4G could ruin your TV: here's what will save it

Though EE has been offering a limited 4G service for about a year now, the true UK 4G revolution has only ust !ic!ed off" #oth $% and Vodafone oined the 4G mar!et at the end of &ugust, and when Three oins the 'arty in (ecember it will mean that #ritain is fully 4G at last" #ut there's a 'roblem" $r rather, there's a 'otential 'roblem for a small minority of the UK 'o'ulation" (isru'tive technology &ll four 4G)ca'able networ!s face a clash with the UK's *reeview television service that could interfere with a number of UK residents' TV signals" This disru'tion may involve a loss of sound, a bloc!y 'icture, or at worst a com'lete loss of some TV channels for certain 'eo'le using *reeview" &t+,, is the name of the com'any that has been established to manage this 'otential issue" -t's entirely funded by the four UK networ!s mentioned above ) EE, $%, Vodafone and . ) who have contributed a total of /0+, million to that end" 1o what's the source of this 'otential signal disru'tion2 3uch of this new 4G data traffic will o'erate on the +,,345 s'ectrum, which was freed u' with the end of UK TV analogue broadcasts last year and 'rom'tly auctioned off by the UK government for 4G usage" Each of the four ma or UK networ!s too! a slice" 6ith the e7tra headroom afforded by this freeing u' 'rocess ) as the well as the use of two other fre8uencies, %9,,345 and 0+,,345 ) UK o'erators are able to offer :or will eventually; mobile 'hone data s'eeds that are roughly e8uivalent to a decent broadband service" 6hat on earth is 4G2 4G !illed the TV star The trouble that the UK faces is that our *reeview TV service o'erates on the nearby <,,345 s'ectrum" -n most cases these two ad acent signals 'lay nicely" =4G 'rovides a very clean signal that only occu'ies that s'ectrum it has been allocated,= e7'lains at+,, >E$ 1imon #eresford)6ylie" -n certain areas around #ritain, though, these two ad acent s'ectrums overla', causing the aforementioned disru'tion to *reeview TV services" &s #eresford)6ylie e7'lains it, =the issues can arise when systems are overloaded by too strong a combined signal from (TT and 4G that can cause am'lifiers or tuners to fail"= This essentially boils down to those households that are located very close to a 4G mast, and who also use *reeview as their 'rimary means of watching TV" &s you can imagine, this is a relatively small number of 'eo'le" #ac! at the beginning of ?une, at+,, announced that no more than @,,,,, households

would be at ris! of this +,,345 disru'tion" 6e as!ed the com'any if these 'ro ections remained accurate some three months on, and they confirmed that they were"

-f you're near one of these, you may have a 'roblemEnter at+,, *ortunately, there's a contingency 'lan in 'lace to deal with any clashes between these two UK services" -n addition to su''lying the funding, each UK networ! o'erator has a re'resentative on the 4GATV >o)e7istence $versight #oard that oversees at+,,'s wor!" This close coo'eration hel's at+,, 'in'oint e7actly where hel' is needed" =The four o'erators share with us their rollout 'lans in terms of mast activation to allow us to target our mailing to households that could be affected within the ne7t three to twelve wee!s by a new mast being activated,= e7'lains #eresford)6ylie" 1o what do you do if you're one of these affected @,,,,, households2 &s mentioned, ste's have been ta!en to hel' you out, and it shouldn't cost you a 'enny" *or most 'eo'le affected by the clash, a sim'le signal filter will be sufficient to restore your *reeview signal to full strength" These will be mailed out to affected households in advance of 4G masts being activated in their area, alongside further instructions on its installation" =1o far, any instances of disru'tion caused by 4G at +,, 345 have been com'letely fi7ed with a filter,= claims #eresford)6ylie"

*or an even smaller minority, however, this measure may not 'rove sufficient" 1uch ones can ma!e use of the at+,, &ccredited -nstaller 1cheme, which was announced on ?uly 0<, by calling the number listed at the bottom of this article" This scheme involves at+,, wor!ing along with the wider aerial installation industry to a''oint a''roved technicians to visit affected houses and formulate a 'lan to overcome any lingering difficulties"

6e as!ed #eresford)6ylie what e7actly these accredited installers would be able to do in the worst)hit locations" -t seems that they will mostly be used to install the aforementioned filters in locations that 'rove ha5ardous or inaccessible for customers, =such as on a roof in front of an am'lifier, or in a lift before the aerial cable reaches a s'litter"= =-nstallers can also assess the state of e7isting aerial and cable set)u's to hel' 'rovide the best TV signal and overcome disru'tion from 4G,= he said" =*urther ste's include the 'ossibility of a change of 'latform,= he adds, which could involve establishing a cable)based TV service alternative" =4owever we have not seen any cases yet where this has been necessary,= notes #eresford) 6ylie"

-f you live here you don't need TV, great views1ignals from the future

-t a''ears as if at+,, has the +,,345 situation covered for now, then, but you may be worried as to how long this su''ort will last" &fter all, each UK networ!'s 4G offering is going to e7'and drastically over the coming months and years" $% has committed to attaining @+ 'ercent UK 4G coverage by %,0<, so the UK 4G revolution won't be achieved overnight" =&t+,, will e7ist until 0% months after the condition of @+ 'ercent 'o'ulation coverage has been achieved,= #eresford)6ylie assures us" =The licence condition should be met by the end of %,0<, so in that scenario at+,, would e7ist until the end of %,0+"= 4owever, the 8uestion remains: could the need for at+,, have been avoided2 6as anyone at fault2 #eresford)6ylie believes it's sim'ly an inevitable result of constantly 'rogressing networ! technologies and the limited signal s'ectrum they have to o'erate in" =&s s'ectrum use changes ) and bands are re)allocated for different uses ) there will always be some need for changes or ada'tation to e8ui'ment,= he says, =but that has to be viewed

in the conte7t of ma!ing the best use of the s'ectrum we have available"= ))))

-f you thin! that your *reeview TV e7'erience has been affected by 4G, contact ,+,+ 0. 0. +,, free from a landline or ,... .0 .0 +,, on your mobile 'hone"