GSM Frequency Bands - GSM Frequency Bands - GSM-850 and GSM-1900

GSM-850 and GSM-1900

GSM-850 and GSM-1900 are used in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, the United States and many other countries in the Americas.

• GSM-850 uses 824–849 MHz to send information from the mobile station to the base station (uplink) and 869–894 MHz for the other direction (downlink). Channel numbers are 128 to 251.

GSM-850 is also sometimes called GSM-800 because this frequency range was known as the "800 MHz band" (for simplification) when it was first allocated for AMPS in the United States in 1983.

The term Cellular is sometimes used to describe the 850 MHz band, because the original analog cellular mobile communication system was allocated in this spectrum.

• GSM-1900 uses 1,850–1,910 MHz to send information from the mobile station to the base station (uplink) and 1,930–1,990 MHz for the other direction (downlink). Channel numbers are 512 to 810.

PCS is the original name in North America for the 1,900 MHz band. It is an initialism for Personal Communications Service.