T-Mo fans: iPhone coming soon to HSPA+ on a T-Mo tower near you.

[SunnyD]

@the CTIA trade show - T-Mo "announces" that the iPhone will magically become compatible with their 3g/4g network once they start their upcoming 1900MHz shift.

... despite not selling the iPhone.

What that also means is that the slew of "other" phones available that support 1900MHz will also become magically compatible as well.

[vshah]

great news.

[shortylickens]

Meh. I suspect all the people who really wanted an iPhone already got one, regardless of the network.

[Fox5]

Is this additional spectrum they're opening up, or will they be shutting down the old HSPA spectrum?

[pm]

I wish they were more specific about which areas are affected.

http://newsroom.t-mobile.com/article...endorsSelected

As part of the company’s network modernization effort, T-Mobile also plans to launch 4G HSPA+ service in the 1900 MHz band in a large number of markets by the end of the year. Network modernization trials have shown up to a 33 percent increase in HSPA+ data speeds as well as improved in-building coverage. Rolling out 4G HSPA+ services in the 1900 MHz band will also provide customers with the ability to use a broader range of devices, including the iPhone, on T-Mobile’s 4G network.

What does "a large number of markets" really mean? And how are they going to communicate the locations?

[SunnyD]

Originally Posted by Fox5

Is this additional spectrum they're opening up, or will they be shutting down the old HSPA spectrum?

Odds are the additional spectrum they received from the botched AT&T deal. All 1900MHz. I seriously doubt they could get away with totally shutting down their entire AWS spectrum without 98% of their customers complaining that their phones no longer work.

Originally Posted by pm

I wish they were more specific about which areas are affected.

What does "a large number of markets" really mean? And how are they going to communicate the locations?

75% of their top 25 markets. LOL!

[vshah]

Originally Posted by Fox5

Is this additional spectrum they're opening up, or will they be shutting down the old HSPA spectrum?

1900 is only used for 2g/edge at the moment. so they'll be reconfiguring that for hspa+. I believe the intention is to use the current 1700/2100 spectrum for LTE starting later this year.

[Phynaz]

Originally Posted by shortylickens

Meh. I suspect all the people who really wanted an iPhone already got one, regardless of the network.

Really? So you think Apple is doing nothing but replacement sales in the U.S. now?

[pm]

Originally Posted by SunnyD

75% of their top 25 markets. LOL!

I didn't read it that way.

Last week, T-Mobile secured the AWS spectrum licenses from AT&T which were agreed to as part of the breakup of the proposed merger between the two companies. This new spectrum, in addition to the refarming effort, enables the launch of LTE in AWS spectrum and up to 20 MHz of LTE in 75% of the top 25 markets.

This AWS spectrum enables them to launch LTE in 75% of their top 25 markets (ie. 18.75 cities...). The GSM -> 3G conversion seems to me to be separate event and they seem very vague on when and where it will happen but the way that I read it, it's not related to the LTE upgrade.

[lothar]

Great news for T-Mobile.
They'll now have access to the iPhone for free on highspeed data plans instead of having to mortgage their future like Sprint did for $16 billion.

[ponyo]

Originally Posted by lothar

Great news for T-Mobile.
They'll now have access to the iPhone for free on highspeed data plans instead of having to mortgage their future like Sprint did for $16 billion.

lol. I was thinking the same thing. Sprint really screwed themselves with the iPhone deal. No way the iPhone deal will ever pay off for Sprint.

[bearxor]

Its already paying off for Sprint. I left a pretty sweet SERO deal in 2008 for an iphone. It looks like ill be coming back to Sprint this year.

[kaerflog]

Originally Posted by bearxor

Its already paying off for Sprint. I left a pretty sweet SERO deal in 2008 for an iphone. It looks like ill be coming back to Sprint this year.

YES, its paying off because you will likely come back to Sprint.
Great reasoning there.

[Fox5]

Originally Posted by kaerflog

YES, its paying off because you will likely come back to Sprint.
Great reasoning there.

It'll be interesting to see which works out better: Sprint focusing on devices (ala ATT circa 2007-2010) or Tmobile focusing on network upgrades (ala Verizon).

Right now, Sprint's network has gotten pretty pitiful in speeds, and coverage is lacking especially for Wimax, but their 3g coverage (once you take away verizon roaming agreements) isn't too great either.

[lothar]

Originally Posted by bearxor

Its already paying off for Sprint. I left a pretty sweet SERO deal in 2008 for an iphone. It looks like ill be coming back to Sprint this year.

Clearly, their investors don't think so and aren't happy about it given where the stock is trading today compared to the other wireless carriers.
http://www.google.com/finance?chdnp=1&chfdeh=0&chdet=1336535033858&chddm =58973&cmpto=NYSE:S;NYSE:VZ;NYSE:T;PINKTEGY&cmpt dms=0;0;0;0&q=sprint 16 billion iphone&ntsp=0


Sprint clearly bet their farm on the iPhone and mortgaged their future.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...Cg2xzBTasGyXKw

Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) Chief Executive Dan Hesse agreed to cut $3.25 million from his compensation package after shareholders complained that his pay didn't account for the hefty upfront expense of carrying the Apple Inc. (AAPL) iPhone.
The company had boosted Hesse's 2011 compensation by 31% to $11.9 million, in part because the formula used to determine his compensation hadn't factored in the cost of buying millions of iPhones, which carry some of the highest subsidies in the industry. Hesse, in a letter filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission Friday, said he was voluntarily cutting some short- and long-term bonuses as well as some stock awards.
Sprint agreed to buy $15.5 billion in iPhones over the next few years and said it wouldn't make a profit on the deal until 2015. The carrier lost 98,000 lucrative contract customers last year--while rivals AT&T Inc. (T) and Verizon Wireless padded their user rolls--in part because Sprint didn't carry the popular smartphone until 2011's final three months.
The action by Hesse is the latest sign carriers may be fed up with the high price of the iPhone. Sprint, AT&T and Verizon Wireless have been heavily promoting alternatives to the roughly $600 handset, such as devices from Samsung Electronics Co. and Nokia Corp.
"I do not want, nor does our compensation committee want, to penalize Sprint employees for the company's investment with Apple," said Hesse.
Hesse said he agreed to have his paychecks lowered to account for the reduction in his pay to levels from 2010.
A spokesman declined to comment beyond the filing. It wasn't immediately clear if other officers would take similar pay reductions.
Sprint has activated 3.3 million iPhones in the past two quarters, compared with 11.9 million at AT&T, and 7.5 million a Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) and Vodafone Group PLC (VOD).

[dagamer34]

Originally Posted by lothar

Clearly, their investors don't think so and aren't happy about it given where the stock is trading today compared to the other wireless carriers.
http://www.google.com/finance?chdnp=1&chfdeh=0&chdet=1336535033858&chddm =58973&cmpto=NYSE:S;NYSE:VZ;NYSE:T;PINKTEGY&cmpt dms=0;0;0;0&q=sprint 16 billion iphone&ntsp=0


Sprint clearly bet their farm on the iPhone and mortgaged their future.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...Cg2xzBTasGyXKw

Sprint had two options, either get the iPhone or die. The fact that 1 million people on T-Mobile use the iPhone on EDGE and the company is reallocating spectrum to support 1900Mhz 3G demonstrates that if they hadn't made the financial commitment to the iPhone, they would be the only carrier not support it, and dead in 5-10 years. Period.

The iPhone may not be a huge money maker, but it stopped the mass exodus to AT&T and Verizon.

[Oyeve]

This explains tmobiles new ad campaign .

[shortylickens]

Originally Posted by Oyeve

This explains tmobiles new ad campaign .

Do they still have Legs?

[lupi]

So all at&t will be fully tmo compatible now? If so need to check what no-camera phones at&t offers.

[lothar]

Originally Posted by dagamer34

Sprint had two options, either get the iPhone or die. The fact that 1 million people on T-Mobile use the iPhone on EDGE and the company is reallocating spectrum to support 1900Mhz 3G demonstrates that if they hadn't made the financial commitment to the iPhone, they would be the only carrier not support it, and dead in 5-10 years. Period.

The iPhone may not be a huge money maker, but it stopped the mass exodus to AT&T and Verizon.

There's no evidence to support that assertion. They could also have delayed getting the iPhone by a year or so, not necessarily abandon it.
The $16 billion they spent on getting the iPhone, they could have used that to upgrade their shitty network.

Of those 1 million iPhone users on T-Mobile, how many of them use the iPhone 4S? Show me some more detailed numbers. I'm willing to bet that those 1 million people didn't pay $600+ out of pocket for an iPhone 4S just to be with T-Mobile. More than likely most of those are people whose contract have expired with AT&T and just brought their iPhone 3G/3GS over from AT&T.

The iPhone on Sprint didn't stop the mass exodus to AT&T and Verizon either.
How many subscribers did Verizon and AT&T gain the last year? The last 2 quarters?

To your points, I offer 2 counter points:
1.) For its sixth straight quarter, Sprint added more than one million new customers. The iPhone has only has only been on their network for 2 quarters.
2.) Sprint post-paid net additions for subscribers Q1 2012 was only 263k(up only a "platry" 4% from Q1 2011 which was 253k), despite gaining access to and committing substantial capital towards the iPhone.

The problem for Sprint is that they're on the hook for 7.5 million iPhones per year for the next 4 years.
Sprint only sold 1.8 million iPhones in Q4 2011, and 1.5 million in Q1 2012. They still have 4.2 million iPhones to sell between the next 2 quarters to break even on the contract.

For Sprint's sake, I hope this deal pays off for them because we need more competition between the AT&T/Verizon duopoly that we have now.
However, I don't see how it's currently paying off today. That may change next year or the year after, who knows.

[bearxor]

It's the same thing that happened with the iPhone on Verizon. People are on contracts, things like this takes time.

Sprint is spending serious capital to get LTE in decent shape this year.

I got the sarcasm of 'Oh, it's paying off because you're switching back to Sprint.', but I guess my point kind of was that I can't be the only one. Sprint will get customers back and they'll do it by offering the devices they want on plans cheaper and better than the competition. They have that now.

[lothar]

Originally Posted by bearxor

It's the same thing that happened with the iPhone on Verizon. People are on contracts, things like this takes time.

Sprint is spending serious capital to get LTE in decent shape this year.

I got the sarcasm of 'Oh, it's paying off because you're switching back to Sprint.', but I guess my point kind of was that I can't be the only one. Sprint will get customers back and they'll do it by offering the devices they want on plans cheaper and better than the competition. They have that now.

The difference here is that Verizon didn't bet their farm or mortgage their future to do it.

[SunnyD]

Originally Posted by lupi

So all at&t will be fully tmo compatible now? If so need to check what no-camera phones at&t offers.

Not necessarily. AT&T has been favoring GSM850 for quite some time now, using GSM1900 as a "fallback" in dense metro and "old" network areas. For example, my area has maybe a couple of 1900MHz towers, but about a dozen or so 850MHz towers.

Also keep in mind that AT&T is migrating to LTE on the 700MHz bands.

[kaerflog]

Originally Posted by lupi

So all at&t will be fully tmo compatible now? If so need to check what no-camera phones at&t offers.

The short answer is YES.
Once T-mobile start rolling out HSPA+ on the 1900mhz band, all ATT phones will get 3G/4G.
All ATT phones that I know of are 1900mhz capable.

[ImDonly1]

Originally Posted by bearxor

It's the same thing that happened with the iPhone on Verizon. People are on contracts, things like this takes time.

Sprint is spending serious capital to get LTE in decent shape this year.

I got the sarcasm of 'Oh, it's paying off because you're switching back to Sprint.', but I guess my point kind of was that I can't be the only one. Sprint will get customers back and they'll do it by offering the devices they want on plans cheaper and better than the competition. They have that now.

As much as I'd like Sprint to compete with ATT/Verizon what you said is not true. Their plans have turned for the worst. Their plans are maybe within $10 of Verizon's and ATT's pricing now since they got the iPhone. The only thing they have is the unlimited talk, text, and data.

I left Sprint due to their price increases.


And as for the 1900mhz spectrum t-mobile is rolling out... I thought that was only in some of the major markets. Not a nationwide thing. Still good, but not for everyone.