In today’s world, there’s not a lot of love lost for old technology. Yes, at some point the hardware itself seems nostalgic. You may enjoy looking at the faux woodgrain of the old Atari 2600, for example. But, spend any time interacting with the thing and you’ll agree that the games just aren’t that good. They were amazing compared to the nothing we had at the time, that’s true. But, that’s about all you can say.
The same thing is true with cellular technology. We can talk all we want about our RAZR phones or Nokia candy bar phones, as I have on this blog, but compared to today’s phones they’re pretty inadequate.
The real turning point where the phones of the past turned into today’s phones comes about 2007-2009. Yes, the iPhone was something of a revolution, but its 2G data was downright painful to use. It wasn’t until the iPhone 3G came out that people really wanted the thing. 3G was thought of as “blazing fast” back then, with speeds ranging from .38Mbps to 2Mbps. By comparison, 5G generally returns real-world speeds between 20 and 80Mbps, with some sites giving up to 800Mbps.
So yes…
3G gave way to 4G. 4G gave way to LTE, which was actually just “real” 4G since the term “4G” was used a bit prematurely in the US. And LTE gave way to 5G, which is where we are now. 3G has been relegated to the dustbin of history, with pretty much all major carriers turning off their 3G networks in 2022. For all practical purposes, 3G is dead.
Enough history. Here’s what you came for.
The frequencies that were used for 3G are no longer used for that purpose. But, they’re prime cellular frequencies down in the lower range of the spectrum, from 600-900MHz. This is a great range of frequencies where signals travel particularly well. They’re high enough that you can have a small antenna built into the phone, but low enough that power usage is manageable when you’re transmitting. In other words, they’re the radio equivalent of prime real estate. And of course, prime real state isn’t going to go unused for very long.
The very reason that 3G was dismantled was so that 5G transmissions could use those frequencies. We tend to use the term “nationwide 5G” for these frequencies. All the major carriers have rolled out 5G in the frequency range that was once used for 3G. This sort of 5G isn’t as fast as the 5G using higher freuquencies, which is referred to as 5G UWB or 5G+ depending on the carrier. That’s because there’s only so much space on the spectrum and it’s shared by a lot of people. So speeds are limited because each person only has a small chunk of broadcast space allocated to them.
The good news…
The good news here is twofold. First of all 5G, the most popular and newest form of cellular communication, is using the most desirable frequencies. That’s a win for everyone. The second bit of good news is that cell phone signal boosters are already designed to pick up and amplify these frequencies. Even the old “dual band” boosters will work, meaning a few more years of life from those older boosters. It means that if you use a cell phone signal booster, you’ll get great performance from it no matter when it was made.
Of course in order to get good performance, you need a cell phone signal booster. Cell boosters take weak signal outside, amplify it massively, and pump it out inside to give you clear calls and fast data where you couldn’t even get reception before. They’re easy to install and work with all the cellular devices in your home. Best of all, they cost about half as much as a premium phone yet should last you 5-7 years, through multiple generations of phones.
When you’re ready to get a cell phone signal booster, shop the great selection at Solid Signal! You’ll find all the best products at the best prices. If you need pre-sales support, give us a call at 888-233-7563 and we’ll be happy to help… free of charge! We’re here for you during East Coast business hours. If it’s after hours, fill out the form below and we’ll get back to you, usually within one business day.
