We relate dual-band general Toeplitz operators to block truncated Toeplitz operators and, via equivalence after extension, with Toeplitz operators with $$4 \times 4$$
4
×
4
matrix symbols. We discuss their norm, their kernel, Fredholmness, invertibility and spectral properties in various situations, focusing on the spectral properties of the dual-band shift, which turns out to be considerably complex, leading to new and nontrivial connections with the boundary behaviour of the associated inner function.