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T-Mobile Kills Plans For 84Mbps HSPA+ Network – Will Jump Straight To LTE In 2013

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T-Mobile USA Senior Vice President Andrew Sherrad in an interview with The Verge, that the carrier would be skipping their original plans to introduce an even faster 84Mbps network, in favor of moving straight to an LTE based one. The move is for a few reasons. For one, T-Mobile wants to continue emphasizing their WiFi calling feature and currently, their UMA based service can’t support when a customer is on a WiFi call, and leaves their wireless network — the call will drop. But once T-Mobile gets on board the LTE train, this will no longer be a problem with the new network transitioning seamlessly between the two.

That isn’t to say T-Mobile will just drop everything in their move to LTE. T-Mo will continue rolling out their plenty fast 42Mbps HSPA+ network while getting ready for LTE in 2013. And really, that network seems to be holding up pretty well compared to their nearest competitor, Sprint’s 3G/4G network.

Chris Chavez
I've been obsessed with consumer technology for about as long as I can remember, be it video games, photography, or mobile devices. If you can plug it in, I have to own it. Preparing for the day when Android finally becomes self-aware and I get to welcome our new robot overlords.

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70 Comments

  1. was kinda looking forward to the speeds of 84 but
    lte is ok with me

  2. Aw, HSPA+ is so much better, though.

    1. I have to agree.
      I had T-Mobile but switch to Verizon to get the Galaxy Nexus and Verizon’s network is pure garbage, 4-5 dropped calls a day, network goes down all the time, horrible sound quality and very very little LTE coverage and I only get 9-12 Mbps on avg were on T-Mobile I was getting 20 Mbps

      1. On what phone were you using to get 20 Mbps, I never even got past 6Mbps and at  the moment im only getting 3Mbps.  I find it pretty much upsetting that T-Mobile is advertising all these high speeds and I am not even getting a fraction of it.

        Was using the G2X but left it because of the constant reboots and low speeds, now im back to using my Nexus S with ISC.

        1. Thats what I dont understand about T-Mo’s HSPA+.  They advertise these astronomical speeds, but nobody ever comes remotely close to getting them. When i saw this blog entry, I had to lol. 

          1. With my G2 I’ve gotten up to about 14 mbps. And that’s with their first HSPA+ device.

          2. Same here

        2. It all depends what type of HSPA+ modem your device has.

          The G2X has a 14mbps modem, so the speeds you’re getting are about right for that device.

          The Amaze and the Galaxy S II on Tmo have 42mbps modems, that’s when you see those LTE crushing(in some cases) speeds.

          The HTC One S will have 42 as well.

          1. Wrong. 21mbps

          2. Uhh… wrong.  42.  That’s why the speed tests on his video went over 21 mbps… basic math is fun.

          3. I mean G2X has 21mbps. De- dade

          4. As long as I can stream music and tether for the web if I’m on the road, I’m good. With data caps and the like looming all these mad speeds mean diddly other than e-peen bragging rights.

      2. I call bullshit! Or youre just a Verizon hater..

        1. Is this video bullshit?

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWopdoAyQHk 

          Considering T-Mobile is a FRACTION of the price of Verizon and you get better battery life and coverage with HSPA+ versus LTE there’s no way you can rationally justify what Verizon charges people.

          1. if you look at tmo classic plans that are reqired to get a phone discount unlim min un lim msg and 10gb 109.99 as far as i pay verizon 129.99 450 min unlim msg 12 gb. The most min i use in a month is about 100 but i use alot of data. So in reality im only spending 20 more per month to get faster 4g speeds. I live in so cal so i get 4g just about everywhere with my gnex. When i had tmo half the time i was on edge with my g2

          2. Dude are you out of your mind?  How is it fair to compare an unlimited voice plan with a 450 min voice plan?

            A more fair comparison is: 500 mins with T-Mobile (unlimited mins through wifi btw!) unl text, 10GB web comes to:  $90

            So you’re paying $40 more monthly, or an extra $1K a contract to be with Verizon.  If T-Mobile has bad reception in your area go for it by all means but typically if you’re not in a rural area T-Mobile works very well.

          3. owned!

      3. I never get dropped calls and I get 20-40 mbps on VZ…compared to where I got 25 mbps tops with my Gs2 before i swtiched from tmobile.
        Im calling ducktales on your statement.

        1. Watch T-Mobile smoke Verizon’s network:

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWopdoAyQHk 

        2.  no duck tales im in nyc area and i switched to verizon last yr before lte roll out switched right back to t mobile which at the time already had 4g from nyc to the hamptons where i work
          my mytouch 4g was getting 4-8mbps compared to my droid 2 which would barely brake 1mbps

    2. I don’t like you.

  3. God knows their network has never seen 42mbs!

    1. ive seen it beat lte speeds tho

      1. Not once have i seen there speeds beat LTE speeds, and I watch a shit ton of review videos..

        1. My gs2 smoked my co workers gn the other day. It has been done

          1. The galaxy nexus gets doo doo lte reception. My rezound smokes it.

        2. Here’s T-Mobile dominating Verizon LTE with HSPA+ :

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWopdoAyQHk 

          Verizon overhypes it’s network to ridiculous lengths.  What’s sad is how many people buy into it.

          1. LOL, merkked

          2.  wow he said merked lol

          3. It’s funny how you post the only video on youtube of T-Mobile beating VZW’s LTE, and look at the pings on that, it would take ages for the device to start receiving data.

            VZW’s network smokes T-Mobiles, and AT&T smokes VZW’s.

    2. Ofcourse not!  It DOES however double the average speeds you were getting on a HSPA+ 21 connection.  Or quadruple from HSPA+ 14

        1.  well we where ab to get hspa 84 and just crush lte speeds but tmobile had to pussy out
          but seriously …after 10mbps whats the difference ???
          lets just be glad we are not on at&t or sprint lol!

  4. T-Mobile, Metro, and Frog wireless should merge together.   Then Googarola should buy them.

  5. I suspect their new LTE speeds will be slower than their “4G” 
    42Mbps HSPA+ speeds

    1. They’ve specifically stated they are aiming for LTE release 10… which is LTE advanced.  Hopefully that’s what happens because if it’s just regular LTE people won’t see a HUGE difference when using LTE vs HSPA+

    2. 42 is only theoretical. Real life is more like 7-9. I get 30-50 on LTE.

  6. On my htc rezound I get amazing coverage. Highest LTE speeds I’ve gotten were 54 mbps download , I even took a screenshot. I also own a bionic and It’s better now then it used to be since latest updates

  7. I was hoping to get HSPA+ on 1900 MHz with T-Mobile. :(

    1. I’m pretty sure you will. The plan is to move HSPA to 1900 and refarm 1700 for LTE

    2. The way to get HSPA+ 84 would have given out pcs 1900mhz hspa+ on T-Mobile as a result.  Since they have to swap spectrum around to accomplish this anyway they are going to still do this but for LTE instead.

  8. anyone else think this makes them an easier purchase for now ALL 3 of the big guys? 

    1. I read that comment by someone else too somewhere and it made sense lol. T-Mobile does all this to their network making it easier for a purchase later. They are practically rearranging their network bands to work perfectly when someone else buys them. Interesting thought.

      1. There is no way you operate a business with that kind of motivation.  Even if the endgame WAS to sell off T-Mobile, the winning path is to make the network as competitive as possible.  That way you get more money for it.  Everyone’s job at T-Mobile is to compete and gain marketshare and that’s most likely the only thing motivating them.  You’re verging off into delusional conspiracy theory territory.

        Secondly, there are only a few companies out there that could buy T-Mobile USA… and it’s NOT another national carrier as we learned with the Government’s case against the att/tmobile merger.  You can’t obviously consolidate national competitors any further than it is now.  It would have to be a company not invested DIRECTLY in the industry like a Microsoft, Google, or Apple with that $99 billion excess cash reserve they have.  

        Then you have to look at it as if it’s even worth it to Deutche Telekom… a HUGE under stated incentive of the T-Mobile sale was that DT would have owned 8% of the combined att/tmobile.  That’s an extremely valuable amount and would have generated a lot of cash residually on top of the $39 billion.

  9. Why can’t verizon customers just accept the fact that T-Mobile’s hspa+ 42 is comparable to their LTE network? [Just with better battery life ;)] its funny to watch them become so hostile when seeing that T-MOBILEs network can be just as fast lol

    1. it may be fast but coverage sucks in the south and even some parts in the northeast

      1.  i live in ny and work in vermont make the drive evryweek  across the northeast and had to switch back to tmobile from vzw b/c it couldnt handle the drive so no …just no..as far as the south i have no idea

    2. It is not as fast. First, HSPA+ does not have the low latency that LTE does. That is a huge part of speed. Lastly, HSPA+ 42 is only theoretical speed. In real life, speeds average 7-9. I get speeds of 30-50 Mbps on LTE.

      1.  stfu up tim have u not seen the video of the tmobile phone beating the lte phone ??? it was posted 20 times in this thread

        1. LoL. Dude, you are silly. First, look at the signal difference. Secondly, LOOK AT THE LATENCY (PING). Speed is not speed without low latency. High latency = long wait time before anything even starts to process. Where was the actual page load, or file download test? Lastly, my LTE speeds average 30-55. Here’s a screen shot. Low latency, plus a smoking 50+ speed test. http://db.tt/cuiBH6zl
          On Feb 28, 2012 10:05 PM, “Disqus”

          1.  dude!!!!! lol
            there is no diffrence in latency if you watch the video most of the latency except the top 3 are 50ms
            and YOU SAID 7-9MBPS
            where as the video clearly shows 15-20
            i never said 50
            why does it upset you that hspa42 is just as fast ?> is it b/c my battery last so much longer ?

          2. Apparently you missed the over 700 Ms ping. It doesn’t upset me, it’s just not true. Look at the signal. You found one person with not the greatest LTE signal. Every reviewer calls LTE much faster, and calls HSPA + fake 4G. My Nexus lasts all day, thank you. You be a fan boy of a crappy network, if that helps you sleep better at night. Don’t you find it odd that T-Mobile suddenly decided to go LTE? Why would they do that? They swore by HSPA+…now they are seeing the light.

          3. Get out here.  There is NOT ONE TANGIBLE thing you can do on LTE that you CAN’T do on HSPA+ 42.  It’s more a less a wash.

            Give it up.

            It’s all bragging rights at this point anyway, if you get a consistent 8mbps connection on average what does it matter your speed test on verizon lte pulled 40mbps that one time you were doing a head stand in an awkward position?  Verizon promises its customers a 5-12mpbs connection on LTE. 

            Also keep in mind only 5% of Verizon customers are utilizing the LTE network while T-Mobile users are sharing bandwidth with everyone on 3G devices going back to the G1 and still getting great results.

            The truth is the benefits of LTE are mostly to the carrier, not the consumer.  LTE is easier to manage and more efficient from a carrier standpoint only.  Since none of us posting on here manage a cellular network, the only rational thing to argue about is the differences in experiences the consumer has between the two technologies.  That’s why things like coverage, battery life, device compatibility, and price will always one up HSPA+ over LTE for the time being anyway. 

            Oh yeah, and here’s that video again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWopdoAyQHk

          4. Look at the Ping of HSPA+ in that video. High latency kills speed. Let’s see some page load tests! Let’s see some file download tests! Look at the upload speeds! http://db.tt/cuiBH6zl

          5. HSPA+ is not fake 4G.  You are truly retarded for thinking that.  LTE and HSPA+ 42 are more or less the same.  HSPA+ has better battery life.

            There’s nothing you can do on LTE that you can’t do on HSPA+

            btw Tmo is looking to deploy LTE-advanced (release 10) which would be faster than anything on the market currently.  So they’ll have that while Verizon’s LTE matches HSPA+ 42…. Except they charge people way more and people like you have to irrationally justify why you’re paying them a fortune more.

          6. First of all, 4G has more to do with the genbof tech, than raw speed. HSPA+ is a 3G tech. LTE is a 4th Gen tech. LTE provides much lower latency, and much higher upload speed. The download speed is also better, but it’s the other two that make it better. T-Mobile is not even starting on LTE until next year. Not to mention, the network is small. Even Sprint has a leg up on LTE…launching this year. Here’s mine. http://db.tt/cuiBH6zl. Where’s yours?

          7. @tim242:disqus LTE is 3G technology.  LTE-Advanced is 4G technology.  Don’t let marketing fool you.  LTE and HSPA+ are now both considered “4G” because all the carries complained to the ITU.  Do some research.

          8. I’m not sure why you’re wasting your breath… they obviously missed the ITU state that HSPA and LTE are both 4G almost 2 years ago now…

            I’m surprised nobody has tried to say Verizon has the best sound quality, and they solely focused on the data speed… I can’t wait for that one.  I’ll gladly let them borrow my T-Mo phone for them to make a call, and then my Verizon phone for them to call that same person.  Landline quality vs Tin can on a string quality.

  10. K

  11. So does this mean unlocked phones with Lte will benefit finally.

  12. My friend has t mobile and we talk about every other day and his calls drop alot …..I have Verizon on the other hand and I hardly ever drop a call ….

    1. I have tmobile and i have never had a drop call, thanks  for sharing

  13. Well i had sprint for awhile that was great on 3g but 4g was never indoors mostly sidewalks. Then tried out tmobile with the galaxy s 4g and that had great speed about 8 to 14mbps average once 20mbps but service was bad in my house so went to Verizon and it’s awesome. But i do gotta say t mobile really has a good network if it’s in your area.

  14. Hey Chris for some reason trying to view these posts on my laptop is showing an error like “sorry, no posts match your criteria” error I use chrome browser btw

  15. Wow, people…your on T Mobile so you want to defend it iget it…however in the real world where everyone and their momas switching to LTE…theres a reason for this. And, test show why…Test dont lie.

  16. Bottom line if t mobiles hspa + network is upgradable to 84 with better battery life, why in the hell would they switch to LTE? There must be some advantage to LTE that counters poor battery life. It just seems like it would make more sense to expand this awesome hspa network that t mobiles customers believe in so much instead of rolling out a LTE network from scratch. T mobile already has poor coverage. Now they will start from the back of the line again.

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