LTE EARFCN Converter
Convert between E-UTRA Absolute Radio-Frequency Channel Number (EARFCN) and downlink / uplink frequency for the commonly deployed LTE bands between Band 1 and Band 71 (32 of them, listed below) — an EARFCN in a band outside that set says so rather than guessing. Calculations follow 3GPP TS 36.101 §5.7.3.
Auto-detects band from the EARFCN value.
LTE band reference (TS 36.101)
| Band | Name | Duplex | F_DL low (MHz) | N_Offs-DL | DL EARFCN range |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Band 1 | 2100 MHz IMT | FDD | 2110 | 0 | 0–599 |
| Band 2 | PCS 1900 | FDD | 1930 | 600 | 600–1199 |
| Band 3 | DCS 1800 | FDD | 1805 | 1200 | 1200–1949 |
| Band 4 | AWS-1 | FDD | 2110 | 1950 | 1950–2399 |
| Band 5 | CLR 850 | FDD | 869 | 2400 | 2400–2649 |
| Band 7 | IMT-E 2600 | FDD | 2620 | 2750 | 2750–3449 |
| Band 8 | E-GSM 900 | FDD | 925 | 3450 | 3450–3799 |
| Band 11 | Lower PDC 1.5 GHz | FDD | 1475.9 | 4750 | 4750–4949 |
| Band 12 | 700 MHz a/b/c | FDD | 729 | 5010 | 5010–5179 |
| Band 13 | Upper 700 C | FDD | 746 | 5180 | 5180–5279 |
| Band 14 | Public Safety 700 | FDD | 758 | 5280 | 5280–5379 |
| Band 17 | Lower 700 b/c | FDD | 734 | 5730 | 5730–5849 |
| Band 18 | 800 MHz Lower | FDD | 860 | 5850 | 5850–5999 |
| Band 19 | 800 MHz Upper | FDD | 875 | 6000 | 6000–6149 |
| Band 20 | Digital Dividend 800 | FDD | 791 | 6150 | 6150–6449 |
| Band 21 | Upper PDC 1.5 GHz | FDD | 1495.9 | 6450 | 6450–6599 |
| Band 25 | Extended PCS | FDD | 1930 | 8040 | 8040–8689 |
| Band 26 | Extended CLR 850 | FDD | 859 | 8690 | 8690–9039 |
| Band 28 | APT 700 | FDD | 758 | 9210 | 9210–9659 |
| Band 29 | Lower 700 SDL | SDL | 717 | 9660 | 9660–9769 |
| Band 30 | WCS 2300 | FDD | 2350 | 9770 | 9770–9869 |
| Band 38 | IMT-E TDD | TDD | 2570 | 37750 | 37750–38249 |
| Band 39 | China TDD 1900 | TDD | 1880 | 38250 | 38250–38649 |
| Band 40 | 2300 MHz TDD | TDD | 2300 | 38650 | 38650–39649 |
| Band 41 | BRS / TD 2500 | TDD | 2496 | 39650 | 39650–41589 |
| Band 42 | C-band 3400 | TDD | 3400 | 41590 | 41590–43589 |
| Band 43 | C-band 3600 | TDD | 3600 | 43590 | 43590–45589 |
| Band 46 | LAA / 5 GHz | TDD | 5150 | 46790 | 46790–54539 |
| Band 48 | CBRS | TDD | 3550 | 55240 | 55240–56739 |
| Band 66 | AWS-3 Extended | FDD | 2110 | 66436 | 66436–67335 |
| Band 71 | 600 MHz | FDD | 617 | 68586 | 68586–68935 |
About the EARFCN
Every LTE carrier is identified by an EARFCN — an integer between 0 and about 262,143 — that lets the eNB and the UE agree on a carrier without exchanging MHz values. The mapping is deterministic: on the downlink F_DL = F_DL_low + 0.1 × (N_DL − N_Offs-DL), with N_Offs-DL defined per band in 3GPP TS 36.101 Table 5.7.3-1. The same formula applies on the uplink with a different offset pair for FDD bands; for TDD bands the uplink and downlink share a single carrier and EARFCN.
This calculator includes all commonly deployed FDD bands (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 17, 20, 25, 26, 28, 66, 71 and more) and the widely used TDD bands (38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 46 LAA, 48 CBRS). It auto-detects the band from the EARFCN, cross-checks the band boundaries and reports both DL and UL frequencies so you don't have to look up offsets manually.
Who uses this calculator?
LTE RF planners validate carrier choices during frequency refarming and capacity additions. Field engineers confirm that a site is tuned correctly against its planned EARFCN. Protocol testers reading RRCConnectionReconfiguration or MeasObjectEUTRA need a fast way to convert the dl-CarrierFreq IE to a human-readable MHz value. With NR-refarming it's also common to calculate LTE EARFCN alongside the NR-ARFCN when planning Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS).
Related tools
- 5G NR-ARFCN Calculator — same concept for 5G.
- Wavelength Converter — for antenna sizing.
- dBm ↔ Watt Converter — for Tx power.
How to use this tool
- Enter the EARFCN. Type the EARFCN value you want to resolve.
- Convert. The tool locates the LTE band that owns that EARFCN range.
- Read frequency and band. See the resulting frequency in MHz, the band number, and whether it is a downlink or uplink carrier.
Frequently asked questions
- How does EARFCN map to a downlink frequency?
- Per TS 36.101 the downlink frequency is F_DL = F_DL_low + 0.1 × (N_DL − N_OFFS-DL), and the uplink is F_UL = F_UL_low + 0.1 × (N_UL − N_OFFS-UL). The 0.1 means the LTE carrier raster is 100 kHz. The low-edge frequency and N_OFFS values come from the band the EARFCN belongs to.
- How do I know if an EARFCN is downlink or uplink?
- Each LTE band reserves a separate EARFCN block for DL and UL (for FDD), so the number itself tells you which it is. For example band 1 uses 0–599 for DL and 18000–18599 for UL. This tool reads the EARFCN, finds the owning band and reports whether it is the DL or UL carrier.
- Why does the same physical frequency give different DL and UL EARFCNs?
- FDD bands transmit and receive on different frequencies, and 3GPP assigns each direction its own EARFCN offset. So a duplex pair shares a band but has two distinct EARFCNs. TDD bands use the same frequency for both, so their DL and UL ranges coincide.
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