This article makes it seem like a "big deal" what bands you have.
https://android.gadgethacks.com/news/all-phones-work-t-mobiles-600-mhz-band-71-network-0191865/

But when I run this intent to allow me to select available T-Mobile bands
com.samsung.android.app.telephonyui.hiddennetworksetting.MainActivity

I get the option to select any of these choices manually if I wanted to.

Automatic
GSM ALL
WCDMA ALL
LTE ALL
GSM/WCDMA
WCDMA/LTE
GSM/WCDMA/LTE

With a further option to select any of these specific bands, if I want to.

Band Selection Mode
LTE B1 Preferred
LTE B3 Preferred
LTE B5 Preferred
LTE B7 Preferred
LTE B8 Preferred
GSM 850
GSM 900
GSM 1800
GSM 1900
WCDMA I 2100
WCDMA II 1900
WCDMA V 850
WCDMA VIII 900
LTE B1
LTE B2
LTE B3
LTE B4
LTE B5
LTE B7
LTE B12
LTE B13
LTE B20
LTE B25
LTE B26
LTE B38
LTE B39
LTE B40
LTE B41
LTE B46
LTE B66
LTE B71
NR B41
NR B71

I wasn't sure if I was roaming so I looked up and installed this app.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=cz.mroczis.netmonster

Not only did it tell me that I wasn't currently roaming (I'm at work)
but it also tells me all nearby frequency bands & at what strength.

This also tells you what cell tower frequencies are available to me.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.qtrun.QuickTest

There are so many frequencies available to me, many below a hundred
decibels (negative, of course) even though my phone is a cheap $200 Android
which doesn't have all the T-Mobile bands possible, that I'd like to ask if
it really matters all that much, in practical terms, the supported bands of
any given cellphone for use within the United States of America?

On 14.7.2023 21:42, Ashton Cook <invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote:

> This article makes it seem like a "big deal" what bands you have.
> https://android.gadgethacks.com/news/all-phones-work-t-mobiles-600-mhz-band-71-network-0191865/

That article is from an eternity ago.
Nothing in it applies to today.
A lot has changed since then.
Look at the yearly tests by PC Magazine instead.

On 2023-07-14 14:42, Ashton Cook wrote:
> that I'd like to ask if
> it really matters all that much, in practical terms, the supported bands of
> any given cellphone for use within the United States of America?

Not really.

The cell that you're on will assign the band that it wants and that your
phone supports.

So, an older model is equipped with a given set of bands and is
restrained to those.

Those bands your phone doesn't support will be doled out to phones that do.

The cell will optimize this all by itself. (To be clear: optimized is
never "perfect" and doesn't have to be).

All the phone can do, really, is adjust its power output on the assigned
band.

PBAJ wrote:

>> that I'd like to ask if
>> it really matters all that much, in practical terms, the supported bands of
>> any given cellphone for use within the United States of America?
>
> Not really.
>
> The cell that you're on will assign the band that it wants and that your
> phone supports.
>
> So, an older model is equipped with a given set of bands and is
> restrained to those.
>
> Those bands your phone doesn't support will be doled out to phones that do.
>
> The cell will optimize this all by itself. (To be clear: optimized is
> never "perfect" and doesn't have to be).
>
> All the phone can do, really, is adjust its power output on the assigned
> band.

Thank you for that clear answer that it doesn't really matter as long as
your phone can receive "some" of the bands the local cell tower is using.

If it receives even _one_ of those bands, then you should be good to go,
right?

Also, thank you for explaining that the _other_ phones on that tower will
soak up the extra bands you're not using - and - by doing so - they will
actually free up the bands that you are using - so that you can use them.

Is that right?

On 2023-07-15 14:52, Ashton Cook wrote:
> PBAJ wrote:
>
>>> that I'd like to ask if
>>> it really matters all that much, in practical terms, the supported
>>> bands of
>>> any given cellphone for use within the United States of America?
>>
>> Not really.
>>
>> The cell that you're on will assign the band that it wants and that
>> your phone supports.
>>
>> So, an older model is equipped with a given set of bands and is
>> restrained to those.
>>
>> Those bands your phone doesn't support will be doled out to phones
>> that do.
>>
>> The cell will optimize this all by itself.  (To be clear: optimized is
>> never "perfect" and doesn't have to be).
>>
>> All the phone can do, really, is adjust its power output on the
>> assigned band.
>
> Thank you for that clear answer that it doesn't really matter as long as
> your phone can receive "some" of the bands the local cell tower is using.
>
> If it receives even _one_ of those bands, then you should be good to go,
> right?

Barring congestion, yes. There's no guarantee. But cell co's do
pretty well provisioning against congestion. Coverage is another matter.

> Also, thank you for explaining that the _other_ phones on that tower will
> soak up the extra bands you're not using - and - by doing so - they will
> actually free up the bands that you are using - so that you can use them.
>
> Is that right?

That is the goal. The cell has to do its best to serve all comers.

First strategy is provision enough bandwidth reserve, enough coverage
zones (more complex antennas with smaller coverage areas) and then
algorithms to allocate bands to phones optimally.

On 7/16/2023 6:19 AM, PBAJ wrote:

> That is the goal.  The cell has to do its best to serve all comers.

The issue with Band 71 is that it provides coverage where no other band
is available. This is because of the low frequency that it uses which
means much greater distance from the cell. A phone that lacks band can
often not connect to the other bands because the cell is too far away.
That is why T-Mobile spent a reported $8 billion to deploy band 71.

--
“If you are not an expert on a subject, then your opinions about it
really do matter less than the opinions of experts. It's not
indoctrination nor elitism. It's just that you don't know as much as
they do about the subject.”—Tin Foil Awards

In article <u91bni$r2v4$2@dont-email.me>, sms
<scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:

>
> The issue with Band 71 is that it provides coverage where no other band
> is available. This is because of the low frequency that it uses which
> means much greater distance from the cell. A phone that lacks band can
> often not connect to the other bands because the cell is too far away.

there are other bands and other cell sites.

your mythical scenario of a lone tower in the middle of nowhere with
only band 71 is fantasy. it doesn't work that way.

> That is why T-Mobile spent a reported $8 billion to deploy band 71.

no, that's not why.

On 2023-07-16 14:08, sms wrote:
> On 7/16/2023 6:19 AM, PBAJ wrote:
>
>> That is the goal.  The cell has to do its best to serve all comers.
>
> The issue with Band 71 is that it provides coverage where no other band
> is available. This is because of the low frequency that it uses which
> means much greater distance from the cell. A phone that lacks band can
> often not connect to the other bands because the cell is too far away.
> That is why T-Mobile spent a reported $8 billion to deploy band 71.

800 MHz does provide better range, but it does not really affect a user
that was getting good service where he was operating happily before in
areas with sufficient tower density.

The main benefit to the cellco is (as always): more bandwidth overall.

PBAJ wrote:

>>> That is the goal.� The cell has to do its best to serve all comers.
>>
>> The issue with Band 71 is that it provides coverage where no other band
>> is available. This is because of the low frequency that it uses which
>> means much greater distance from the cell. A phone that lacks band can
>> often not connect to the other bands because the cell is too far away.
>> That is why T-Mobile spent a reported $8 billion to deploy band 71.
>
> 800 MHz does provide better range, but it does not really affect a user
> that was getting good service where he was operating happily before in
> areas with sufficient tower density.
>
> The main benefit to the cellco is (as always): more bandwidth overall.

May I ask a simple question (which I had asked elsewhere with no answer).
My phone is cheap and it's old and it has no problem on T-Mobile.

When I look at what bands it has, this "71" stuff shows up as these two.
LTE B71 and NR B71

Which of those two (if either one of them) is this magical "71" band?

On 2023-07-16 19:16, Ashton Cook wrote:
> PBAJ wrote:
>
>>>> That is the goal.� The cell has to do its best to serve all comers.
>>>
>>> The issue with Band 71 is that it provides coverage where no other
>>> band is available. This is because of the low frequency that it uses
>>> which means much greater distance from the cell. A phone that lacks
>>> band can often not connect to the other bands because the cell is too
>>> far away. That is why T-Mobile spent a reported $8 billion to deploy
>>> band 71.
>>
>> 800 MHz does provide better range, but it does not really affect a
>> user that was getting good service where he was operating happily
>> before in areas with sufficient tower density.
>>
>> The main benefit to the cellco is (as always): more bandwidth overall.
>
> May I ask a simple question (which I had asked elsewhere with no answer).
> My phone is cheap and it's old and it has no problem on T-Mobile.
>
> When I look at what bands it has, this "71" stuff shows up as these two.
> LTE B71 and NR B71
>
> Which of those two (if either one of them) is this magical "71" band?

AFAICT they're the same band at 663-698 MHz and 617-652 MHz (up and
down). Not sure why two are declared - could be different sub-band
schemes or some such.

--
“If you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything."
-Ronald Coase