Indication Tmobile will not be getting new iphone?

[Oyeve]

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20120910/DA17180G0.html

Apparently they are modifying their frequencies in certain areas in order to get decent speed on AT&T iphones. I guess this means they are left in the lurch again? Still, good if you have an older iphone and have a tmo family plan.

 

[Red Storm]

Current T-Mobile subscribers should be grateful the horde of iPhone users aren't slowing down their network.

 

[AkumaX]

Current T-Mobile subscribers should be grateful the horde of iPhone users aren't slowing down their network.

A lot of T-Mobile iPhone users will be happy w/ the 3G re-farm. But since it won't be using their AWS 4G HSPA network, it will keep a lot of current customers happy too!

 

[ilkhan]

A lot of T-Mobile iPhone users will be happy w/ the 3G re-farm. But since it won't be using their AWS 4G HSPA network, it will keep a lot of current customers happy too!

Its still affecting current customers because to accommodate the change they are adjusting the layout of current frequencies. Remember, 1900Mhz is currently used for voice service.

In 5 years T-Mo will be using 1700Mhz almost solely for LTE, and 1900 will be the UMTS frequency. This will be a much better layout than they have today for phone compatibility. 850/1900 for voice, 1900 for UMTS, 1700 for LTE. They'll be missing UMTS850 and LTE700 that ATT uses, but at least their phones will be pretty much cross-compatible.

But moving forward T-Mo is going to need a longer-ranged/better-penetrating frequency for LTE, and as far as I know their only option without buying new spectrum will be 850Mhz (on the other networks this is filled by 700Mhz and 800Mhz LTE bands). Not the worst idea, but moving forward 850 is their primary voice frequency band (shared with 1900 today) and T-Mo has already been burned (with AWS) with phone selection when they are the only carrier using a band.

 

[openwheel]

no iphone = cheaper and more open network
no iphone = lower revenue and less market share for T-Mobile.

Either way, it's looking good for T-Mobile current subscribers.
As soon as the re-farming is done, all will be good in T-Mobile land.

 

[Strk]

I kind of figured they weren't going to get the iphone. It does kind of stink for tmobile though considering the amount of customers the iphone attracts -- especially when you have more affordable plans.

 

[shortylickens]

I sincerely hope not. I have Tmobile and I dont want the networks to get stuffed. Besides which I'm using that 30 dollar plan and if demand goes up, that will be the first thing to disappear.

 

[pm]

First, I think there's pretty much zero chance that Apple will launch the next gen iPhone on T-Mobile. I base this mostly on the leaked CSR documentation for T-Mobile that talks about addressing customer concerns about the iPhone. Maybe Apple and T-Mo will shock everyone with a surprise announcement, but I really doubt it.

There was an AMA (Ask Me Anything) at Reddit with a T-Mobile engineer who talked a bit about the 1900MHz conversion:
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/xvuwn/iama_rf_engineer_ama/

I talked to a semi knowledgeable T-Mobile rep and he said that they are planning on completing the 1900MHz conversion before the end of next year. (he said Q3/13 specifically) and that the 1900MHz conversion will be completed before the LTE build-out.

 

[Oyeve]

Maybe they'll get the 5S.

 

[dagamer34]

T-Mobile's prices are so cheap that once the iPhone get officially subsidized by T-Mobile, you can kiss those plans goodbye.

 

[ImDonly1]

Indications of them not getting the iphone have been around for a while now. The latest and most obvious is them training staff on supporting unlocked iphones.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

T-Mobile's prices are so cheap that once the iPhone get officially subsidized by T-Mobile, you can kiss those plans goodbye.

ok well that's the flaw of the subsidy. but even as it stands they won't build an iphone compatible with 1700 aws.

 

[Rottie]

Apple will not make an iPhone for Tmobile until they can find a buyer to take over. FCC killed AT&T's attempted take over with Tmobile last year.