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A guide to sector IDs on each network

insertfloppydiskhere

ULTIMATE Member
All 4 networks in the UK follow a general numbering scheme for cell sector IDs. Here's a guide to identify them easily by network:

Hoping to have 5G SA information soon and missing B32 information on Three and Vodafone and missing B46 information on EE.



EE

4G LTE


Things may slightly vary depending on area but should be mostly accurate. Information for band 46 is currently missing here.

From what I can tell, micro cells which don't use 1791/3026 EARFCNs will instead prefer the lowest CIDs depending on band and EARFCN.

0, 1, 2: Band 3 (EARFCN 1617)
3, 4, 5: Band 3 (EARFCN 1761/1815)
6, 7, 8: Band 7 (EARFCN 3350)
9, 10, 11: Band 7 (EARFCN 3179)
12, 13, 14: Band 20
15, 16, 17: Band 7 (Micro Cells EARFCN 3026 (and 3029 on some macros in some cases)
18, 19, 20: Band 1
24, 25, 26: Band 3 (EARFCN 1791 (often used for Micro Cells)
27, 28, 29: Band 28
30, 31, 32: Band 7 (EARFCN 3029)

5G NR

0, 1, 2: Band n78 (NRARFCN 636960, lower 40MHz)
3, 4, 5: Band n78 (NRARFCN 646272, upper 40MHz)
6, 7, 8: Band n28
9, 10, 11: Band n1
12, 13, 14: Band n3 (NRARFCN 372490/374190, upper 20MHz)
15, 16, 17: Band n7 (NRARFCN 529490, 15MHz (assumption)



ESN

For other bands, please refer to EE. Band 39 sector IDs currently unknown.

36, 37, 38, 86, 87, 88: Band 40



Three

4G LTE


0, 1, 2: Band 3
6, 7, 8: Band 20
71, 72, 73: Band 1
91, 92, 93: Band 28

5G NR

101, 102, 103: Band n78 (100MHz)
201, 202, 203: Band n78 (40MHz)
301, 302, 303: Band n1



Vodafone

4G LTE


Band 3 may use x4 cell IDs in O2 host areas but there are hardly any B3 masts in O2 host areas to identify.

x0: Band 20
x2: Band 8
x4 (VF host), x5 (O2 host): Band 1
x4 (O2 host), x6 (VF host): Band 3
x8: Band 7
x9: Band 38

5G NR

15, 25, 35, 45: Band n78 (50MHz)
17, 27, 37, 47: Band n1
410, 420, 430, 440: Band n8 (10MHz)
419, 429, 439: Band n78 (40MHz)



O2

4G LTE


This is where it gets fun. Cell IDs vary between O2/Vodafone host areas and whether B3 is available as well.

11x sector IDs ONLY on micro cells.

1x0: Band 20
1x2: Band 8
1x4 (VF host), 1x5 (O2 host): Band 1
1x4 (O2 host), 1x6 (Vodafone host): Band 3
1x5 (VF host with B3 available in area), 1x6 (O2 host and VF host without B3): Band 40 (EARFCN 39250)
1x7: Band 40 (EARFCN 39448)
1x8: Band 38
1x9: Band 28

5G NR

5G SA is still very new so this is a bit of a mess, sorry. It doesn't help that O2 has been spotted with a lot of different sector IDs.

114, 124, 134: Band n28 (seen in Reading)
117, 127, 137: Band n1 (seen in Reading)
118, 128, 138: Band n78 (seen in Reading)
510, 520, 530: Band n8 (seen in Reading)
515, 525, 535: Band n28 (seen in Kilwinning (thanks @The Wee Bear), Gloucester and VF host areas in the West of Scotland so far)
1113, 1114, 1115: Band n78 (lower 40MHz, seen in Birmingham, the North and parts of London)
1413, 1414, 1415: Band n78 (80MHz, seen at Slough HQ and parts of London)
2509, 2510, 2511: Band n28 (seen in Birmingham, the North and Slough HQ)
10701, 10702, 10703: Band n28 (seen in Cardiff)
13701, 13702, 13703: Band n78 (80MHz, seen in Cardiff)

Hoping this might be useful to someone somewhere!
 
Last edited:
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Can you clarify what you mean by sector IDs and I'll be able to fetch some data from my area?
 
While a pattern will be seen locally that is because for planning the local mast coverage may be allocated sequential numbers at the detailed level. The Cell ID is a calculated reference combining both the provider and mast detail. A provider, due to history, may have more than one reference.

For instance the 5G NR reference is 36 bit further divided into two parts: PLMN-Id (Public Land Mobile Network Identity) and NCI (NR Cell Identity). The cell NCI is a calculation from the mast detail.

On an Android something like Netmonster will show the Cell IDs on your phone or use Cellmapper. Unfortunately 5G information is still sparse so its a call out to use the Cellmapper app so that it is updated.
 
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I'm convinced Cellmapper hates me for writing this, keeps rate-limiting me which means I can't do anything in regards to sectors. I've added EE though to 5G SA though now, I'm not sure about Three but I think I've seen 101, 102, 103 and 301, 302, 303.
 
Is there anything consistent regarding B42/B43 on UK Broadband?

I had a quick look and it doesn't look like it is unfortunately.
Yeah, don't think it's worth adding it here, looked at 3 different masts in Swindon, nothing consistent

Three UK Broadband

On eNB 350003

1 - Band 42 42490 Carrier
2 - Band 42 43490 Carrier
23 - Band 43 43740 Carrier

On eNB 352013

1 - Band 43 43740 Carrier
2 - Band 42 42490 Carrier
3 - Band 43 44340 Carrier

On eNB 350004

1 - Band 42 43490 Carrier
2 - Band 43 44340 Carrier
3 - Band 42 42490 Carrier
 
I frankly don't think I researched Vodafone in O2 hosts enough, managed to find a few examples of B3 in O2 host on eNBs 504701 and 503565 and I realised that B1 sector IDs are different too in O2 host, sorry for not realising sooner
 
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