Doesn't Verizon already have some phones which include SIM cards and are capable of operating on GSM?
You can?t simply add an Infineon GSM chip, or in this case UMTS chip, then call it a day. You need operating bands for that network type to make it work, which is why the iPhone doesn?t work with T-Mobile USA for ?3G? (UMTS), only ?2G? voice/GPRS/EDGE(GSM), and why an unlocked AT&T iPhone will work perfectly on T-Mobile in Europe.
If you look at those ?World Mode? phones offered by US CDMA carriers you?ll see that they don?t include the UMTS operating bands needed for N. American (this affects Canada, too). They are designed for international travelers, likely Europe, but also designed to not detract from being locked into the original carrier.
For where I live, work and play around, T-Mobile gave me excellent coverage.
I'd bet $100 that they'd have all you can eat data for lower than what AT&T charged back in the day when they had infinite data plans.
I totally agree with you, before I had the iPhone on AT&T I had T-Mobile and rarely (if ever) dropped a call. I'd jump ship. I even used the iPhone 1.0 (jailbroken) on T-Mobile and it was great.
You can’t simply add an Infineon GSM chip, or in this case UMTS chip, then call it a day. You need operating bands for that network type to make it work, which is why the iPhone doesn’t work with T-Mobile USA for ‘3G’ (UMTS), only ‘2G’ voice/GPRS/EDGE(GSM), and why an unlocked AT&T iPhone will work perfectly on T-Mobile in Europe.
If you look at those “World Mode” phones offered by US CDMA carriers you’ll see that they don’t include the UMTS operating bands needed for N. American (this affects Canada, too). They are designed for international travelers, likely Europe, but also designed to not detract from being locked into the original carrier.
So this will work on ‘2G’ on any GSM network, but there won’t be any ‘3G’ capabilities.
So how is Verizon any different from T-Mobile USA in this regard? The article basically says "T-Mobile just uses different frequencies, but Verizon is totally different technology." It attempts to paint Verizon at a disadvantage compared to T-Mobile. The other question is does Verizon own any GSM towers in the US?
About frakkin time, I have my iPhone with T-mobile right now. The original 2G is what I have, in my house the reception is really shitty, but everywhere else I have no problems
So how is Verizon any different from T-Mobile USA in this regard? The article basically says "T-Mobile just uses different frequencies, but Verizon is totally different technology." It attempts to paint Verizon at a disadvantage compared to T-Mobile. The other question is does Verizon own any GSM towers in the US?
Perhaps if you actually tried to participate on these forums in a sensible manner instead of usually pasting silly comments taken out of context you?d understand by now that GSM/UMTS networks are nothing like CDMA/CDM2000 networks. That adding a TriQuint chip to add a single radio spectrum is nominal effort and cost that still uses the same Infineon baseband chip (providing you have room for that extra band), but adding an entirely new network type requires many chips, a lot of testing, different frequencies and will not fit in the same place, with the same size and power requirements or design like adding a single radio will, by comparison.
They paint Verizon at a disadvantage because THEY ARE. There is no way to make a single iPhone 4 that can work with Verizon at the same size and power efficiency that it is now, but it?s possible to swap the NTT docomo operating band for the T-Mobile USA operating band.
Verizon manages a CDMA network. That isn?t to say they own, perhaps from an acquisition, some GSM networks, but they don?t actively use them for their system. They aren?t going to either. They are going to be CDMA/CDMA2000/LTE.
edit: Here is a diagram of the 3GS. See the 3 TriQuint radio frequencies, all still using and connecting to the Infineon for 3G (UMTS)?
I love their customer service. Their prices are very cheap $39.99 unlimited calls and I pay another $29.95 for unlimited data on my Blackberry. I would love to have an iPhone on T-mobile, BUT I will say T-mobiles network can be very slow. My partner has an iPhone on ATT and when we compare speeds his phone usually beats mine and his 3 G on ATT often has service when I do not. But I can make call over WiFi on T-mobile which is one of the features that I cannot believe ATT will not allow Apple to use on its iPhones.
TMUSA doesn't add much to the table except being able to say you have an additional carrier. They have the smallest national 3G network in the country and cede to regional affiliates in parts of the country. T-Mobile is the solution that makes the most if you want an easy solution. Verizion makes a lot more sense for profit.
T-Mobile is head and shoulders above every other cell carrier in every possible measure - throughput, customer service, the rates they charge - well, everything except for the number of towers.
If you live in a city of any size their coverage is fine. The dead zones out of town and behind big hills obviously are much larger than Verizon's and AT&T's.
I would switch. I could see TMobile undercutting ATT and not requiring a data plan.
I don't think so. Steve will require the full Monty if you want an iPhone. Remember it's about the user experience. I do see t-mobile undercutting AT&T though.
What r Tmobiles rates for unlimited voice, text and data? Right now I pay $120/mo to AT&T. Contract is up in October and would jump ship for a savings of $20-$50/mo!
Comments
Doesn't Verizon already have some phones which include SIM cards and are capable of operating on GSM?
You can?t simply add an Infineon GSM chip, or in this case UMTS chip, then call it a day. You need operating bands for that network type to make it work, which is why the iPhone doesn?t work with T-Mobile USA for ?3G? (UMTS), only ?2G? voice/GPRS/EDGE(GSM), and why an unlocked AT&T iPhone will work perfectly on T-Mobile in Europe.
If you look at those ?World Mode? phones offered by US CDMA carriers you?ll see that they don?t include the UMTS operating bands needed for N. American (this affects Canada, too). They are designed for international travelers, likely Europe, but also designed to not detract from being locked into the original carrier.
edit: But don?t take my word for it?So this will work on ?2G? on any GSM network, but there won?t be any ?3G? capabilities.
Coverage: http://t-mobile-coverage.t-mobile.co...st_global_cvg#
Click HSPA+ & 3G tab
Click See cities with HSPA+ at the end of the Expanding to 185 million people section
Check personal coverage: http://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/pcc.aspx
It's pretty bad, isn't it?
I'd switch to T-Mobile.
For where I live, work and play around, T-Mobile gave me excellent coverage.
I'd bet $100 that they'd have all you can eat data for lower than what AT&T charged back in the day when they had infinite data plans.
I totally agree with you, before I had the iPhone on AT&T I had T-Mobile and rarely (if ever) dropped a call. I'd jump ship. I even used the iPhone 1.0 (jailbroken) on T-Mobile and it was great.
You can call it 4G instead of 3.9G as long as you think 4Mbps is the same as 100Mbs.
I’m all for changing it from some silly initialism to define the “Generation” to a numeric speed value that actually tells you something.
PS: I’d also like the reception bars dropped altogether in favour of something useful or have them outright defined.
http://patdollard.com/2010/07/10-big...ppear-in-2011/
If exlusivity is out the window Apple should make a phone for every carrier. Or would that be bad for business.
I'd switch to T-Mobile.
For where I live, work and play around, T-Mobile gave me excellent coverage.
I'd bet $100 that they'd have all you can eat data for lower than what AT&T charged back in the day when they had infinite data plans.
Heh, not for long. Verizon is announcing their new limited-only data plans following AT&T as expected, T-Mobile will do the same before long.
You can’t simply add an Infineon GSM chip, or in this case UMTS chip, then call it a day. You need operating bands for that network type to make it work, which is why the iPhone doesn’t work with T-Mobile USA for ‘3G’ (UMTS), only ‘2G’ voice/GPRS/EDGE(GSM), and why an unlocked AT&T iPhone will work perfectly on T-Mobile in Europe.
If you look at those “World Mode” phones offered by US CDMA carriers you’ll see that they don’t include the UMTS operating bands needed for N. American (this affects Canada, too). They are designed for international travelers, likely Europe, but also designed to not detract from being locked into the original carrier.
edit: But don’t take my word for it…So this will work on ‘2G’ on any GSM network, but there won’t be any ‘3G’ capabilities.
So how is Verizon any different from T-Mobile USA in this regard? The article basically says "T-Mobile just uses different frequencies, but Verizon is totally different technology." It attempts to paint Verizon at a disadvantage compared to T-Mobile. The other question is does Verizon own any GSM towers in the US?
T-mobile is listed as one of the 10 brands that will disappear in 2011...why would Apple work with them???
http://patdollard.com/2010/07/10-big...ppear-in-2011/
They're in a position where they'll give Apple anything Apple wants... to be part of the iPhone economy.
Here's what I envision:
* Pentaband iPhone4 only, perhaps locked into that carrier by virtue of limited band assignment
(t-mobile will allow iPhones now on their network, but you'll only get 2G service)
* Apple has proven they can bring in the bucks and make money in a recession, primarily via their iPhone brand and hardware.
* Same kind of deal as with AT&T, massive profits for both tmobile and Apple, just like with AT&T's current arrangement
* Since it won't be a drastic change (just different carrier), existing AT&T iPhone users won't be tempted to jump (unless they hate AT&T)
* Apple gains marketshare in N.America and cements the "iPhone" standard for profit margins.
* tmobile gets to share spotlight with Steve, and tout it's new HSPA+ network.
http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/21/i...ile-usa-in-q3/
So how is Verizon any different from T-Mobile USA in this regard? The article basically says "T-Mobile just uses different frequencies, but Verizon is totally different technology." It attempts to paint Verizon at a disadvantage compared to T-Mobile. The other question is does Verizon own any GSM towers in the US?
Perhaps if you actually tried to participate on these forums in a sensible manner instead of usually pasting silly comments taken out of context you?d understand by now that GSM/UMTS networks are nothing like CDMA/CDM2000 networks. That adding a TriQuint chip to add a single radio spectrum is nominal effort and cost that still uses the same Infineon baseband chip (providing you have room for that extra band), but adding an entirely new network type requires many chips, a lot of testing, different frequencies and will not fit in the same place, with the same size and power requirements or design like adding a single radio will, by comparison.
They paint Verizon at a disadvantage because THEY ARE. There is no way to make a single iPhone 4 that can work with Verizon at the same size and power efficiency that it is now, but it?s possible to swap the NTT docomo operating band for the T-Mobile USA operating band.
Verizon manages a CDMA network. That isn?t to say they own, perhaps from an acquisition, some GSM networks, but they don?t actively use them for their system. They aren?t going to either. They are going to be CDMA/CDMA2000/LTE.
edit: Here is a diagram of the 3GS. See the 3 TriQuint radio frequencies, all still using and connecting to the Infineon for 3G (UMTS)?
I had data roaming disabled though... maybe data wouldn't have worked? I was definitely making calls...
If you live in a city of any size their coverage is fine. The dead zones out of town and behind big hills obviously are much larger than Verizon's and AT&T's.
I would love to see T_Mobile get the iPhone.
I would switch. I could see TMobile undercutting ATT and not requiring a data plan.
I don't think so. Steve will require the full Monty if you want an iPhone. Remember it's about the user experience. I do see t-mobile undercutting AT&T though.
Best
Best.