Thinking about how regular radio stations work will help you to understand how frequency bands work: FM radio stations operate within the FM radio band, between 88 to 108 MHz while AM radio stations operate within the AM band, between 0.55 to 1.6 MHz. Similarly, radio waves for mobile phones operate within several different frequency bands. 

Stefanie Khaw

When you have a conversation on your mobile phone, radio waves are used as the medium of transmission. Radio waves utilised by mobile phones are generally four separate, non-overlapping frequency bands: 850 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 1900 MHz, representing GSM850 / 900 / 1800 and 1900 respectively.  The GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) standard is currently the most commonly adopted standard in the world and used in our part of the world.

It’s important that your phone supports the same standard that your service provider uses. Networks in Malaysia utilise the GSM900 and GSM 1800 bands, commonly used in most Asian and European countries. Most countries throughout North and South America use GSM850 and GSM1900. Don’t ask me why. So if you were to buy a mobile phone in America and try to use it in Malaysia, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to get your phone working.

Although 850 and 900, and 1800 and 1900 are very close together, a phone that works in one frequency band unfortunately cannot also work in the other frequency band next to it unless added as a specific extra frequency band.

In Malaysia, when a phone is referred to as dualband it means that it supports GSM900 and GSM1800 networks. Triband usually means GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900 support. Most phones available on the market are generally of the dualband or triband kind. Quadband phones used to be classified as high-end phones but they’re now more common and hence cheaper than ever before. Examples of popular quadband phones are the Samsung D600 and the BenQ P50.

There’s a 450 MHz band which has been proposed for less developed countries. This band offers a much longer range and will be of great benefit in developing countries as it will provide a low density coverage network, requiring fewer towers and incurring smaller costs. The downside is that a 450 MHz handset probably would require a lengthier aeriel because the lower frequency has a longer wavelength. This would mean that the aeriel would need to be twice the length of a 900 MHz aerial and four times the length of an 1800 MHz aerial in order to provide similar effectiveness.

As of the time of writing, Nokia and Sony Ericsson have both shown interest in making handsets to support this new band but I haven’t heard news of any service provider expressing interest to start developing 450 MHz networks. However, if they do appear you can be sure that they are likely to pop up in third world countries.

At the other end of the spectrum, phones that support new high speed data service, in other words –3G, will use another band: 2100 MHz. Japan and Korea are so ahead in technology that the 3G band is the only one available –they no longer use GSM services there.

So are quad-band phones the next big thing? Do we really need to look out for phones with GSM850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 / 2100 support? Probably not. Phones offering support for all four GSM networks plus 3G are still hard to come by. The only one in Malaysia at the moment is the Samsung Z320i while the Nokia N80 and Nokia E61 have yet to arrive.

You’ll only really need a quad-band phone if you travel extensively enough and own many different sim cards for different parts of the world. You could also use two different phones depending on the region you’re travelling to. For us mere mortals, a regular dual-band or tri-band phone will be good enough.