Infographic: Making sense of the spectrum debate

We’ve filled up a lot of posts at GigaOM discussing spectrum and the supposed capacity crunch carriers face now that mobile data is taking off like a rocket, but all those references to megahertz and gigahertz can get a bit confusing. Luckily our friends at mobile network testing firm RootMetrics have prepared a handy graphical primer explaining the ins and out of wireless airwaves and why carriers want it so badly.

Wondering why Verizon calls its 700 MHz LTE frequencies “beachfront” airwaves while everyone turns their nose up at Sprint and Clearwire’s 2.5 GHz spectrum? Wondering why AT&T was willing to sell the farm to get its hands on T-Mobile’s 3G and 4G licenses? Root has the answers:

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