News

T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 2 getting OTA update to enable LTE

23

[Update]: More details about the update can be found at T-Mobile’s support site here.

It looks like the first crop of users are just about ready to experience T-Mobile’s infant LTE network. The carrier — which gained a lot of monetary and digital capital through the failed merger with AT&T — is delivering an over-the-air upgrade to folks with the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 starting today. That upgrade will enable the dormant LTE radios sitting inside, and although many won’t be able to take advantage of LTE right away — the service has been soft-launched in Las Vegas and Kansas City so far — it shouldn’t be long for many others to join in. T-Mobile is sticking to its guns on its rollout pace as it anticipates 100 million people will be drenched in the sweet Magenta signal by mid-year.

By year’s end, T-Mobile is expecting to have LTE out to over 200 million people, and the network will continue to expand from there to eventually cover most of T-Mobile’s 3G coverage area at some point in 2014. The future of data on T-Mobile’s network looks bright as early LTE speed tests are impressive. Averages of 55-60 megabits down and 18-20 megabits up are being pulled, though T-Mobile is only promising up to 20 megabits down and 10 megabits up for typical usage. Couple that with congestion and things could look much different by the time the network is finished. The carrier’s existent HSPA+ 42 fallback will give T-Mobile a nice edge in areas where LTE coverage is lacking.

Aside from the Galaxy Note 2 and a new LTE-equipped Galaxy S3 on its way, T-Mobile’s device strategy hasn’t been clear. We expect them to stuff LTE radios into any smartphone they can in the future, but the carrier is not ready to confirm their plans. At the very least we can expect high-end smartphones, tablets, and a smattering of hotspot devices to come with the radios necessary to take advantage of the super fast data. We imagine T-Mobile will want to have a nice variety by the time summer rolls around for a fresh wave of marketing so don’t be surprised to see that particular train getting steamed up soon.

[via Cnet]

Quentyn Kennemer
The "Google Phone" sounded too awesome to pass up, so I bought a G1. The rest is history. And yes, I know my name isn't Wilson.

ASUS to follow Fonepad with second Intel-powered Android?

Previous article

Nexus 5 rumors begin to fly, latest says Nikon camera tech could be on board

Next article

You may also like

23 Comments

  1. Darn! Just checked for the update but nothing so far. And I’m in KC. :-/

    1. try kies

  2. How about those of us stuck with T-mobiles 2g coverage?

    1. blah blah blah Just move out of the sticks, I’m so sick of the whiners! don’t like the Network, then switch. simple as that.

      1. I happen to be using sprints network right now and this is just preventing me from getting better service

  3. 62mb/s!!! Dang!!!! And 25mb/s upload speeds!!! Dang!!!

    1. well thats the only phone on the network lol ……….get a couple million and it will slow for sure

      1. im getting average 15 mb down peak 20 mb down on my note 2 hspa+ in nyc so its only going to get better!

        1. i get the same on my nexus

    2. it’s not 62 mb/s down and 25 mb/s up…
      62 Mbps meaning 62 megabits per sec, not megabytes.

      1. which translates to 6.2 megabytes download speeds awesome

        1. No it doesnt may need to redo the math on that one

          1. If I get 30 megabit speeds in home using time Warner I’m getting 3 megabytes per second download speeds in steam downloading games, if im wrong then what is the right math genius.

          2. one megabit is equal to 0.125megabytes
            and here is a conversion site that will show you that 30megabits is 3.75 Megabytes http://www.unitconversion.org/data-storage/megabits-to-megabytes-conversion.html

  4. Nothing yet…

  5. Where are these speeds showing up at?

  6. Installed the update. I live in Las Vegas and don’t see anything LTE yet.

  7. Dang, KC — first google fiber and now 60Mbps on your shiny new LTE network? Nice!

    1. I’m in kc and the Google fiber rollout is a joke. But me and my note 2 are ready!

  8. Quad core and lte. ….This is ace! I’m in Kansas City so I’m ready!

  9. I know Iowa doesn’t mean much to you T-Mobile but you need more coverage in smaller town Iowa its a pain when i go out to work in smaller towns and have no signal makes me regret switching at least on Sprint I could roam and have signal

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More in News