Please suggest the "best", "future-proof phone"(!)

[advcomp2019]

5G NSA and 5G SA is basically the same to a phone. It is only the backend that is different. 5G NSA aka 5G non-standalone still has 4G LTE hardware in the backend. While 5G SA aka 5G standalone is 5G all the way.

From what I understand, VoNR is easy to make the switch since it is just basically the same as VoLTE, but for the connection side.

[GPz1100]

In late 2019 (dec) I bought a oneplus 7t. In 6 months, phone will be 4 years old. As of right now, I barely use it. It's been update to an unofficial android 12 build and works relatively well. I expect at least 2-3 more years. Either way, I still want a rootable phone, so that limits options.

[paperwastage]

Wouldn't 5G NSA still be fine if LTE ever goes away ? It would still pull 5G only since no LTE.

Well, if your phone only supports 5G NSA (not 5G SA), and LTE completely goes away.

Then your phone cannot connect to 5G since it's first looking for the (nonexistent) LTE signal


Also, forgot to mention about carrier aggregation and MIMO.

My a71 5g only supports mid band LTE b66/B2/b41 + 5G NSA n41/71 (they completely disabled 5G SA on this phone. Was working at one point but they removed it during an update)

It doesn't support LTE band 71+ 5g NSA carrier aggregation at all

So if they decided for refarm, keep small sliver of b71 LTE and remove all b66/B2/b41 LTE, then this phone cannot use any 5G even if network is broadcasting 5G n41/71 SA/NSA and phone only use that small slivde of b71 LTE

[PaulCrawhorne]

N258/N260/261 mm wave used by all 3, can be skipped

What do you mean by "can be skipped" ?

That it is not important to get devices with those bands ?

[ShredFred]

I think those are the UW 5g bands that are only used by Verizon and maybe AT&T. From what I have gathered, there seems to be limitations with UW and may be deemphasized in favor of C-band.

Sent from my motorola one 5G UW ace using HoFo mobile app

[paperwastage]

What do you mean by "can be skipped" ?

That it is not important to get devices with those bands ?

All 3 use these mm wave bands somewhere, but the only benefit = extra capacity (for congested areas).

They have too many issues or disclaimers that you should treat it as optional (if device you want supports it, good. If it doesn't, you shouldn't feel bad and should still consider the device eg pixel 6 versus pixel 6pro)

Issues/Disclaimers:
- device usually costs more (phone usually has multiple mmWave antennas)
- signal easily blocked/affected by your hand/glass, hence the need for multiple antenna on your phone
- usually found only in places with sufficient people/congestion to need it (airport, stadium, cities)
- If you see mmWave, you should also see LTE/sub6 5G, so mmwave doesn't improve on coverage, only capacity (in congested places), or if you really want to get 3gbps speed tests on your phone (while draining your battery)



Compare this with band 71 (LTE/5G) lowband and band 12 LTE lowband. Generally only T-Mobile uses 71, and they rely on lowband (71 and 12) heavily for coverage and building penetration. (Low band travels further and penetrates buildings better than mid/high band/mmwave)

Its possible to be in an area where only T-Mobile signal is b71 (or B12), no other bands available.

Phone doesn't support 71(or 12), T-Mobile's other band can't reach you because you are in a concrete building or camping in the wilderness, no signal on phone

Phone doesn't support mmWave, oh T-Mobile probably has signal on 71/12 (which is probably broadcasting from the same tower as mmWave or maybe further away, 71/12 penetrates building more so you should see 71/12 signal too). Oh, only issue is that the cat picture loading on your phone is very slow


Att has band 14, similar situation to T-Mobile 71/12 (band 14 is low band, att is mandated to have certain amount of coverage due to firstnet band 14 government requirements. But att has band 12 in many areas too)

[sillyette]

I'm trying to figure out this whole 5G bands thing. For the Pixel 6a, gsmarena lists these 5G bands for the two models (AT&T and Verizon, from what I understand) sold in USA:

5G bands
1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 12, 20, 25, 28, 30, 38, 40, 41, 48, 66, 71, 77, 78 SA/NSA/Sub6 - GX7AS (USA/Canada)
1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 12, 20, 25, 28, 30, 40, 48, 66, 71, 77, 78, 260, 261 SA/NSA/Sub6/mmWave - GB62Z (USA)

I can't figure out how to "read" or make sense of the info above. Any help/explanations much appreciated. Thank you!

[ecs0013]

I'm trying to figure out this whole 5G bands thing. For the Pixel 6a, gsmarena lists these 5G bands for the two models (AT&T and Verizon, from what I understand) sold in USA:

5G bands
1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 12, 20, 25, 28, 30, 38, 40, 41, 48, 66, 71, 77, 78 SA/NSA/Sub6 - GX7AS (USA/Canada)
1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 12, 20, 25, 28, 30, 40, 48, 66, 71, 77, 78, 260, 261 SA/NSA/Sub6/mmWave - GB62Z (USA)

I can't figure out how to "read" or make sense of the info above. Any help/explanations much appreciated. Thank you!

This might explain things a bit: https://www.wilsonamplifiers.com/blo...nds-explained/

Basically 5G bands are typically denoted as n_, while LTE bands are denoted as B_ (n5 is 850MHz on 5G, B5 is 850MHz on LTE). This list translates all the various bands to their frequencies (they don't quite match in any order, as n71=600MHz, n5=850MHz, n41=2500MHz, and n77=3700MHz): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5G_NR_frequency_bands

[rpz1]

I'm trying to figure out this whole 5G bands thing.

IMHO, bottomline, unless you live or work in a large city and are within a block of an mmwave transmission source and outside or in a paper building you may benefit. Or if you go to large stadium events and feel you need to watch the event or movie on your phone at the same time instead. Otherwise you don't need mmwave (260,261). Save your money.
From your post in another thread, you live in a rural area. You'll never have mmwave there.

[advcomp2019]

Yea, mmWave for right now is not an important bands unless you are in a city that was built to have mmWave.

The only band that I would love to get is 5G NR band n77. It could help me for my Straight Talk 5G Home Internet device too.

[rpz1]

Yea, mmWave for right now is not an important bands unless you are in a city that was built to have mmWave.

The only band that I would love to get is 5G NR band n77. It could help me for my Straight Talk 5G Home Internet device too.

Agree about n77 but haven't seen much about it's range. I know it's much less range then NW5G and tons more then mmwave but I'm likely even out of it's range. What we lack here even on LTE/NW5G is capacity.

[advcomp2019]

Agree about n77 but haven't seen much about it's range. I know it's much less range then NW5G and tons more then mmwave but I'm likely even out of it's range. What we lack here even on LTE/NW5G is capacity.

Yea, I have not seen any numbers of the range too, but I was having issues getting n77 for this 5G Home Internet tho. So range can be limited on a number of things.

I found out that this 5G Home Internet does not like 5G NSA for 5G. It still thinks it is 4G. So I get great 4G signal since I am close to a small cell.

The n77 tower is very close to one mile away from me, and I was having issues finding a good placement. I know the manual says to place it in the center of a window facing to the tower, but since I have low e storm windows, they can block the signal. So I have to put it upstairs near a wall in a place that gets hot. So I might set up an extra fan system to help cool it.

If I place it near the middle of the window, I get -120 to no signal on 5G. On the wall area where I have it right now, I get -103 to -110 signal strength. I think I could get a little better signal if I can remove the plaster and lath on that wall and switch to drywall. I am still thinking about trying that over removing the storm window.

[rpz1]

Yea, I have not seen any numbers of the range too, but I was having issues getting n77 for this 5G Home Internet tho. So range can be limited on a number of things.

I found out that this 5G Home Internet does not like 5G NSA for 5G. It still thinks it is 4G. So I get great 4G signal since I am close to a small cell.

The n77 tower is very close to one mile away from me, and I was having issues finding a good placement. I know the manual says to place it in the center of a window facing the tower, but since I have low e storm windows, they can block the signal. So I have to put it upstairs near a wall in a place that gets hot. So, I might set up an extra fan system to help cool it.

If I place it near the middle of the window, I get -120 to no signal on 5G. On the wall area where I have it right now, I get -103 to -110 signal strength. I think I could get a little better signal if I could remove the plaster and lath on that wall and switch to drywall. I am still thinking about trying to remove the storm window.

The way I understand it from the Verizon forum is that if there's enough capacity on LTE for your demand you may not even see 5G of any kind. Likewise, if there is n77, you may not see it if there's enough capacity on NW5G. There's NW5G at my place and it bounces between LTE and NW5G. Maybe that's only on NSA phones and devices. My NW5G bandwidth isn't much better then LTE if at all.

The whole purpose of midband 5G (n77) and mmwave 5G was for capacity not speed for lighting downloads. More speed supports more users. Eventually the more users without more infrastructure or new tech, even the high end UW5G speeds will come down. UW defined as being both c-band (ie n77) and mmwave (260/261).

[advcomp2019]

The way I understand it from the Verizon forum is that if there's enough capacity on LTE for your demand you may not even see 5G of any kind. Likewise, if there is n77, you may not see it if there's enough capacity on NW5G. There's NW5G at my place and it bounces between LTE and NW5G. Maybe that's only on NSA phones and devices. My NW5G bandwidth isn't much better then LTE if at all.

The whole purpose of midband 5G (n77) and mmwave 5G was for capacity not speed for lighting downloads. More speed supports more users. Eventually the more users without more infrastructure or new tech, even the high end UW5G speeds will come down. UW defined as being both c-band (ie n77) and mmwave (260/261).

I can easily get the speed. When I have 5G, I can get 95 to 110Mbps. When I am on 4G, I can get around 40Mbps.

With my S20 FE 5G which only has nationwide 5G at home, I can get 60 to 120Mbps. With 4G, it is about the same on the low end, but the highest is around 100Mbps tho.

Verizon site lists that I can get up to 300Mbps for my address, but it will need to be on n77 tho.

[rpz1]

I can easily get the speed. When I have 5G, I can get 95 to 110Mbps. When I am on 4G, I can get around 40Mbps.

With my S20 FE 5G which only has nationwide 5G at home, I can get 60 to 120Mbps. With 4G, it is about the same on the low end, but the highest is around 100Mbps tho.

Verizon site lists that I can get up to 300Mbps for my address, but it will need to be on n77 tho.

If i could get 20mbps on either LTE or NW5G I'd be in heaven.