, i.e. in fact, you need 4 antennas on the receiving and transmitting side. Mysterious 256QAM symbols denote a certain type of signal modulation that allows information to be packed more densely. Those wishing to get acquainted with this topic in more detail can start acquaintance with the material in the article on Wikipedia and with the links there.

Receiver categorization

The frequency aggregation scheme is being actively developed by Russian providers, many agreements have been concluded on the mutual use of frequency bands, and the antenna system of base stations is being reconstructed. However, there is one problem - on the receiving side, the subscriber must be able to receive a signal on several carrier frequencies simultaneously. Not all smartphones, tablets and modems support frequency aggregation and therefore cannot work in 4G +.

Since 2016, the documentation for smartphones indicates the frequency ranges (bands) and the LTE category in which they can work. For example, for the 2017 Huawei P10 Plus smartphone, among other parameters, it is indicated:

In addition, this smartphone has a built-in M IMO 4x4 antenna and a corresponding modem that allows you to process signals on two carrier frequencies at once. If your smartphone supports frequency aggregation, then the Settings> Mobile Network tab will look something like this:

If so, then your smartphone supports LTE-A.

Thus, smartphone manufacturers have begun to catch up with cellular operators. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for modem manufacturers. Until now, the most productive modem provides maximum speeds of 150/50 Mbit / s, i.e. belongs to Cat.4. While this circumstance is not too upsetting, tk. such speeds, if achieved in practice, are admirable. However, the production of mobile routers seems to be starting to catch up with smartphones. Cat.6 routers from Huawei and Netgeer began to appear on the market (does not support Russian bands). So the router Huawei E5787s-33a can be bought on AliExpress for about 10 thousand rubles.

I must say that the real speeds achieved in 4G + mode are far from the declared ones, but they are much higher than in simple 4G mode. The author has carried out a number of experiments in Moscow, where it is not difficult to find LTE-A (operator Megafon), with a Cat.12 smartphone, the results of which are shown in the screenshots. The first screenshot - speeds for LTE-A (frequency aggregation is enabled), the second screenshot for LTE (frequency aggregation is disabled). Note that for some reason, when taking a screenshot, the plus sign disappears from the 4G + icon. Why - I do not know, during testing there was a plus - see the screen.

Six measurements were carried out for each mode. The speeds with the enabled frequency aggregation are on average noticeably higher, although not several times. The measurements were carried out near the tower, during the day.

Those wishing to experiment with LTE-A

If LTE-A appeared in your area, as you were convinced by measuring the frequencies of your chosen operator (the provider distributes the Internet at two frequencies, for example, LTE800 and LTE2600, i.e. it uses the B7 + B20 combination) and your hands are itching to try what if this is so, you can try to use a scheme of two MIMO antennas with diplexers.

After launching the application, go to its settings and check the box "Determine GMS / UMTS / LTE frequencies".

Then the main screen should display the information you are interested in about the used frequency range.

In our case, the smartphone connected to the Tele2 network using the 4G standard at 1800 MHz (band 3).

The economic situation and the inability to fully use the 800 MHz band forces operators to actively develop 4G in the 1800 MHz frequency band. Moreover, most experts believe that by 2020 up to 50% of the total coverage will be provided by LTE 1800. The economic efficiency of this range is much higher compared to 2600 MHz, and the costs are minimal. About how operators are engaged in "smart refarming" of GSM to LTE in practice, what advantages and disadvantages it brings, we found out from the technical specialists of MTS in the Urals.

Currently, 4G networks in Russia operate in 83 regions out of 85. Moreover, in the vast majority of territories, LTE operates in the 2600 MHz range. And only 15 regions have test or commercial 4G 1800 MHz networks (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Leningrad and Tula regions, Krasnodar Territory, Bashkiria, Tatarstan). In the Urals, examples of the commercial use of this standard are in the Sverdlovsk and Kurgan regions, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, YaNAO (operator "Motiv"), as well as in the Chelyabinsk region (MTS). And if, in the case of Motiv, the reasons for using the GSM spectrum are clear - the company does not have a license to use either 800 MHz or 2600 MHz, then MTS's activity may seem strange. Although the strangeness in this case is understandable.

Distribution of LTE networks in the world by bands (analysis of 400 largest LTE networks, OVUM and GSMA data):

Here are the reasons for this activity in the MTS itself. First, the economy. LTE 1800 is much cheaper and more efficient.

The coverage area of ​​a base station operating at "voice" frequencies of 1800 MHz is four times larger than that of equipment at 2500-2700 MHz, and the use of this equipment for the development of data transmission networks will allow to deploy networks in the shortest possible time, because the area can be covered with fewer base stations. At the same time, the LTE-1800 signal penetrates better indoors than the signal of base stations operating in higher ranges. The increased range of radio coverage makes it possible to provide high-speed 4G network to remote settlements, highways, as well as areas with frequency restrictions, - says Konstantin Kubantsev, Technical Director of the Chelyabinsk branch of MTS.

Aggregation of the 1800 and 2600 MHz spectrum, with a 10 MHz bandwidth in each of the two bands, makes it possible to increase the peak data transfer rates from 75 Mbit / s to 150 Mbit / s, and in the case of aggregation of three carriers at once - up to 225 Mbit / s. In April 2015, MTS tests in Bashkortostan at 1800 + 2600 + 800 MHz with a total bandwidth of up to 35 MHz showed peak speeds of up to 260 Mbps.

According to the estimates of telecom equipment manufacturers and companies providing radio network optimization services based on the geolocation of subscribers, up to 80% of traffic is generated indoors. This fact clearly gives an advantage to the range of 1800 over 2600 MHz. Indoor penetration loss for 1800MHz is significantly lower than for the 2600 band. Traffic will pick up the better the one with the best penetration. The difference between WCDMA2100 and DCS1800 is quite noticeable, but due to the average more sensitive 3G terminals, the difference is leveled.

The LTE-1800 standard supports up to 90% of the models of LTE devices from leading manufacturers, including Apple, Samsung, HTC, Huawei, LG, Nokia, Sony, ZTE and others. With its development in Russia, owners of gadgets that do not support other LTE bands that are widespread in the country, such as iPhone 5, iPad mini, can also use the 4G Internet.

If we continue the comparison, then according to Konstantin Kubantsev, LTE-2600 exacerbates the already tense situation with the search for additional objects on which equipment is required to be installed. "There are very few buildings in cities that we can go to and get permits to install equipment from the owners. We constantly face refusals. Negotiations can take years."

As a result, the company decided that LTE-2600 will be used in the largest cities in the areas with the highest Internet traffic load. However, in this case, it is necessary to resolve issues related to ensuring a stable signal indoors, including using indoor coverage.

In other cases, LTE-1800 will be used. It does not require changing the existing infrastructure, investing heavily in the construction of new base stations and spending a lot of time.

Distribution of income for Russian mobile operators by traffic type:

As a result, the bulk of base stations in the regions will fall within a few years on dual-band networks - 1800/2600 MHz or LTE800 / 2600 MHz, depending on the availability of frequency resources in each specific region.

The second reason for the growing interest on the part of MTS is the restriction on the use of the 800 MHz band. Despite the fact that the operator has received the corresponding frequency assignments and is already paying for the lease, their implementation is hampered by the operation of anti-missile defense systems, as well as by the operation of military and civil airfields. The existing rules do not allow the use of frequencies within a radius of 40 km from airports. Operators are faced with this problem throughout Russia to the same extent.

The issues of full use of the 800 MHz range are quite acute. We are actively discussing problems with the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications. Literally, yesterday, as part of our communication, we conveyed our proposals to Deputy Minister Dmitry Alkhazov, who oversees these issues in the government. He promised to help. In the meantime, we are trying to work in the conditions that we have now, - says Konstantin Kubantsev.

When asked why the first region in the Urals, where the operator began to massively launch LTE-1800, was the Chelyabinsk Region, the company replied that a year ago it was in the South Urals that a complete modernization of the network was completed. During this time, Motorola equipment, which had been in operation for almost 10 years, was replaced by Ericsson of the most modern generation with widespread LTE-1800 support. There is not a single old amplifier, switch or switch left on the network. At the same time, the capacity of the backbone network was expanded.

All this allowed us to use a multi-standard 3G / LTE network. Moreover, the priority for data transmission will be given to LTE. Thus, we will unload our 3G networks, - says Konstantin Kubantsev.

For LTE-1800 in the Chelyabinsk region, MTS allocated a 5 MHz band out of 15 available. According to the operator's technical specialists, this band is enough for the existing number of 4G subscribers. At the same time, the quality of the 2G network and its capacity will not be affected. In the future, the company will analyze the possibility of increasing the frequency band to 10 MHz in each specific settlement.

As for the 4G sharing with Beeline, MTS stressed that the agreements relate exclusively to LTE800 / 2600 MHz networks. Only the company's own subscribers will have access to LTE1800.

At the moment, the dual-band network is already operating in twenty settlements of the Chelyabinsk region, in particular, in Zlatoust, Miass, as well as in small towns such as Ozersk, Troitsk, Satka, Emanzhelinsk, and in places of summer recreation for residents and guests of the region - on the lake Uvilda and others. Also in 2015, the LTE-1800 network will be launched in Chelyabinsk and Magnitogorsk in order to improve 4G coverage inside buildings.

In the near future, MTS is going to implement the Single RAN (Single Radio Access Network) platform with the ability to organize coverage of all GSM, 3G and LTE standards using one base station.

Development of standards GSM 900, GSM E900, GSM 1800 contributed to the improvement of communication channels, but did not solve the problem of access to the Internet at the level required by a modern person.

These standards belonged to the second generation (2G), in which the EDGE and GPRS protocols were used for data transmission, which made it possible to achieve speeds up to 473.6 Kbps - catastrophically low for a modern user.

To date cellular standards one of the most important requirements is data rate and signal purity. Obviously, this affects the development of the mobile operator market. So, at one time in Russia, 3G networks appeared, which won the massive attention of users. And now it is for this reason that the number of people choosing 4G is increasing.

Feature of the UMTS standard

The main feature that distinguishes the UMTS standard from GSM is that the use of WCDMA, HSPA +, HSDPA protocols enables users to get access to a better mobile Internet. At speeds from 2 to 21 Mbps, you can not only transfer more data, but even make video calls.

UMTS covers over 120 largest Russian cities. This is the standard in which currently popular mobile operators (MTS, Beeline, MegaFon and Skylink) provide 3G Internet service.

It's no secret that high frequencies are more efficient for data exchange. However, Russia has its own nuances that make it impossible to use in some regions, for example, the UMTS frequency of 2100 MHz.

The reason is simple: frequency UMTS 2100, which is actively used for 3G Internet, quickly sits down on obstacles. This means that not only the distance to the base stations, but also the increased vegetation interferes with the quality signal. In addition, some regions are practically closed for this frequency due to the operation of air defense systems. So, in the south-western part of the Moscow region, several military bases are located, and, accordingly, an unspoken taboo has been introduced on the use of this frequency.

In such a situation, for 3G Internet, UMTS 900... Waves in this frequency range have a higher penetrating power. At the same time, at such a frequency, the data transfer rate rarely reaches 10 Mbps. Nevertheless, considering that a few years ago in many cities they could not even think about Internet coverage, this is not so bad.

At the moment, with the popular UMTS900, Huawei E352 and the more stable version of the E352b, as well as E372, E353, E3131, B970b, B260a, E367, E392, E3276, show excellent results.

LTE: in what bands will the future standard work?

The logical development of UMTS was the development in 2008-2010. LTE is a new standard whose goal is to improve signal processing speed and throughput, and technically to simplify the network architecture and thereby reduce data transfer time. In Russia, the LTE network was officially launched in 2012.

It is the LTE technology that determines the development of the new generation mobile Internet in our country - 4G. This means access to online broadcasts, fast transfer of large files and other advantages of the modern Internet.

At the moment, 4G Internet is supported by the LTE 800, LTE 1800, LTE 2600 standards, and the LTE Cat.4, Cat.5, Cat.6 protocols are used. This allows, in theory, to obtain a data transfer rate of up to 100 Mbit / s on upload and up to 50 Mbit / s on reception.

High LTE frequencies become an ideal solution for regions where population density is quite high and where such data transfer rate is very important. These include, for example, large industrial cities. However, if all operators begin to work only in the range LTE 2600- there will be a problem with the radio signal coverage immediately.

Now residents of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Krasnodar, Novosibirsk, Sochi, Ufa and Samara can take advantage of 4G technology. In Russia, Yota became one of the first operators to develop the fourth generation of mobile standards. Now such large operators as Megafon and MTS have joined them.

Development is considered optimal today. LTE 1800: This frequency is more economical and allows new companies offering mobile services to enter the market. It is even cheaper to build networks at 800 MHz. Thus, one can predict what exactly LTE 800 and LTE 1800 will be the most popular among operators and, accordingly, with you and me.

LTE frequencies of various mobile operators

- Megaphone: frequencies LTE 742.5-750 MHz / 783.5-791 MHz, 847-854.5 MHz / 806-813.5 MHz, 2530-2540 MHz / 2650-2660 MHz, 2570-2595 MHz (license for Moscow and Moscow region );

- MTS: frequencies LTE 720-727.5 MHz / 761-768.5 MHz, 839.5-847 MHz / 798.5-806 MHz, 1710-1785 MHz / 1805-1880 MHz, 2540-2550 MHz / 2660-2670 MHz, 2595 -2620 MHz (license for Moscow and the Moscow region);

- Beeline: frequencies LTE 735-742.5 MHz / 776-783.5 MHz, 854.5-862 MHz / 813.5-821 MHz, 2550-2560 MHz / 2670-2680 MHz.

Rostelecom: LTE frequencies 2560-2570 / 2680-2690 MHz.

Yota: LTE frequencies 2500-2530 / 2630-2650 MHz.

Tele2: frequencies 791-798.5 / 832 - 839.5 MHz.

Amplification of a signal at different frequencies

When you find yourself in an area of ​​poor signal reception or a long distance away from your operator's base station, you cannot do without an additional antenna.

Directional antennas UMTS 900 signal has an elementary complete set and can significantly increase the level of communication. At the same time, not only the Internet connection becomes more stable, but also the quality of voice transmission during a telephone conversation. You cannot do without a UMTS 2100 antenna if you want to use the Internet while traveling: due to the constant switching from tower to tower, the data transfer rate drops dramatically.

Directional LTE 800 antennas and LTE 1800 antennas- the best option for amplifying the 4G signal at the appropriate frequencies. These standards have higher penetration and signal range.

Nevertheless, the data transfer rate is higher for the LTE 2600, due to which 80% of Moscow users have already switched to this standard. And purchase LTE 2600 antennas is a prerequisite for those who have chosen 4G LTE 2600 (Megafon, MTS, Beeline, Rostelecom, Yota) in order to get the maximum speed of the Internet. AmplifierLTEsignal will provide guaranteed stable data transmission at high frequencies.

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