4G LTE high-speed mobile internet technology has reached its first year of life in Ecuador, which is why the lack of coverage in the country may be understandable (in fact, Ecuador is among the countries with the worst territorial LTE coverage at the national level). world). What doesn’t seem understandable is how little clear information there is about this technology, starting with how misleading and confusing the term 4G LTE is for users.
Things like the frequencies or 4G LTE bands that Movistar, Claro, CNT and Tuenti use, the compatibility with cell phones and the speed they offer are indicated below.
Contents
Frequencies or 4G LTE bands in Ecuador
Movistar : 1900 Mhz (Band 2)
Claro : 1700 / 2100Mhz (AWS or Band 4)
CNT : 1700 / 2100Mhz (AWS or Band 4) or also 700MHz (APT or Band 28)
Tuenti : 1900MHz (Band 2)
How to know if a cell phone or tablet is compatible with Ecuador’s 4G LTE
The operator’s antenna and mobile device can only understand each other and transmit information if they both “speak” on the same frequency. The LTE frequencies for which the mobile device has been manufactured must be equal to the frequencies used by the operator, otherwise that device cannot be used with said operator.
To find out if a cell phone is compatible with Ecuador’s 4G LTE, you have to check its technical specifications. The first thing is to determine if the cell phone supports 4G LTE technology. Second, the 4G LTE bands for which that device has been manufactured must be determined. Finally, it must be verified that these 4G LTE bands are the same ones in which the operator where the device is intended to be used works (indicated above). A good place to check the technical specifications of a cell phone is the page gsmarena.com .
An easier way to check the 4G LTE compatibility of a cell phone and an operator is the website willmyphonework.net , which we talked about a long time ago. This page does all the work of determining the band match of the device with the operator of any country, and returns the result immediately.
Category of LTE used in Ecuador
The LTE categories define the capacity of the network: mainly the speed limitation it has. In Ecuador, as in most countries, the category 3 LTE network is used [1], which does not exceed 100 Mbps download speed. This is a pure theoretical figure, since in reality this maximum value is much lower, as can be seen below.
LTE bands and categories should not be confused. The LTE bands, which are currently 67 (numbered from 1 to 67) [2], are channels in which mobile devices are “tuned in” with antennae to exchange information, while the categories, which are currently 17 (numbered) 0 to 16) determine the theoretical maximum speed at which an LTE network can work.
LTE technical data in Ecuador
The crowdsourcing firm Open Signal has interesting information on the performance of the LTE in Movistar, Claro and CNT in Ecuador, information collected between May and July 2015. In addition to being able to see the speed of the networks, lag or latency and reliability, The aforementioned links allow you to see the coverage of each operator on the date indicated.
Movistar LTE
Download speed: 19.7 Mbps
Upload speed: 10.9 Mbps
Latency: 138 ms
Reliability: 97%
Claro LTE
Download speed: 18.7 Mbps
Upload speed: 11.6 Mbps
Latency: 154 ms
Reliability: 100%
CNT LTE
Download speed: 9.3 Mbps
Upload speed: 3.2 Mbps
Latency: 215 ms
Reliability: 98%
Currently there is no data of this type on the operator Tuenti, but it may be useful to know that Tuenti is owned by OTECEL, the same company that owns Movistar Ecuador.
As these data are not updated, they only have to be taken as a reference. Things may have gotten better today. For example, speaking exclusively of CNT, the same Open Signal portal reveals that, in February 2016, the download speed of this operator is 15 Mbps and has a coverage of 44%.
Annex: 3G and 2G bands used in Ecuador
Clear 3G : 850 MHz (Band 5)
CNT: 1900 MHz (Band 2)
Movistar: 850 MHz or 1900 MHz
Tuenti: 850 MHz or 1900 MHz
2G
Claro: 850 MHz (Band 5)
CNT: 1900 MHz (Band 2)
Movistar: 850 MHz
Tuenti: 850 MHz
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