Is your smartphone compatible to take advantage of 4G+ or 4G+ UHD in 2017?

Published on December 30, 2016 at 3:15 p.m. -

Didier Latil

Despite the mobile white zones, Internet access in transport and rural 4G coverage which are far from convincing, the cities open to 4G+ are multiplying... But do you have a compatible smartphone?

From 2017, the battle between telecom operators will continue over the quality of their 4G mobile networks, including the development of this technology to be able to offer theoretical speeds exceeding 300 Mbit/s in LTE-Advanced (also called 4G+).

If packages that are 4G are also automatically 4G+ at no additional cost with Orange, SFR, Bouygues Telecom and Free Mobile (including for their subsidiaries Sosh, RED by SFR and B&You), access to 4G+ with MVNOs is not for the moment clearly displayed, except at Prixtel. It is of course the big cities that are currently concerned by this 4G+, with for example the recent announcement by SFR of 16 municipalities open to an LTE-Advanced UHD network. Similarly, Orange has clearly announced that during 2017, all of its eligible customers (Orange and Sosh) will be able to benefit from theoretical maximum speeds of over 300 Mbit/s (instead of 223 Mbit/s currently). But to take advantage of your mobile operator's 4G+, it's not enough to be in an area covered by this technology, your smartphone must be compatible.

4G+ compatible smartphone: how does it work?

For a smartphone to be compatible with 4G+, it must integrate a modem supporting frequency aggregation in order to improve the quality of reception (and sending). As a reminder, the 4 4G frequency bands available in France are 700 MHz (being deployed, especially by Free Mobile) called Band 28, 800 MHz (band 20), 1800 MHz (band 3) and 2600 MHz (band 7).

LTE-Advanced (4G+) combines two frequency bands (currently the 800/1800MHz, 800/2600MHz or 1800/2600MHz binomials) to ensure a more stable mobile connection, with a stronger signal and higher speeds . By aggregating 3 frequencies we can go even further, a technology called 4G+ UHD by SFR (sometimes 4G++). It will therefore be necessary to take care to choose your smartphone wisely, but also to choose your mobile network wisely, because all these frequencies are not used by operators in a given place.

4G+ UHD compatible smartphones available

While waiting for the arrival in 2017 of smartphones based for example on the new Snapdragon 830 processor, this already concerns the following very high-end models:

Apple: iPhone 7, iPhone7 Plus

Huawei: Mate 9

Redmi: Note 3 Pro

Samsung: Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 edge

Sony Mobile: Xperia XZ

4G+ compatible smartphones

They are much more likely to be able to offer 4G+, including some models under €200 such as the Soshphone 3, but also the: Honor 8, Huawei P9/Mate S/Mate 8/Nova, Motorola Moto Z/Z Play/ Z Force, LG G4/G5, HTC 10/One A9/One M9, Google Nexus 5X/6P, Microsoft Lumia 950/950XL, iPhone 6S/6S Plus, Samsung Galaxy S6/S6 Edge/S6 edge Plus/A5 (2016) , Sony Xperia Z5/Z5 Compact/Z5 Premium, Meizu MX6, OnePlus 3...

700 MHz compatible smartphones

With Free Mobile which has already received authorization to deploy more than 400 4G supports in 700 Mhz, if you are with this operator or to anticipate the deployments of others, it is better to choose a smartphone which can use the 4G network on this band. You have in particular the: Samsung Galaxy S6/S7/S7 Edge, LG G3/G4, Nexus 5X/6, HTC One M9/HTC One A9, Huawei Ascend Mate 7/P8/P8 Lite, Sony Xperia Z5/Z5 Compact/Z5 Premium/XA, Apple iPhone 6/6 Plus/6S/6S Plus, Microsoft Lumia 950.///