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T-Mobile will be the last of the four major US carrier to deploy LTE, but they plan to bring their game face in 2013. On a post to their Facebook account, the wireless provider teased its upcoming 4G deployment, asking customers if they are “ready to go faster.”
TMo plans to cover 200 million customers with LTE airwaves by the end of the year. We’d call that a good start for the carrier. Plans to upgrade their network were more or less halted as the company awaited the finalization of an AT&T buyout that never came to fruition, which put T-Mobile back a step. Customers have been getting along just fine with HSPA+ 42, a network technology delivering comparable speeds to LTE in most areas.
Look for more big developments in LTE this year, including the beginnings of a transition to pure 4G service. Voice-over-LTE is the next step in weaning users off of 3G.
[via Facebook | Thanks, Chuck]
Lets go T-mo.
I’m excited to see what you have to offer when my Verizon contract expires.
Yep. I definitely don’t have a problem buying unsubsidized phones if it means I can save $40 a month… not to mention Verizon treats its customers like they should be supplicating for the privilege of over-priced, locked down service
Just got my Note 2, so I’m excited for whenever they flip the switch in Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, FL and send the update to my phone.
funny considering VZW LTE screams down there.
If you mean they scream in terms of good LTE here, it’s intermittent between Miami and Fort Lauderdale, and they are too expensive for not offering an unlimited data plan.
Seriously? Maybe you should check your device. I know people that work there (a business of 300+) that work in the same/travel area and they haven’t complained….
I will leave Verizon if this is true
heh
Heh away, chief- it does happen. I didn’t wait for TMo to deploy the ploy that is LTE to jump. I didn’t need LTE, and I didn’t need to pay what I was paying.
Will it be nice to have LTE on TMo? Sure. Do I miss it at all now that I’m on HSPA+? Not really, no.
Congrats to Verizon for adding 12 million subscribers in Q4 or whatever it was. I’m part of the middle class that has to watch the bottom line, and Verizon was eroding mine with their absurd prices.
OBTW, moving from VZ to TMo to save $60/mo was an upgrade for 66% of my account. I gave up my grandfathered unlimited 4G, but my mom and my wife moved over to HSPA+ from VZ’s screamingly subpar 3G network. I’ll take HSPA+ as a fallback from LTE over 3G as a fallback from LTE any day.
I’d setlle for hspa+ in my area. Verizon has lte here, and 3g in the area has sped up to over 1mbps when I drop to it, but tmobile is solid hspa on the interstate and no coverage off of it. Tmobile just isn’t a viable option for me, or many rural people.
Yep. Sadly, Verizon is the only reliable answer for many. I just count myself fortunate that I do have options where I am.
Im in the same boat… i want to switch to tmobile but am not willing to deal with their lack in coverage.
so cute… the lil engine that never really can..
wow, you’re really putting a lot of energy into hating. Do you Enjoy being ignorant and Negative? yes, I think so and everybody can see it. ; )
It’s so cute that trolling makes you feel better about yourself. Are you mommy’s special little man?
ermahgerd go t-mo!
Go Tmo! Now just allow me to tether with your unlimited and I’ll come back from Big Red…
Ps… I miss you guys. :'(
Oh, these restrictions… I always get an ulocked phone, without a contract and I can use my data in any way I want.
On what carrier? Haven’t an unlocked phone and tethering on tmo or att gets you that text and letter in mail if you don’t pay for tethering.
Well, there’s a small issue here – I live in Europe. This is actually one of very few things I consider to be better over here, when comparing overall mobile services available in the U.S. and here.
I think, it’s only if you use tons of bandwidth and make it obvious your tethering, I tether on both t-mobile and At&T when I’m traveling and only when I really need to, and they never bother me.
I tether on t- Mobile with my Nexus 4 and they never bother me.
Just get a Nexus 4. That’s what I did. Cutting cable internet will save me thousands of dollars.
That doesn’t make tethering on the truly unlimited tmobile plan possible afaik.
I’ve been ready since note 2 yo
Get a galaxy note 2, buy a smart doc. then who needs to tethering.
Viva TMO
They should try deploying this where they currently don’t have strong coverage
Now when are the 2g areas going to see an upgrade to either 3g or better service? That is what is preventing me from going to t-mboile right now from boost mobile.
Interesting….from 26 million customers to 200 million in one year. Quite a jump from a SMALL carrier. Never heard of any carier done this before.
1+1 3
They aren’t claiming they’ll have 200 million subscribers. They’re claiming their network will cover 200 million people. Quite a difference…
If you are going to post, learn English grammar and spelling.
Never heard of any carier done this before. Brilliant!
Not to mention, they don’t own all the cell sites that are being upgraded…
still no data roaming and their data coverage is crap.
former 11 year t-mo customer.
How is T-Mobile service in Ct??? Hartford, New Britain, New Haven,…solid? Good signal???
Does T-Mobile have people who live in rural areas covered? This seems to only cover people who live in big cities and major metropolitan areas….Now if T-Mo could bring LTE to rural America then THAT would be a game-changer….
https://aboutus.vzw.com/rural/Overview.html
Keep in mind when you here the carriers “adding” LTE, that does not mean any new towers are being added. They existing cell towers are being outfitted with LTE. Example if you don’t have service from Tmobile now, you won’t in the future. There’s very little change in carrier coverage. Reason is nobody wants a cell tower next door. Well we all do, but when was the last time you saw one being put up?
You have it half right. VZW for example, will of course cover all 3G to 4G by mid 2013, but also own the rights and the spectrum to put sites in areas they could not before.
I hope tmobile can get lte to their entire network in the long run. There’s a lot of 3g hspa and 2g only areas they natively cover, and not upgrading those to hspa+, makes them places that people won’t even consider using the service. They claim over 220 million people are covered by their hspa+. So 200 million is a good start, but they need well over 220 million to cover anything decent besides the biggest major cities.
Live in Suburb of Boston where my daytime T-Mobile HSPA+ speeds are on average 20mb down and 6mb up. I have their new real unlimited data without any throttling for 30 bucks a month. I also had Verizon’s unlimited data with their LTE, my T-Mobile HSPA+ is faster and much cheaper. An added benefit is much better battery life on their HSPA+. Of course this will change with LTE but from what I understand the LTE they are pushing out is the LTE Advanced which is even faster and some how better with battery use. I know T-Mobile has installed new hardware for their LTE service on their towers in my area. Very excited for this to all light up. I would bet T-Mobile’s LTE does a much faster and better job rolling out their LTE Network then Sprint is doing. I just don’t understand how anyone could stay with Sprint with their painfully slow Network.
Thank You T-Mobile.
Just dont change your plan, and you should be fine.
If they can cover Montana, i’ll leave for Pink
they are probably doing better than sprint. sprints lte is so bad that it would take kim kardashian less time to bang an entire football team before i can even load a webpage.
While vast areas of their network remain GPRS and EDGE, in 2013 that’s just plain sad. Their new president has already expressed his hatred for rural areas, so don’t expect much out of them unless you live in a major city. Here in rural Northwestern California, the other guys have already deployed 4G LTE and HSPA+ w/EB, while T-Mobile is stuck at 2G, uggh.
although no one can confirm lte on the gs3 for tmo about a month ago i saw my upload speeds in riverside ca hit 80mb they had to have been doing something that day https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-1iq-2WlEX2c/UMDJsuLlo5I/AAAAAAAACo4/oVSD01QprX8/w497-h373/12%2B-%2B1
Sprint sales reps have been promising LTE in Denver is “jusr around the corner” for well over a year. If T mobile beats them with LTE deployment, I will set my Sprint phone to roam only and charge as much data as I can until Sprint lets me out of my contract. Two years ago, Sprint had great service. Now, data speeds are 1/5th what they used to be, and I now rarely get service at my house (I used to get 4 bars consistently). The cause is obvious : Sprint whores their network out to nearly every MNVO. This policy has absolutely killed network bandwidth and signal strength. Sprint, if you’re listening, wake up and get your s*** together! T mobile, you’re cool.
Sprint told me the same thing when I bought my original EVO 4G on day one. When I finally left them almost 2 years later, it was barely deployed here, and they had already announced wimax was getting killed in favor of LTE.
Sprint pulled this crap on me as well with the EVO 4G. I was happy to pay the ETF just to get off of their crap slow lying network. Been much happier with TMO.
With how utterly awful their network became after they got the iPhone, I was able to leave them without paying an ETF on 2 lines. I called them multiple times before to see what was up with their service down here, and each time they either told me “engineers are working on it,” or, “hmmm, I don’t see why, your zip code shows great coverage!”
T-Mobile getting LTE and having unlimited data is a great combination. T-MOBILE and Sprint have the right idea.