Tele2 turns off 2600MHz on masts at night to save power – update

Tele2 switches off the 2600MHz band on its transmission towers at night to save power. That is what the provider says on its own forum. The move means that some customers have a less fast connection during the night hours.

A moderator of Tele2 confirms in a topic on its own forum that Tele2 switches off the 2600MHz frequency on masts between midnight and six in the morning and that the network then leans on the lower 800MHz band. The 2600MHz band is only needed to absorb congestion on the network and to offer more speed through carrier aggregation, the stacking of frequencies. Due to the relatively high frequency, it is unsuitable for providing coverage in large areas.

As a result, many customers may have a slower 4g connection in the night hours. The consequences are greater for customers with a Chinese smartphone without support for 4G at 800MHz. They only receive 4g via the 2600MHz frequency and those devices are therefore unable to receive 4g on the Tele2 network at night.

If the network load on the 800MHz becomes too high, the network automatically switches the 2600MHz band back on. This is not easy with a single telephone, but if there are more devices on the same mast, it will happen fairly quickly.

It is unknown exactly how great the impact on the speed of the connection is, although part of the speed difference will be compensated for because fewer smartphones are active on the network. Tele2 has taken the step to make significant savings on electricity in order to reduce costs and protect the environment.

Update, 12:06 PM: Tele2 says in a response that the 2600MHz frequency on a mast will switch on again if a lot is downloaded or uploaded for more than two minutes. “That means that there are places where switching off occurs less often, because the need is greater there. You can think of the center of large cities, where there is a lot of activity,” said spokesman Robin Janszen.