Volla/Marc,
This is great news! I am happy to hear of your progress toward a solution for North America. As I’m sure you are aware, our privacy is constantly under attack and flagrantly violated by big tech and the government. Unfortunately, we do not enjoy similar personal protections that are afforded to you in the EU. We are clamoring for a means to mitigate some of the damage and Volla phones appear to be a good start.
The frequencies you listed look comprehensive and appear to cover the NAR region frequencies. However, in the U.S., GSM and CDMA have been decommissioned by Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile.
T-Mobile’s scheduled 12/31/2022 2G GSM network decommissioning has been delayed with no firm sunset date set, but it appears that they are running it at reduced capacity to support infrastructure such as parking meters, electric meters, signs, etc. This is why some Volla phones with older SIMs can still make and receive calls and send sms messages but do not have mobile data. T-Mobile is not allowing any new 2G connections.
https://www.t-mobile.com/support/covera ... -evolution
While the U.S. 2G, 3G, and non-VoLTE bands have been repurposed to 4G and 5G bandwidths, most of the other NAR countries still support those lower bands. Note that the still-in-commission T-Mobile 2G GSM band 2/1900MHz is the only verified frequency band the current Volla phones can access in the U.S.
Rather than list the bands supported in each country, it may be easier to simply review the bands supported by the major cell phone brands sold here. Looking at the frequency bands of the NAR countries, they appear to be similar and the phones listed below do cover all of these bands. These bands should cover the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Greenland, and most, if not all, of the Caribbean Islands, (and from what I’ve seen, Central and South America), which will widen your potential market area considerably.
Compare band compatibility between the top brands sold in the US:
Samsung 23
• 2G - GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
• 3G - HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700(AWS) / 1900 / 2100
• 4G LTE 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 38, 39, 40, 41, 46, 48, 66, 71
• 5G – n(x)-1, 7, 28, 41, 66, 71, 78, 258, 260, 261
Apple 14
• GSM/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz
• UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA 850, 900, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz
• TDD LTE Bands b(x) - 34, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 46, 48, 53
• FDD LTE (Bands b(x) - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 32, 66, 71
• 5G NR Bands n(x) - 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 12, 14, 20, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 38, 40, 41, 48, 53, 66, 70, 71, 77, 78, 79
• 5G NR mmWave Bands n(x) - 258, 260, 261
Pixel 7
• GSM/EDGE: Quad-band (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
• UMTS/HSPA+/HSDPA: Bands 1,2,4,5,6,8,19
• LTE: Bands B1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/13/14/17/18/19/20/25/26/28/29/30/32/38/39/40/41/46/48/66/71
• 5G Sub-6: Bands n1/2/3/5/7/8/12/14/20/25/28/30/38/40/41/48/66/71/75/76/77/78
• 5G mmWave: Bands n257/258/260/261
Proposed Volla US phone
• GSM: 2,3,5,8
• WCDMA: 2,4,5,8
• 4G: 2,4,5,7,8,12,13,17,18,19,25,26,28,30,38,40,41,48,66,71
• 5G: n2,n4,n5,n7,n8,n12,n25,n28,n40,n38/n41(full),n66,n71,n77,n78
Thank you for taking our plight seriously and committing the resources to help!
Note: with 5G being so aggressively marketed here, any new phones offered should be 5G compatible to sell at acceptable levels. A new phone brand offered with only 4G VoLTE might be viewed as old technology. Although the 5G upper bands are included on the above phones as these are flagship models, few other phones offered today have this capability. Those that do sell at premium levels that fewer people can justify.
FYI: Regulatory requirements.
All devices sold in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico (NAR - North American Region) must be registered with the FCC, ISED, and the IFT before they can be legally sold and used in the NAR. It would appear that the FCC functions as the main regulatory body with Mexico under a mutual agreement with its own process. Canada’s regulatory body is the ISED or Innovation, Science, and Economic Development.
Resources:
U.S. – FCC Certification and FCC-ID:
https://www.fcc.gov/engineering-technol ... horization
Canada:
https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/certif ... -bureau/en
Mexico:
https://www.fcc.gov/general/equipment-a ... mexico-mra
https://www.ift.org.mx/industria/unidad-de-cumplimiento
https://www.csagroup.org/global-certifi ... be-tested/
There is also a mutual agreement between the FCC and the European Community to facilitate the assessment and trade of communications equipment between member states. Germany is a participating state within the Telecommunications Annex. There may be other options for certifications through these means.
https://www.fcc.gov/general/equipment-a ... ion-eu-mra
Note 2: without an FCC certification and ID, carriers in the U.S. will not allow devices to pass the IMEI check or to access their networks.
I’m sure we all realize that this process won’t happen overnight, but yesterday will be soon enough!