Government Clears Way For 1700 MHz Auctions

in the US (as well as europe), although bands are typically named with a single number, they always consist of a pair of bands. one set of freqs is for upstream traffic (phone > tower), the other for downstream (tower > phone). sometimes the second band is close enough that the number is really just an average like 850 here in the states. however in the case of 3g bands, the up and down are rather far apart. in europe, the 2100 mhz band is actually 2100 down and 1900 up. in the states, the 1700 mhz band is planned to be 1700 down and 2100 up. making the likely hood of compatibility, even when compining 1900 and 2100 use here, unlikely.