Find 4G phones
4G phone needed? Here you will find a handy overview of available phones with 4G, sometimes also called LTE. You can also check here if your phone is suitable for 4G. You can immediately see if it is available and you can easily compare prices, possibly with a subscription. Read more
4G is a technology that allows you to quickly access the internet on the go. It is already the fourth generation mobile telecommunications standard and it follows 3G. 4G is also known as Long Term Evolution, or LTE for short.
In order to use 4G, not only do you need a mobile phone that supports 4G, you will also need an associated subscription or prepaid connection. Furthermore, you must be in the 4G coverage area, so there must be range. By now, almost all providers have national 4G coverage, although there are still areas with reduced coverage, so-called blindspots or grey spots. At home you usually connect to your own WiFi network and no more data will be sent over the 4G network.
4G speed
4G has a theoretical maximum download speed of 1000 Mbit/s and an upload speed of 500 Mbit/s. These speeds will not be achieved in practice, the average speed is rather 50 Mbit/s. However, this is many times faster than 3G (also called UMTS). You can directly test how fast your current connection is on websites like speedtest.net.
Bands
4G works with so-called bands, each with its own frequency. A 4G phone doesn't have to support every band. Because providers work with their own connections, it is important to see if your future mobile will be able to work with your provider's 4G network. Most of the 4G phones available in the shop here will be able to handle the tyres that apply here, but some import models will not. For example, some Xiaomi phones do not work on our 4G networks. We try to include the supported 4G bands in the specifications with every added phone.
4G in the UK
| Provider | Bands | EE | 1, 3, 7, 20, 38 |
|---|---|
| O2 | 1, 3, 8, 20, 40 |
| Vodafone | 1, 3, 20, 32 |
| Three | 1, 3, 7, 8, 20, 32, 38 |
Frequencies
Each band works with its own frequency. Exactly which ones you see in the table below. Sometimes manufacturers provide information on supported frequencies instead of bands. With the information below you can look up which band is meant exactly. We have limited ourselves here to the frequencies in use in Europe.
| Band | Frequency | 1 | 2100 MHz | 3 | 1800 MHz |
|---|---|
| 7 | 2600 MHz | 8 | 900 MHz |
| 20 | 800 MHz |
| 28 | 700 MHz |
| 31 | 450 MHz |
| 32 | 1400 MHz |
| 38 | 2600 MHz | 40 | 2300 MHz |
4G categories
Not every 4G phone is as fast. This is because the 4G standard has various categories. Each category has a number with its own maximum download and upload speed. Usually, the higher the number, the faster. For example, LTE Cat3 has a maximum speed of 100 Mbit/s, Cat4 150 Mbit/s, Cat6 300 Mbit/s and Cat9 450 Mbit/s. We also try to mention the LTE category with every added telephone. You'll find it under the specs.
4G+
The technique doesn't stand still and meanwhile the successor(s) of 4G are being worked hard on. In the meantime, providers are trying handy tricks to further increase the speed of 4G. An example is the bundling of multiple frequencies, also called Carrier Aggregation. This term is now known in the market as 4G+ or '4G accelerator', the official term, however, is LTE Advanced. The maximum 4G+ speed currently advertised by providers is 300 Mbit/s. If you want to use 4G+ or LTE Advanced, both your provider and your mobile phone will have to support it. In addition, you will need to have a subscription with 4G+ activated. You can recognise whether your mobile supports 4G+ or LTE Advanced by checking that it supports at least LTE Cat6 or higher. If so, your mobile is suitable for it.
