T-Mobile’s LTE coverage is an ever growing expanse, and as the carrier continues to roll out support for LTE devices and launch new LTE handsets, there is much of the country that is still waiting on one particular part of T-Mobile’s LTE network, and that’s the 700 MHz low band spectrum. T-Mobile already has this out in a select number of areas but they have just announced today which devices they plan on rolling out updates for next to add support for the low band spectrum in the coming months. This doesn’t necessarily mean you will have immediate access to it of course, as your area will still need to have support for it via the network. If you live in one of those areas though and have one of the devices we talk about here, you should see support for the band in the near future.
The 700MHz spectrum support will help T-Mobile better penetrate walls and buildings, so people will experience better coverage while indoors mainly. Currently, T-Mobile appears to have two handsets that support the low-band 700MHz spectrum as of now which includes the Samsung Galaxy Note Edge and the Samsung Galaxy Note 4. Over the next few months though T-Mobile will be adding 700MHz support for at least four more handsets.
These phones include the Google Nexus 6, the ZTE ZMAX, the Samsung Galaxy Avant, and the Sony Xperia Z3. T-Mobile was also kind enough to list the times when we can expect to see the software updates for these devices to support the lower band, which is useful information for those who use those listed devices and are curious as to when their devices will have access to it. Both the Samsung Galaxy Avant and the Sony Xperia Z3 are listed as gaining support for 700MHz in May of 2015, so we still have about three to four months before those updates roll out to device owners. As for the Google Nexus 6, T-Mobile merely states “early 2015” as the timeframe, so that could be anytime between now and March. The ZTE ZMAX only lists 2015 with no scheduled month, so that gives T-Mobile a little leniency to add support anytime between now and the end of the year.