How ‘Uncarrier’: T-Mobile increases iPhone 5 down payment to $149

By Christian Zibreg on May 13, 2013

When T-Mobile, the nation’s fourth-largest wireless carrier, started selling the iPhone 5 back in April, it offered the iconic smartphone for $99 down payment and 24 monthly payments of $20 to cover the full cost of the phone. And in an effort to push the device and lure would-be consumers into signing up, the Deutsche Telekom-owned telco last weekend started offering the device for the $0 down payment, with trade-in.

Unfortunately, the launch promotion for new users has ended now. As a result, the 16GB iPhone 5 now has a $149 payment, $50 more than before. Wait, the $99 down thing was actually a promo offer? Read More

 

Increase T-Mobile LTE download speeds on iPhone 5 thanks to a hacked carrier update

By Oliver Haslam on May 12, 2013

T-Mobile subscribers are still getting used to having access to the iPhone, and those with existing AT&T unlocked iPhone 5 received a carrier update to add LTE support for T-Mobile’s frequency. Unfortunately, that’s not all it did.

Turns out that update may have also limited the bandwidth available to T-Mobile customers using one of those unlocked handsets, leaving them with something of a gimped LTE service. Bummer, right?

Well, remember the guy that worked out how jailbroken iPhone users could enable T-Mobile’s LTE before the aforementioned carrier update? That same clever man has also worked out how to give T-Mobile the bandwidth you’d expect from one of the hottest LTE handsets on the market. And you don’t even need to be jailbroken for it to work… Read More

 

T-Mobile offering iPhone 5 for $0 down with trade-in this weekend

By Cody Lee on May 10, 2013

If you’re still looking for that perfect Mother’s Day gift, you might be interested to know that T-Mobile is going to be hosting a nice little sale this weekend in honor of the holiday. And it looks like the iPhone 5 is going to be one of its featured bargains.

According to a new report, the fourth largest US carrier is going to be offering the handset as part of a special trade-in deal. Customers will be able to score Apple’s flagship smartphone for $0 down, a savings of $100, with the trade-in of a valid mobile device… Read More

 

T-Mobile’s new iPhone 5 ad uses ‘Intertubes’ metaphor

By Christian Zibreg on May 8, 2013

In his now legendary attempt to criticize an amendment that would have prohibited service providers from charging for a tiered Internet structure, former Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens in 2006 likened the web to a series of tubes. “The Internet is not a big truck,” he famously said, “It’s a series of tubes.”

Tapping that meme, T-Mobile USA on Wednesday posted its third iPhone 5 commercial that literally depicts its network as a sewage pipe which pumps out twice as many gak compared to its rivals. The message couldn’t be clearer: T-Mobile’s pipes aren’t as clogged up as its competitors’ are.

I’ll be revisiting that commercial in a year or so to check how clogged up T-Mobile’s tube gets after data-hungry smartphone users crowd its LTE network. As for the commercial, T-Mobile won the Internet for today. Your video is right after the break… Read More

 

T-Mobile announces 500,000 iPhones sold in first month

By Cody Lee on May 8, 2013

T-Mobile released its earnings report for its first quarter late last night, and the numbers aren’t looking too good. The carrier saw a 7% dip in its revenue from the same three month period last year, as well as a 7.5% drop in profits.

But it wasn’t all bad news. T-Mobile’s newly-acquired iPhone handsets seem to be doing very well, with the company reporting that it has sold more than 500,000 of them since they officially went on sale last month (the 12th)… Read More

 

T-Mobile releases new ‘T-Mobile TV’ app for iPhone

By Cody Lee on May 3, 2013

T-Mobile this week has quietly released a new app for iPhone owners called T-Mobile TV. As the name suggests, the app provides access to the carrier’s subscription-based streaming service that offers live and on-demand content.

The service has been around for quite some time now, with an Android version of the mobile app landing in 2010. And it includes a range of programming, including sports, news, and kid channels like Disney and Nickelodeon… Read More

 

T-Mobile CEO says don’t hold your breath for a MetroPCS iPhone

By Cody Lee on May 2, 2013

T-Mobile and MetroPCS completed their merger yesterday, combining the 4th and 5th largest carriers in the United States. And we figured this would be good news for the latter company’s 9M+ subscribers, as they’d finally get a shot at the iPhone.

But not so fast, says T-Mobile’s John Legere. Speaking with tech blog AllThingsD, the CEO said that while he thinks it’s possible that MetroPCS might be able to offer the popular device at some point, there are currently no immediate plans to do so… Read More

 

T-Mobile completes MetroPCS deal, adds 9 million subscribers

By Cody Lee on May 1, 2013

It’s official. After passing all necessary regulatory approvals last month, T-Mobile and MetroPCS have officially completed their merger. The Deutsche Telekom-owned carrier made an announcement on the company blog this morning.

The deal, which has been in the works since last fall, combines the United States’ fourth and fifth largest wireless carriers, which combine for a total of 43 million subscribers. The new entity is now trading on Wall Street under TMUS… Read More

 

T-Mobile planning to leapfrog LTE competition with 3x faster LTE Advanced

By Christian Zibreg on Apr 23, 2013

T-Mobile is the fourth-largest wireless carrier in the United States and also the furthest behind of the four major telcos in terms of deployment of the fourth-generation Long-Term Evolution (LTE) cellular technology.

You’ll recall T-Mobile has only begun testing its LTE last month, ahead of its April 12 iPhone distribution deal with Apple.

Right now, T-Mobile has LTE towers in just seven cities and their coverage plans call for 100 million LTE users by the end of the summer and 200 million by the end of the year.

Despite the slow pace of LTE deployment, the carrier thinks it can do better and take its rivals by surprise by deploying LTE Advanced fast, tapping its existing hardware already in place… Read More

 

T-Mobile airs new iPhone 5 advertisement

By Jeff Benjamin on Apr 16, 2013

T-Mobile is wasting no time touting the fact that they finally have access to the world’s best smartphone. Can you blame them? This latest creative compares T-Mobile’s contract-less plans with the competition.

The spot features two iPhone 5′s: one surrounded by a series of mouse traps to represent being trapped within a competitor’s contract, and another, free of traps, representing T-Mobile’s new contract-free strategy. Read More

 

T-Mobile reports ‘gangbusters’ iPhone opening

By Christian Zibreg on Apr 12, 2013

T-Mobile kicked off sales of Apple’s popular smartphone by airing its first iPhone ad yesterday evening. The ice-breaker commercial is part of the reportedly massive nationwide campaign, with print and digital ads to follow soon after. While the carrier did not release the official first-dale sales data at press time – and probably won’t until its next earnings report – its marketing honcho did bother taking to blogs to say T-Mobile saw “gangbusters” opening, whatever that means in terms of hard data.

Be that as it may, the addition of T-Mobile, the nation’s fourth-largest wireless carrier, to the list of US carriers selling Apple’s handset is bound to improve Apple’s bottom line. Any iPhones T-Mobile sold won’t be reflected in Apple’s second fiscal 2013 quarter, which ended last month. The Cupertino company announced it will be releasing earnings on April 23… Read More

 

T-Mobile airs its inaugural iPhone ad

By Christian Zibreg on Apr 12, 2013

T-Mobile, the nation’s fourth-largest carrier, today finally gets to sell Apple’s iconic smartphone. We learned yesterday the Deutsche Telekom-owned telco has a massive ad blitz in the works to push the handset to the masses. And now, we just caught a glimpse of that campaign as T-Mobile starts airing its inaugural television commercial for the venerable iPhone… Read More

 

T-Mobile preps massive iPhone ad blitz, sales and availability tidbits surface

By Christian Zibreg on Apr 11, 2013

A well-informed publication has published some interesting details regarding T-Mobile’s upcoming iPhone launch due on Friday, April 12. The Deutsche Telekom-owned carrier is said to be pulling out all the stops with a massively aggressive advertising blitz as plugged-in sources claim that  T-Mobile made a major ad buy between 8:35 and 8:40 local time tomorrow evening.

And internal documents suggest that the carrier is dispersing at least 240,000 iPhone 5 units to company owned-retail stores for Friday morning. The carrier also confirmed the HTC One will be “coming soon” for $99 down payment and confirmed May 1 availability of the Galaxy S4 on May 1, but Apple watchers will no doubt be focused on first-day iPhone sales… Read More

 

T-Mobile announces new trade-in offer ahead of iPhone 5 launch

By Cody Lee on Apr 10, 2013

T-Mobile is sure making a compelling case for folks to join its network with a new iPhone 5 this Friday. The carrier is offering competitive unlimited rate plans, contract-free 5th gen iPhones for $99 down and $20 per month, and it’s just sweetened the deal.

In a press release last night, T-Mobile announced a new trade-in offer for iPhone 5 buyers that could potentially eliminate their down payment and earn them up to a $120 credit, depending on the value of their device. We’ve got the full details after the break… Read More

 

T-Mobile iPhone carrier bundle is now available for download

By Christian Zibreg on Apr 8, 2013

We reported last Friday that T-Mobile had begun deploying a special over-the-air (OTA) update which enables support for its LTE, HD Voice, the 4G indicator, Visual Voicemail and other network-related features on the existing (and unlocked) iPhones the company has been hosting on its network.

But soon after, the Deutsche Telekom-owned wireless carrier pulled a support document highlighting all of the changes that the OTA delivered, leading us to believe it prematurely rolled out the update.

Looks like we were right as it’s just been reported that both Apple and T-Mobile have officially pushed the carrier bundle (IPCC) to enable LTE and other T-Mobile network service on iPhones… Read More

 

T-Mobile stores gearing up for iPhone launch, Sprint’s Virgin Mobile offers $100 to switchers

By Christian Zibreg on Apr 8, 2013

Although it hasn’t yet begun officially dressing up its nationwide stores ahead of Friday’s iPhone launch, T-Mobile USA is now gearing up for the big day. As part of the preparations for the D-day, the Deutsche Telekom-owned telco last Friday started accepting pre-orders for iPhones. And earlier today, T-Mobile’s retail locations were spotted getting ready with brand-new iPhone-themed uniforms and demo inventory is already en route, but don’t expect these devices to crop up at T-Mobile stores until the night before the launch… Read More

 

T-Mobile’s iPhone carrier update is out with support for LTE and Visual Voicemail [updated]

By Cody Lee on Apr 5, 2013

Following up its iPhone 5 pre-order earlier today, T-Mobile has begun rolling out a carrier update to unlocked iPhone customers on its network. The carrier is preparing to officially launch the popular handset next Friday.

We’d heard last week that the OTA (or over the air) update was going to include Visual Voicemail support and LTE support for compatible devices. But it looks like there’s more to it then that. Keep reading for the full details… Read More

 

Verizon would consider eliminating contracts, but not unless consumers demanded it

By Christian Zibreg on Apr 5, 2013

As T-Mobile this morning started accepting pre-orders for the iPhone 5, its ‘Uncarrier’ initiative is about to be put to the real test. Will consumer prefer paying $20 in monthly installments for their iPhone 5 (with $99 downpayment) in exchange for a more affordable and simpler wireless service plan?

Or, would they rather continue dropping a hundred bucks or more each month for their overpriced wireless service, with no easy way to cancel their long-term commitment without incurring hefty penalties and hidden fees?

We should know in the coming days and weeks as the Deutsche Telekom-owned telco starts selling the popular smartphone beginning next Friday, April 12.

When T-Mobile announced earlier this year it would kill subsidies and offer Apple’s handset on monthly installments, cowardly AT&T and Verizon employed waiting tactics, opting to instead sit on the sidelines and monitor how the situation unfolds rather than improve their own dealings with customers.

When asked to comment on T-Mobile’s new Uncarrier business strategy, Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam Wednesday rather ambiguously responded that his company isn’t really ready to kill subsidies right off the bat… Read More

 

T-Mobile iPhone 5 now available for pre-order

By Cody Lee on Apr 5, 2013

Last week, T-Mobile announced that it was finally joining the other top US wireless carriers as an official iPhone partner. It will be offering all current models of the popular smartphone, including the iPhone 4, 4S and 5.

The phones won’t officially become available until next Friday, April 12. But, as expected, T-Mobile started accepting iPhone 5 pre-orders through its website this morning. And you can grab a 16GB model for just $99 down… Read More

 

T-Mobile will update your unlocked iPhone 5 with LTE and Visual Voicemail on April 5

By Christian Zibreg on Apr 2, 2013

This is quite noteworthy. Following a jailbreak hack which purports to make your unlocked AT&T iPhone 5 (model A1428) work on T-Mobile’s LTE by way of loading a custom carrier firmware, a new report claims the Deutsche Telekom-owned wireless carrier itself will be sending out a carrier update designed to officially enable T-Mobile’s LTE and Visual Voicemail, among other features, on unlocked GSM devices.

The update is scheduled for delivery beginning April 5, a week ahead of T-Mobile’s official April 12 roll-out of its LTE-ready iPhone 5. The patch is good news for AT&T customers looking to jump ship as they won’t be required to buy a newly tweaked iPhone 5 model from T-Mobile in order to enjoy T-Mobile’s 4G LTE speeds. There’s more to know so go past the fold for full details… Read More

 
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