Hasta La Gadget!

T-Mobile USA has been an oft-rumored darkhorse to help kill off AT&T’s iPhone exclusivity in the country — and for the life of us, we can’t think of a good reason that the carrier’s corporate stores would be carrying iPhone charge / sync cables now other than in preparation for a launch. It’s interesting to note that Deutsche Telekom boss Rene Obermann in part blamed the lack of the iPhone in the States as a driving factor in its third quarter churn rate… a meaningless musing, perhaps, but it could’ve been a little bit of foreshadowing, too. It’s important to note that T-Mobile has carried Nexus One accessories this year, too, so it’s not out of the realm of possibility to think that they’re just trying to cater to the unlockers who are already using iPhones on T-Mobile — but then again, we’d argue that the people savvy enough to do that probably aren’t shopping for overpriced cables in carrier stores. It’s also important to note that T-Mobile literally just took a dig at FaceTime (while blasting AT&T’s network in the same breath), so it’s hard to say what this means, if anything.

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

Why is T-Mobile selling an iPhone cable? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Nov 2010 11:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We suspected T-Mobile’s new advertising campaign would ruffle some feathers, but we weren’t ready for quite such brazen trash-talking right off the bat. Of course, it’s trash talk dressed up in a pretty white and Magenta dress and delivered in the most angelic of voices, but T-Mobile makes its point to AT&T subscribers loud and clear: we got 4G, you don’t. Whether you consider the network’s current 21Mbps theoretical max a true representation of 4G or not, we’ll leave up to you; just make sure to join us past the break for the Apple-scented commercial, which also teases the myTouch 4G, a HSPA+ handset that T-Mobile happens to be launching today.

Update: AT&T isn’t taking this one lying down. It countered with the following statement this afternoon: “T-Mobile’s claims about 4G are based on the same HSPA+ technology we have deployed to 180 million people today, more than T-Mobile’s reported 140 million, and we’ll have it rolled out to 250 million people by the end of this month, substantially more than the 200 million T-Mobile says it will have by year-end.”

Continue reading T-Mobile starts up 4G ad campaign by poking a stiletto into AT&T’s network (video)

T-Mobile starts up 4G ad campaign by poking a stiletto into AT&T’s network (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Nov 2010 05:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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T-Mobile is announcing this evening that it’s now got 75 live HSPA+ markets online, with coverage for roughly 200 million Americans up and running by the end of 2010. That footprint will start off at a theoretical max downlink of 21Mbps, but the carrier will be looking to scale that to 42Mbps in 2011 with the capacity to upgrade to 84 and 168Mbps down the road — all without ever worrying about LTE. The veracity of T-Mobile’s insistence that this is a “4G” network remains debatable — particularly in light of the ITU’s ruling that only LTE-Advanced and WiMAX 2 qualify — but then again, that same ruling would mean that neither Sprint, Verizon, nor T-Mobile really have 4G up and running in the strictest of terms, and it’s hard to argue that these guys are pushing speeds that meet or exceed what either LTE or WiMAX can offer today.

To that end, the carrier is kicking off a new television ad campaign today where it proudly boasts that it’s operating the nation’s largest 4G network, which is sure to ruffle some feathers and set the stage for some drama-filled mudslinging among the big boys as they ramp up their next-gen networks across the country. New markets include Chicago, Colorado Springs, Ft. Wayne, Louisville, Raleigh-Durham, and Wilmington, NC, and new devices include the myTouch 4G — officially launching tomorrow — and the Dell Mini 10 4G, which as you can probably guess is a garden-variety Mini 10 with HSPA+ compatibility on the AWS band. Follow the break for T-Mobile’s full press release.

Continue reading T-Mobile moves up to 75 live HSPA+ markets, says it’s running the largest ‘4G’ network in the US

T-Mobile moves up to 75 live HSPA+ markets, says it’s running the largest ‘4G’ network in the US originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Nov 2010 21:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Orders have apparently gone live to existing customers for the myTouch 4G on T-Mobile — a phone that officially becomes available this Wednesday, November 3rd — proving once again that membership does indeed have its privileges. The phone’s still showing as “Coming Soon” on the public T-Mobile site if you don’t log in to your account, but that’s not a new tactic; T-Mobile has offered its existing subscribers ordering perks on new devices for a long, long time, dating back at least to the original G1. Who’s buying?

[Thanks, Chris]

Current T-Mobile customers getting in on myTouch 4G orders a little early originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 19:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This one comes as no surprise, but T-Mobile has announced today that the availability of tethering and WiFi hotspot capabilities for “select smartphones” in its lineup in time for the holidays — and as is often the case with Big Magenta, they’re offering the service at a much more aggressive price point than its larger competitors: $14.99 a month on top of your $30 unlimited data plan buys you unlimited tethering on T-Mobile’s glorious HSPA+ network (and in its non-HSPA+ areas as well, of course). We still don’t know whether this’ll start to roll out on November 3rd as was rumored, but that’d be a nice way to get into the holiday spirit, wouldn’t it? Don’t get us wrong — we’d prefer if they offered it for free as part of your $30 package, but in our post-apocalyptic world of streaming video and incessant browsing on the go, that just wasn’t gonna happen.

Separately, T-Mobile is also announcing an alternative to that $30 smartphone data: a new 200MB plan clocking in at $10 on a new two-year deal or $15 a month without a contract extension. As you might imagine, tethering isn’t available with this one — we suspect it’s just an answer to the new fad adopted by AT&T and Verizon of offering a tiny-bucket data plan alongside your regular gluttonous-bucket package.

Continue reading T-Mobile offering unlimited tethering ‘this holiday season’ as $15 add-on

T-Mobile offering unlimited tethering ‘this holiday season’ as $15 add-on originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 10:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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