Talk:5G NR frequency bands

Article name

Does anyone know why the name of the article was changed? Joshua Shah (talk) 20:48, 14 January 2023 (UTC)

Nope and I wouldn't, but I have no strong feelings about it. ebahapo (talk) 21:06, 14 January 2023 (UTC)

Whatever... Nightwalker-87 (talk) 19:52, 17 January 2023 (UTC)

NTN network references

Yesterday, I added references to various existing satellite networks using the NTN/satellite ranges, backed up by references. Would you mind explaining the revert without further comment, @Ebahapo? The current note of "US" for n255 is definitely incorrect, as it's a band pair currently used by Inmarsat globally. Zxb (talk) 23:52, 16 April 2024 (UTC)

It is not accurate to state that I did not provide any comment to the reversal, as I pointed out the existence of the page List of 5G NR networks, where NR networks are listed. As a matter of fact, adding the NTN networks in that page would be swell.

As to the note on n255, it was already there and it came originally from the note for n24, since the US are the only country where the band is licensed for terrestrial operations, albeit challenged by the satellite operators which has thus far withheld its commercial use. ebahapo (talk) 20:40, 17 April 2024 (UTC)

Oh, sorry, I missed that between the other edits!

Yeah, adding NTN networks there sounds like a better idea long term. One counterpoint would be that I'm not sure if it's fair to actually call them 5G NR, or even 5G for that matter:

- n255 is definitely what's currently used by Inmarsat for their L-band services. This includes a lot of other stuff though, like Classic Aero, Inmarsat-C, BGAN etc., which are all decidedly not 5G. On the other hand, Skylo is about to launch there, and Skylo is a 5G NTN.

- n256 is used by TerreStar (now owned by Echostar) in the US and Europe. Skylo currently uses these frequencies for 5G NTN via that, but I think it's only for 5G NTN IoT, and I'm not sure if that can be called 5G NR (as I understand it, it's a modified air interface).

- n254 exactly matches the frequencies used by Globalstar. Looking at the 3GPP meeting notes, this one seems to be pushed by Globalstar in conjunction with Apple. I suspect that might be 5G NTN on the air interface as well, but I don't think anything is publicly available, and I definitely don't have any references.

So the only 5G network (but again, not sure if it can be called 5G NR) would be Skylo via Terrestar on n256 right now, soon on n255 via Inmarsat, and potentially n254 for Apple's proprietary satellite SOS and location service.

So how about this: We could

- Rename the article "List of 5G NR networks" to "List of 5G networks" (to unambiguously also cover 5G IoT networks)

- Add an NTN section there covering both IoT and NR. We could add Terrestar/Skylo as a current n256 and Inmarsat/Skylo as a planned n255 user, and Globalstar/Apple as a potential n254 user, with a footnote explaining that it's unclear if it's actually 5G.

- Remove the "US" notice for n255 (since no 5G network is currently available there, but the existing frequency user, Inmarsat, is definitely available globally).

I still think that adding references to these existing satellite networks/frequency users, which very clearly influenced the retroactive definition of bands n256-n254, could make sense as well, but it's a bit hard to get information on all of them.

What do you think? Zxb (talk) 01:13, 19 April 2024 (UTC)

The best place to discuss this is in the talk page of List of 5G NR networks. ebahapo (talk) 19:18, 19 April 2024 (UTC)

References