Globally, yes. There were 5 different frequencies bands allocated around the world and it was a while before you could get a phone that would support 3G everywhere. However if the phone didn't support 3G in a particular country, it dropped back to GSM.Jackie Brown wrote:Was there a similar issue with 3G?
In Europe it was slightly different, as before launch, the EU mandated the 3G frequencies to be used within the EU countries so you could have a common phone in these countries anyway.
However 4G is different again. Unlike the original GSM and 3G where there was a limited number of frequency bands allocated worldwide, 4G has been designed so that a country/region can allocate any free frequency they want within a very large range.
So in the UK and some other countries, switching off analog TV means they can sell off these frequencies for 4G while in the past, these frequencies weren't available for mobile networks. That means the technical challenges of supplying components that work for all these frequencies is much greater than GSM and 3G.
However 4G is really only for data (unless you use a voice over internet service like Skype), so phones will still use 3G frequencies for voice calls, and if 4G data isn't available, the phone will drop down to 3G, then GSM data.
