4G phones
Need a 4G phone? Here you will find a handy overview of available phones with 4G, sometimes called LTE. You can also check here whether your phone is suitable for 4G. You will immediately see if it is available and can easily compare prices, with or without a subscription.
4G is a technology that allows fast mobile internet on the go. It is already the fourth generation mobile telecommunications standard, succeeding 3G. 4G is also called Long Term Evolution, or LTE for short.
To use 4G, you will not only need a 4G-capable mobile phone, you will also need a corresponding subscription or prepaid connection. Furthermore, you must be in the 4G coverage area, so there must be coverage. Almost all Dutch providers now have nationwide 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 data will be sent via the 4G network.
4G speed
4G has a theoretical maximum download speed of 1,000 Mbit/s and an upload of 500 Mbit/s. Those speeds will not be achieved in practice; the average speed is more like 50 Mbit/s. However, that is many times faster than 3G (aka UMTS). You can directly test how fast your current connection is on websites such as speedtest.net.
Bands
4G works with so-called bands, each with its own frequency. A 4G phone does not have to support every band. Because providers work with their own bands, it is worth paying attention to see if your future mobile can handle your provider's 4G network. Most 4G phones available in shops here will handle the bands applicable here effortlessly, with some import models this is not true. For example, some Xiaomi phones will not work on our 4G networks. We try to list the supported 4G bands with the specifications for each added phone.
4G in the Netherlands
| Provider | Bands |
|---|---|
| KPN | 1, 3, 7, 20 and 38 |
| Odido | 1, 3, 7, 8, 20 and 38 |
| Vodafone | 1, 3, 7, 20 and 28 |
Belgium
| Provider | Ties |
|---|---|
| Base | 3 and 20 |
| Orange | 3 and 7 |
| Proximus | 3, 7 and 20 |
Frequencies
Each band works with its own frequency. Exactly which ones they are can be seen in the table below. Sometimes manufacturers give information about supported frequencies instead of bands. With the information below, you can look up exactly which band is meant. 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 |
| 38 | 2600 MHz |
| 40 | 3500 MHz |
4G categories
Not every 4G phone is the same speed. This is because the 4G standard has several categories. Each category has a number with its own maximum download and upload speed. Usually, the higher the number, the faster. For instance, LTE Cat3 has a maximum speed of 100 Mbit/s, Cat4 150 Mbit/s, Cat6 300 Mbit/s and Cat9 450 Mbit/s. We try to include the LTE category with each phone added. You can find it under the specifications.
4G+
Technology does not stand still and, meanwhile, work on the successor(s) to 4G is in full swing. In the meantime, providers are trying out handy tricks to further increase 4G speed. One example is the bundling of multiple frequencies, also known as Carrier Aggregation. This term is now known in the market as 4G+ or '4G accelerator', but the official term 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 will have to support it. Moreover, you will need to have a subscription on which 4G+ is activated. You can recognise whether your mobile supports 4G+ or LTE Advanced by checking whether it supports at least LTE Cat6 or higher. If yes, then your mobile is suitable for it.
