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In mobile phones, 'dual band' (also known as ''dual-band'' or ''dualband'') refers to functionality that allows a cellphone to support two frequency bands. Having more than one frequency in one device is useful to enable roaming between different countries that peg the allowed transmission frequency at different values or to allow a better coverage in the same country.

Contents

2G

3G

Devices

See also

2G

In Europe two bands (900/1800 MHz) are used in the same country to improve coverage.
Dual band phones are also used to enable roaming between different countries. For example, a cellphone with dual band 850/1800 MHz will work in both the United States (850 MHz) and India (1800 MHz).
A 2G Quad band (850/900/1800/1900) offers more coverage and is now really common.

3G

UMTS / HSDPA devices operate in some combination of UMTS frequency bands 800/850/900/1700/1900/2100 MHz:

★ 2100 (downlink) / 1900 (uplink) for Europe and Asia (usually referred simply as W-CDMA 2100)

★ 1900 / 850 (independently, for both the uplink and downlink) for America (e.g. Cingular Wireless)

★ 2100 (downlink) / 1700 (uplink) for America (e.g. T-Mobile)

★ 800 for Japan
UMTS / HSDPA / HSUPA is a further evolution.
Note that being UMTS / HSDPA / HSUPA quad band doesn't mean that phone is a GSM / GPRS / EDGE quad band. An HSUPA quad band could not be a GSM at all. However nearly all HSUPA quad band are EDGE quad band too.
A 3G Tri band or Quad band offers more coverage.

Devices

Some UMTS/HSDPA 850/2100 dual band are available:

★ Nokia - Nokia 6120 classic
Some UMTS/HSDPA 900/2100 dual band are available:

★ Nokia - Nokia 6121 classic

See also

★ 3GPP

★ Cellular frequencies

★ GSM frequency bands

★ Quad band

★ Roaming

★ Tri band

★ UMTS frequency bands