Lumia 928 Future: Have you heard of AWS LTE?

[Robert Carpenter]

I just read about AWS LTE for the first time today and I was very intrigued.

AWS (Advanced Wireless Spectrum) is an upgrade for Verizon's LTE network. Verizon LTE currently operates on Band 13, but AWS will add support for Band 4. AWS has been in rollout stage for quite some time and Verizon will be "flipping the switch" later this year.

AWS is rumored to double the speeds of current LTE. I learned about AWS when I stumbled upon a news article about how the Verizon Galaxy S4 included support for the AWS LTE network, bragging that the S4 was built for the future.

That made me interested, so I was curious to see if the S4 was the first device to support it, and if not, which other devices do?

Sure enough, the Lumia 928 supports AWS LTE, which means later this year our device will have improved network speeds in supported areas.

Verizon Confrims Seven Devices That Support AWS LTE

 

[Somerichs]

I didn't see any mention of the markets in which AWS will first be available. Anyone know?

 

[chris7191]

AWS does not double the speed of LTE. AWS is just a higher frequency carrier which means it will not penetrate buildings and objects as well. If AWS was such prime spectrum, why is T-Mobile stuck on it?

There are various reasons why Verizon traded some of their low 700 MHz spectrum in exchange for AWS, but none of them will double the speed of LTE other than the next bump in revision of the protocol / standard. You will see better LTE coverage especially in urban areas with this though.

 

[Scorpio5x0]

Better coverage in turn will provide better speeds for those of us in metropolitan areas. At the moment, my data speeds can vary greatly throughout the day. I have reached download speeds as high as 47MBps and as low as .81MBps. I would just like to see better consistency, regardless of the time of day or where I was standing at the moment.

 

[chefster74]

I live in the Houston Heights and work in River Oaks. Both neighborhoods have few cell towers, anything that may help with speed is fine with me! I will say I'm not finding this phone to be slow, much better than my Rezound was!!!

 

[user928]

Nokia received permission from the FCC: ID QMNRM-860 (Approved Feb 22, 2013) for an in the field software upgrade that would enable LTE band 4 (UL 1710-1755 Mhz, DL 2110-2155 MHz) on the Lumia 928. I contacted Nokia Care and received the following reply.

"I hope for your kind understanding as for now, there is no such information available in our end regarding the radio software upgrade enabling AWS on the Lumia 928." Josh (10:07:56)

I have posted on the Nokia Discussions forum concerning this and will post any responses I get here.