Mikey Campbell
Despite not being an official Apple partner carrier, T-Mobile on Tuesday announced that it has nearly 2 million iPhones operating on its network, and interest in Apple's handset is fueling over 100,000 activations every month.
In statements at the Citi Global Internet, Media and Telecommunications conference, T-Mobile CEO John Legere told attendees that some 1.9 million iPhones have been activated as of January, which TmoNews reports is a boost of 200,000 users in the past 30 days alone.
While it is the fourth-largest wireless carrier in the U.S., T-Mobile only recently announced a deal to sell Apple's products starting in 2013. In contrast, small regional carriers like Appalachian Wireless and Cricket Communications kicked off sales of the latest iPhone 5 in September.
T-Mobile has apparently changed its tune in regard to the iPhone as the company's U.S. Chief Operating Officer Jim Ailing said in November that he was unwilling to make the major investment required to carry Apple's popular handset.
"Make no mistake about it: We would love to carry the iPhone," Ailing said at the time. "However, we want the economies to be right for us."
The economics have apparently changed over the past month and T-Mobile seems to be raring to start official sales later this year.
T-Mobile’s Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray said in a statement earlier today that the company's first LTE market is slated to roll out in Las Vegas over the next “two to three weeks.â€
Charles Martin
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5 Comments
I will definitely be going to T-Mobile when my contract with Verizon. Or, possibly, if the money situation is right, I will cancel Verizon and go to T-Mobile early. And what happened to the whole AT&T-T-Mobile deal where T-Mobile gets to use AT&T's spectrum?
And that's fine, BUT their MARKETING PROGRAM TO SPIN THEIR NETWORK 'REFARMING' to be a 4G nationwide offering for iPhones is a COMPLETE SHAM. For UNLOCKED IPHONE users in the MAJORITY OF Southern California, THIS ADVERTISING/MARKETING IS A LIE. I tested it Last week, with the help of T-Mumble technician (person on the towers), and the very best we could get, with LIMITED RANGE FROM THE CELL OR TOWER (approx. 1/2 mi. from the cell) was 11.5 Mbps down, 4.0 Mbps up. That's to T-Mumble hosted servers.... This cell is spun to serve 35,000 potential ustomers in my area... It may reach 50. Sorry the rest of you humble iPhone users... Magenta is STILL a joke
I thought I had found a cheap alternative to being locked into a contract, and signed up for the $30 a month "pay as you go" plan @ T-Mobile. I used an unlocked AT&T iPhone and after getting a new sim card, I was on my way. Data speeds were OK for the first month or so, and then things just slowed to a crawl. I can't even check email now, I'm guessing because it times out, and T-Mobile wants to blame my ISP or Apple for the problems. My most recent conversation with customer service was filled with promises that it might get better by June 2013. I can occasionally get a 3G signal but it doesn't last more than a few minutes before switching to EDGE. Think twice before wasting your time and money.
And that's fine, BUT their MARKETING PROGRAM TO SPIN THEIR NETWORK 'REFARMING' to be a 4G nationwide offering for iPhones is a COMPLETE SHAM.
For UNLOCKED IPHONE users in the MAJORITY OF Southern California, THIS ADVERTISING/MARKETING IS A LIE.
I tested it Last week, with the help of T-Mumble technician (person on the towers), and the very best we could get, with LIMITED RANGE FROM THE CELL OR TOWER (approx. 1/2 mi. from the cell) was 11.5 Mbps down, 4.0 Mbps up. That's to T-Mumble hosted servers.... This cell is spun to serve 35,000 potential ustomers in my area... It may reach 50.
Sorry the rest of you humble iPhone users... Magenta is STILL a joke
I am confused. T-Mobile has merely said it has been rolling the 4G service out to certain markets, including Los Angeles. It hasn't claimed to have finished doing so. When Sprint first advertised 4G service, it was averaging 2-3 Mbps per second. My AT&T DSL only gets about 6. I'd take 11.5 Mbps in a heart beat. I understand AT&T and Verizon are getting much better numbers with their LTE service, but with data caps who cares.
I thought I had found a cheap alternative to being locked into a contract, and signed up for the $30 a month "pay as you go" plan @ T-Mobile. I used an unlocked AT&T iPhone and after getting a new sim card, I was on my way. Data speeds were OK for the first month or so, and then things just slowed to a crawl. I can't even check email now, I'm guessing because it times out, and T-Mobile wants to blame my ISP or Apple for the problems. My most recent conversation with customer service was filled with promises that it might get better by June 2013. I can occasionally get a 3G signal but it doesn't last more than a few minutes before switching to EDGE. Think twice before wasting your time and money.
The iPhone doesn't support 3G on T-Mobile. It is refarming spectrum right now to bring its 4G service to iPhones, but the refarm is still early in the process. I have 3 iPhones running on T-Mobile. Edge is more than fast enough to stream Pandora, surf the Internet, and get your email. Perhaps this depends on where you are. T-Mobile will also give you a inside cell tower if you are having reception problems.