Cheat Sheet: US Wireless Carrier 4G and 5G Bands for Unlocked Phones [2024]
  • Posted byby Kellen

Cheat Sheet: US Wireless Carrier 4G and 5G Bands for Unlocked Phones [2024]

“Does this unlocked phone work with my carrier?” or “What are the US wireless carrier bands?” How many times have you asked that over the last several of years? I know we ask it often about Verizon or AT&T or T-Mobile networks. In a time where prepaid services are very attractive, and more and more phones are available as unlocked models that work on a variety of 5G, 4G LTE, and 3G GSM/CDMA bands, this a question you should be able to easily find an answer to.

And now in 2022, with 5G in so many places and the 5G race heating up, you need to know about carrier low-band 5G, mid-band 5G, C-Band 5G, and mmW 5G. Because not all 5G is created equal, confirming a phone has the best 5G coverage in your city is important.

So since there doesn’t seem to be a quick reference guide for figuring out if a particular unlocked phone will work on a specific carrier’s network (trust me, I’ve looked), we decided to throw one together.

Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, US Cellular, Dish (Boost) network bands

Below, we have given you a quick chart that shows each of the four major US carriers (Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, US Cellular, and Boost (Dish)), along with 3G, 4G LTE, and 5G bands and frequencies. By no means is this the most in-depth wireless carrier band and frequency chart, but it should help when you go to buy that next unlocked phone from Samsung, Google, OnePlus, Apple, or Motorola.

US 5G Bands (by carrier)

CARRIERBANDSFREQUENCIES
AT&Tn2, n5, n77, n66, n2601900MHz (low), 850MHz (low), 3.7GHz (mid), 1700-2100MHz (low), 39GHz (mmW)
VERIZONn2, n5, n77, n66, n261, n2601900MHz (low), 850MHz (low), 3.7GHz (mid), 1700-2100MHz (low), 28GHz (mmW), 39GHz (mmW)
T-MOBILEn25, n41, n71, n261, n2601900 MHz (low), 2.5GHz (mid), 600MHz (low), 28GHz (mmW), 39GHz (mmW)
SPRINTn412.5GHz (mid)
US CELLULARn71, n77, n261, n260600MHz (low), 3.7GHz (mid), 28GHz (mmW), 39GHz (mmW)
BOOST (DISH)n29, n66-n70, n71700MHz (low), 1700-2100MHz (low), 600MHz (low)

US 4G LTE Bands (by carrier)

CARRIER4G LTE BANDS4G LTE FREQUENCIES
AT&T2, 4, 5, 12, 14, 17, 29, 30, 661900, 1700/2100, 850, 700, 2300
VERIZON2, 4, 5, 13, 661900, 1700/2100, 850, 700
T-MOBILE2, 4, 12, 66, 711900, 1700/2100, 700, 600
SPRINT25, 26, 411900, 850, 2500
US CELLULAR2, 4, 5, 121900, 1700/2100, 850, 700

US 3G Bands (by carrier)

CARRIERNETWORK3G BANDS3G FREQUENCIES
AT&TGSM/HSPA+2, 51900, 850
VERIZONCDMA0, 1850, 1900
T-MOBILEGSM/HSPA+2, 41900, 1700/2100
SPRINTCDMA2, 101900, 800
US CELLULARCDMA2, 5850, 1900

UPDATED OCTOBER 30, 2024. – Added US Cellular and Boost (Dish) to 5G chart, plus updated AT&T networks.

Written by

Kellen

It’s not often that you get to merge personal passions into a professional life, but that’s what Kellen did when he launched Droid Life in 2009. After working years of unsatisfying jobs in the medical and property management fields, he took a risk to try and create an online community while playing with the coolest gadgets on the planet each day, a risk that has turned out to be incredibly rewarding. Outside of Droid Life, Kellen is your typical Portlander who drinks way too much good beer, complains often about the Trail Blazers, and can be found out on the streets for a run, rain or shine.

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51 Comments

  • So AT&T bought Cricket, and Straight Talk uses AT&T towers, right? Is one service better than the other? I need to switch my wife’s Straight Talk to Cricket, for some reason I feel like it would be faster. ST is super slow. Since Cricket is owned by AT&T I figured they’d get a higher priority bandwidth than an MVNO.

  • thank you for posting this. it is reprehensible that some phone makers would put phones and mobile tablets up for pre-order without clearly disclosing what bands and/or carriers the phone/tablet is compatible with.

  • Very helpful cheat sheet. Great for people who would appreciate not being locked to a single carrier. Oh wait, that’s most of us. xD

  • In theory, AT&T’s Band 17 service should be compatible with Band 12 devices by October 1st of this year. Sort of moot as that’s probably not going to happen on time if the Death Star can help it and there are hardly any Band 12 (and also not Band 17) compatible devices.

    • Always assume your MVNO uses Sprint. A few use T-Mobile and only a couple use AT&T. I’m not aware of any that use VZW.

  • As a side note: you cannot generalize Verizon as having Band 4 (1700 f). They use MORE than the F-block. T-Mobile uses more than 1700 def. And same with AT&T. In my area, T-Mobile holds A+B+C, while Verizon holds D+E+F. That is exactly the kind of misinformation that confuses people. Band 4 does not support specific blocks. It covers AWS-1 (A-F). Doesn’t matter what the carrier uses.

    Also, Verizon holds 700 Upper C, while AT&T holds Lower C. That 700 ABC thing will confuse more people as well. Especially considering AT&T has gone to Band 12 now as well, eliminating Band 17 from their device portfolio.

  • So I’m guessing that if I take an unlocked sprint gs4 To Verizon according to this chart only the 3g will work. Is that right?

    • Correct. Unless for some reason it has b4 and b13 also which isn’t uncommon. Not even sure if EVDO would work.

    • Except that there’s no such thing as an unlocked Sprint device lol
      On a realistic side note… Even if such a device existed, Sprint puts a region lock on their phones as well, making it near-impossible for even an unlocked Sprint device to use any other carriers in the States. Overseas, yes.

    • No fastest. Speed is determined by the amount of spectrum. The best would be the 700MHz and 800MHz frequencies because it travels the furthest and penetrates through walls best.

  • http://www.willmyphonework.net/ is a pretty good site to figure out if your specific phone is compatible on other networks. It lets you pick manufacturer, model, even specific model number, then which network you want to check its compatibility on. Seems to work pretty well.

  • isn’t Verizon CDMA/GSM (LTE for GSM Part) that’s why some phones like iPhone 6 and some others from AT&T & T-Mobile work with active nano sim ?

    • I’m pretty sure all iPhone 6s can be used on any network now as long as it’s unlocked. Sprint might be the only exception to this.

        • It does get confusing. I’ve heard if you buy it from T-Mobile it’s locked but if you buy it from Apple for T-Mobile it’s unlocked.

          • That’s because only T-Mobile stores can sign you up for EIP. Apple advertises their unlocked iPhone as the “T-Mobile” iPhone because they’re selling to the lowest common denominator. Wouldn’t want to confuse us americans with a word like “Unlocked”

        • I saw people using tmobile brand 6 on VZW but you needed to have active nano sim eg: from 5S or any other “nano sim” phone.

          • i know what you talking about…i tried that way as well before…but it never work

            im working at VZW…and i tried att iphone 6 to verizon network but it never work…

            again….you can also check from apple.com

            att , t-mobile iphones have only GSM NETWORK CHIP

            verizon iphone have GSM + CDMA network chip inside of phone….

            when you go to apple.com/iphone and check spec….you will figure it out….

        • i guess this video show that iphone is came from verizon iphone….because only verizon iphone come with (CDMA+GSM)…
          but if you buy t-mobile or att iphone…it will come only GSM Network….so it cant work with verizon network…
          from this video…he didnt even mention that he used verizon iphone…
          and of course…non of iphone cannot use sprint network….

          i have verizon iphone and using att 4g let network…but my sister brought att iphone 6 and she wanted to use verizon network….but she couldnt work with it…

      • i guess this video show that iphone is came from verizon iphone….because only verizon iphone come with (CDMA+GSM)…
        but if you buy t-mobile or att iphone…it will come only GSM Network….so it cant work with verizon network…
        from this video…he didnt even mention that he used verizon iphone…
        and of course…non of iphone cannot use sprint network….

        i have verizon iphone and using att 4g let network…but my sister brought att iphone 6 and she wanted to use verizon network….but she couldnt work with it…

      • SIM Free version supports Sprint and all other carriers. Verizon/AT&T/T-mobile unlocked model will not support Sprint.

    • on bottom of video…i guess that video show that iphone is came from verizon iphone….because only verizon iphone come with (CDMA+GSM)…
      but if you buy t-mobile or att iphone…it will come only GSM Network….so it cant work with verizon network…
      from this video…he didnt even mention that he used verizon iphone…
      and of course…non of iphone cannot use sprint network….

      i have verizon iphone and using att 4g let network…but my sister brought att iphone 6 and she wanted to use verizon network….but she couldnt work with it…

      • It works on att 4G because they are sim unlocked. If you have active nano sim card on verizon it should work with att iphone 6 on verizon.

        I think all 4g verizon phones after note2 are sim unlocked.

        • im working at VZW…and i tried att iphone 6 to verizon network but it never work…
          again….you can also check from apple.com
          att , t-mobile iphones have only GSM NETWORK CHIP
          verizon iphone have GSM + CDMA network chip inside of phone….
          when you go to apple.com/iphone and check spec….you will figure it out….

  • You forgot AT&T band 5. It’s active where I live. No band 17 spectrum here so they used band 5.

    • It’s barely used by AT&T and only in select markets. Wouldn’t want someone to see band 5 and go, “I’m supported!”

      • True. There are a lot of B4 only phones though too and a lot of AT&T areas don’t have it active.

        • With ATT the phone literally needs all 4 band 2,4,5,17 to work. I a 30 mile drive here in IL I see 4,5,17 all in that drive.

      • Only the entire state of Vermont is Band 5. You wouldn’t want to confuse a single person in an entire state.

      • I like how everyone likes Kellexs’ comment just because it’s Kellex lol. That logic is flawed because there are plenty of phones that have band 2, band 4 and band 5 LTE but no band 17 which AT&T has deployed almost everywhere. There are tons of places that don’t have any other LTE bands turned up besides band 17.

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