Hasta La Gadget!

We had a pretty clear indication that a carrier update would soon be available to help bring unlocked GSM iPhones onto T-Mobile’s network, and those leaks were indeed spot on. The carrier announced today that just such an update is now available, enabling Visual Voicemail and other features (included a promised battery life improvement) on all unlocked GSM iPhones running iOS 6.1, while unlocked GSM iPhone 5s will also get HD Voice and T-Mobile LTE support. Complete details on the update — which can be installed manually or over-the-air — can be found at the source link below.

Update: It looks like quite a few folks still aren’t seeing the update just yet. Let us know in the comments if you are able to snag it.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

Comments

Via: Phonedog

Source: T-Mobile

Word on the street is that an update will be hitting the iPhone 5 on April 5th that will turn on access to T-Mobile’s LTE network on unlocked GSM models. While you’ll have to wait until April 12th to pick up the iOS handset direct from the magenta-hued carrier, those who have been running rogue with unlocked devices from AT&T or purchased direct from Apple should soon be able to run at full, blistering 4G speeds. (Where the fledgling network has been fired up, at least.) The internal notice obtained by TmoNews (which you can see after the break) reads:

“The T-Mobile Carrier Update is a minor iOS software update that enables official iPhone support by T-Mobile. When installed, the software update enables a handful of capabilities like Visual Voicemail, MMS Settings and Network/Device optimizations that customers do not have access to today. On April 5, the software update will begin being pushed via OTA to all iPhone devices on the T-Mobile network with iOS 6.1.x or higher.”

So it’s not just LTE, but also some of the basic features that make the iPhone such a compelling product, which will suddenly turn on for T-Mo customers. We’ll know soon enough if there’s truth to these rumblings, but we’d imagine the iOS update would need to be pushed out ahead of the official T-Mobile iPhone launch.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Apple, T-Mobile

Comments

Source: TmoNews

An iPhone native to T-Mobile USA has been the stuff of legend for so long that we still have a hard time believing it’s real, even after the carrier confirmed it in no uncertain terms. We’re a little more credulous now that Apple has run the iPhone 5 through some class permission changes at the FCC. True to the words of Apple and T-Mobile, the updated A1428 is now clear to use 42Mbps HSPA+ data on the AWS frequencies that the UnCarrier uses (along with smaller Canadian providers, we’d add). The refreshed iPhone doesn’t have any surprises lurking underneath — the LTE was already in place — although that in itself isn’t surprising. It’s a mid-cycle tweak meant chiefly to expand Apple’s market reach, and we wouldn’t expect much more iPhone-related FCC action for awhile.

Brad Molen contributed to this report.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple, T-Mobile

Comments

Source: FCC

Starting April 12th, Apple retail shops as well as Apple’s online store will begin selling the new and gently tweaked A1428 model of the iPhone 5. For those paying attention, that’s the same model number as AT&T sells today, but Apple’s enabling support of the AWS bands from the factory on the new guy — and sadly, Apple affirmed to us that it’s not something that can be enabled via a simple software update for A1428 iPhone units already in circulation. To say that another way, existing iPhone 5 owners on AT&T cannot simply apply a software patch to have AWS support added. You’ll need to buy a new phone next month.

That said, the A1428 edition of the iPhone 5 that Apple will start hawking on April 12th (in lockstep with T-Mobile’s launch date) will arrive unlocked out of the box. By default, Apple will sell these at full MSRP in a “SIM-in unlocked fashion,” as confirmed to us by an Apple representative here at T-Mobile’s event in New York City. Of course, those wishing to pay T-Mob’s advertised $99.99 up front price will also be able to do so right at an Apple store, but eager jetsetters that are simply looking for a frictionless way to purchase an unlocked iPhone 5 that works on both AT&T and T-Mobile’s LTE bands have but a few weeks to wait.

Oh, and yes, we confirmed with Apple that the new A1428 will indeed support AT&T’s LTE network. In other words, your T-Mobile iPhone 5 will run uninhibited on AT&T’s LTE network if it’s unlocked. To boot, Apple is quickly phasing out the existing A1428 hardware, and will soon replace all of them with the new, AWS-enabled model. In theory, that would mean that iPhones purchased through AT&T (after April 12th) would also ship with the appropriate firmware to let AWS support run free, but of course, then you’re up against AT&T’s far less friendly unlocking policy. For US users anxious to snag a truly unlocked iPhone 5 that’ll hum along on pretty much every LTE band in the developed world, Apple informed us that its 24-hour locations will begin selling these promptly at 12:01AM on 4/12. For those who order from Apple’s online site, you’ll need to phone up T-Mobile to have the unlock applied.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple, AT&T, T-Mobile

Comments

Wondering whether T-Mobile’s LTE network has the chops to live up to the “smokin'” adjectives we had thrown our way throughout the event? We certainly were, so we headed right to the suite of devices and got our hands-on all the phones we could. Speeds are quite good in general — but interestingly things did start slowing down as more and more folks fired up Ookla’s SpeedTest app, doing all they could to test T-Mo’s nascent network. Join us after the break for our findings.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple, Samsung, HTC, T-Mobile

Comments