WCDMA v. HDSPA v. UMTS

[DRNewcomb]

Originally Posted by adam917

DRNewcomb, ever thought of when 2G/GSM will be expired? We would then certainly need a device that supports all the UMTS bands in use. I see operators that are now deploying 3G on 900 MHz soon starting to cut down on 2G in that band.

That happens when a carrier has lots of 900 MHz spectrum and not enough 2100. The big problem with UMTS is that it takes 5 MHz per RF channel and a cell needs two channels (10 MHz). While you can build a 2nd rate network with just 10 MHz (one cell "color"), to build a proper system requires 30 MHz (3 "colors"). That's a lot of bandwidth. Many 1900 MHz systems in the US are built on 10 MHz licenses.

I see the replacement for 2G as being something other than UMTS. I understand that the standard actually allows channels less than 5 MHz.