Band 66
A radio frequency band used for mobile phones in the US.
As one of the newest bands, it's used exclusively for newer technologies such as LTE, a 4G technology.
Band 66 is also known as AWS.
Band 66 includes band 4. It is an expansion and superset of that band. Band 4 included AWS blocks A-F, as part of the AWS-1 auction. Band 66 adds blocks G-J (AWS-3) and the unique AWS-4 block.
See: AWS
AWS-1 and AWS-3 (blocks A-J) are paired bands, meaning phones transmit to towers on different frequencies from what towers transmit to phones on. This prevents interference.
AWS-4 is an unpaired band, making it suitable for one-way communication. As part of band 66, it's intended to be used in conjunction with the rest of band 66 to boost downlink bandwidth (download speed).
That makes band 66 asymmetric, (more of it is set aside for downlink than for uplink,) which is unusual.
T-Mobile launched band 66 in late 2016. AT&T and Verizon also own AWS-3 spectrum, and thus may launch band 66 in 2017.
Last updated Oct 26, 2016 by Rich Brome
Editor in Chief Rich became fascinated with cell phones in 1999, creating mobile web sites for phones with tiny black-and-white displays and obsessing over new phone models. Realizing a need for better info about phones, he started Phone Scoop in 2001, and has been helming the site ever since. Rich has spent two decades researching and covering every detail of the phone industry, traveling the world to tour factories, interview CEOs, and get every last spec and photo Phone Scoop readers have come to expect. As an industry veteran, Rich is a respected voice on phone technology of the past, present, and future.
