In the old days (i.e. as recently as 2009), in most markets mobile carriers belligerently locked their phones so you couldn’t use the devices you paid for on any network but their own. Over time, government stepped in and some jurisdictions asked (for  example, Hong Kong) and many jurisdictions forced (i.e. America) carriers to unlock their phones either. In America, you’re still required to ask the carrier to do it, but they can’t refuse if you meet some simple requirements.

Fast forward to 2013, and the LTE has taken over as the high speed protocol for communication, but since it’s a 4th generation technology, there isn’t enough radio spectrum available globally to set aside a neat and orderly place to put it! As a result there are 38 different frequency bands defined around the world, and the wireless carriers have gleefully embarrassed the fact that there’s little chance that the bands they use will also be used by other carriers they compete with. So up until now, they’ve been able to effectively “lock” the phones to specific LTE bands at the same time as governments are forcing them to remove the software locks in there products. For consumers, it’s been a frustrating process.

Luckily for us, and the world, SkyCross has just announced their newest multiband LTE antenna, and it looks to be a winner. Their new VersiTune-LTE™ product is a 12 band mimo antenna array, that will allow manufactures to finally build devices that will be simultaneously compatible with a much larger set of mobile carriers worldwide.

This is very exciting technology. We’re on the edge of our seat waiting to see which of our favorite manufacturers incorporate it into their 2013 superphones!

[Source: GigOm]