Apple expanding iPhone availability to smaller regional US carriers

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
C Spire Wireless, a regional U.S. carrier with about 900,000 customers, revealed on Wednesday that it will be offering Apple's new iPhone 4S "soon," making it the first smaller carrier in America to have access to Apple's smartphone.



C Spire is a CDMA carrier like Verizon and Sprint. By adding the iPhone 4S to its lineup, it will be the fourth carrier in the U.S. to officially offer Apple's new handset.



C Spire updated its website on Wednesday to announce that it will carry the iPhone 4S, and has a page devoted to features of the new handset including Siri voice control, the speedy dual-core A5 chip and all-new camera. Users can provide their e-mail address and mobile number to receive more information when it becomes available.



The addition of C Spire marks the first time Apple has allowed a smaller, regional carrier to officially offer the iPhone for use on its network. The revelation follows indications from Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook that the company plans to aggressively push for sales of its iPhone platform to go even higher.



"We want the iPhone to be in as many customers' hands as possible because we think it's the greatest phone by far," Cook said during his company's quarterly conference call on Tuesday. "And that's why we live to do that. And so yes, we aspire to much larger volumes than where we are."



Based in Ridgeland, Miss., and serving customers in Mississippi, Memphis, the Florida Panhandle, and parts of Alabama and Georgia, C Spire is not one of the "big four" wireless providers in the U.S.



The only one of the four biggest carriers in the U.S. that does not offer the iPhone is T-Mobile. That carrier is the fourth-largest in America with 33.73 million customers.



T-Mobile's lack of access to the iPhone is a result of the company's 3G service relying on the uncommon 1700MHz and 2100MHz bands, which are not supported by Apple's smartphone. Users who operate an unlocked iPhone on T-Mobile's network are restricted to much slower "EDGE" speeds.







Sprint became the third wireless partner for Apple earlier this month. In their first day of availability with Sprint, the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 both broke sales records for the carrier, which is the third-largest in the U.S.



Verizon, the largest U.S. carrier by customers, gained access to the iPhone in February, ending more than three years of exclusivity with AT&T. Throughout 2011, the iPhone 4 has been the best-selling smartphone at both Verizon and AT&T in the U.S.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 45
    I'm not an engineer, but how difficult/expensive would it be for Apple to add the T-Mobile USA frequency to the iPhone? You'd think they were leaving money on the table.
  • Reply 2 of 45
    yeah but will they be able to support Visual Voicemail?
  • Reply 3 of 45
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post


    I'm not an engineer, but how difficult/expensive would it be for Apple to add the T-Mobile USA frequency to the iPhone? You'd think they were leaving money on the table.



    You could say the same thing about Sprint 1 or 2 years ago, and many other carriers around the world. The fact is that a good company like Apple does things systematically, and is not concerned about leaving money on the table. Earning every possible dollar is rarely the motive of truly successful companies.
  • Reply 4 of 45
    Apple to TMobile: F*** you.
  • Reply 5 of 45
    T-Mobile's looking pretty dang pathetic right now, eh?
  • Reply 6 of 45
    Couple of points here:



    #1

    Provided C-Spire keeps their existing rate plans, which is often not the case with iPhone, of $50'ish/month with unlimited data and messaging this could provide some limited threat to the big guys (AT&T, Verizon, & Sprint) who's plans run close to double (or more) compared to C-Spire.





    #2

    With C-Spire coming on board this opens the doors to other smaller guys like MetroPCS who has a $40'ish unlimited plan, Virgin Mobile, AllTel, Etc.
  • Reply 7 of 45
    Guess now it's only a matter of time before Verizon or ATT try and buy them!\
  • Reply 8 of 45
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post


    I'm not an engineer, but how difficult/expensive would it be for Apple to add the T-Mobile USA frequency to the iPhone? You'd think they were leaving money on the table.



    Definitely. iPhone 4S actually supports 2100MHz (it is one of AT&T frequencies), all is missing is 1700MHz. How hard could it be? Looks like somebody at Apple does a favor for AT&T (who wants slow CDMA/EV-DO?).
  • Reply 9 of 45
    I'm not sure I buy this one. Apple had to make two sets of phones to cover Verizon and Sprint. I just can't see them making yet another for this company, then another and another.



    Now if there was a way to make a single CDMA phone that could be programmed at the time of purchase for which ever carrier, then I might believe this. Perhaps that is something they are working on for the next one. Heck maybe they are trying to get down to one phone lineup in general.
  • Reply 10 of 45
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by charlituna View Post


    Apple had to make two sets of phones to cover Verizon and Sprint.



    ? There's one iPhone 4S.
  • Reply 11 of 45
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TitanTiger View Post


    Apple to TMobile: F*** you.



    I doubt it is that extreme. DTK has shown that they want out of the US and intend to sell off that part of the company to someone or perhaps just shutter it. From a business standpoint it makes little sense to make a deal with the company and go to the fuss of supporting their different chipset etc if they are going to get folded into someone else in six months. So Apple waits to see what happens and then when the sale to AT&T bombs, the Sprint one etc does also, then they talk. Heck they might be talking now about the LTE lineup but we aren't being told like always
  • Reply 12 of 45
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    … There's one iPhone 4S.



    Each carrier has its own set of skus for the six models. They are identical in hardware but had to be preset for each carrier at the factory. Same with the 8gb iPhone 4. And when they release the officially unlocked GSM phones that is another six skus that are the same but with no sim card.
  • Reply 13 of 45
    Hm...someone completely MISSED T-Mobile. Apparently they're not a large enough company.



    And who the hell is C-WIRELESS?
  • Reply 14 of 45
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by charlituna View Post


    They are identical in hardware but had to be preset for each carrier at the factory.



    But only time will tell if that can't be undone.
  • Reply 15 of 45
    ssquirrelssquirrel Posts: 1,196member
    This is the listed coverage area for CSpire from Wikipedia. They show a national coverage map on their website, but it's reasonably spotty, esp around the Rockies.





    Memphis metropolitan area

    Mississippi

    Alabama

    Florida Panhandle

    Rome, Georgia



    It also mentions them owning 700MHz airspace in a couple of other states, but not currently licensed for them yet.



    What I want to know is who the fuck at T Mobile pissed off Apple so much that they would skip them like this? I can imagine Apple doesn't want to get entangled w/the pending purchase from AT&T, but still...





    CSpire serves 900k, T Mobile has 33M customers.
  • Reply 16 of 45
    Why did they wait so long to announce?



    I had made my mind up that I was leaving ATT. Cspire could have had my business. But, I reluctantly chose Verizon when cspire didn't appear to be getting the phone. I have a lucrative account (3 iPhone plans).



    Well, I'm still within my remorse period. If they can sweeten the pot enough, I'll still switch.
  • Reply 17 of 45
    Cspire has a contract with Verizon to use their towers to fill in the areas where they don't have service. Because of this, Cspire told me their coverage is as good as (or better) than Verizon's because the contract does not enable Verizon to use Cspire's.
  • Reply 17 of 45
    C-Spire is a regional carrier, but they piggyback on Verizon's network for nationwide coverage for no extra charge to the customer.
  • Reply 19 of 45
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by backdoc View Post


    Well, I'm still within my remorse period. If they can sweeten the pot enough, I'll still switch.



    The sweetness would be that their rate is so much less compared to AT&T, Verizon, or Sprint.



    If MetroPCS (Los Angeles) get's it then I'm out of AT&T for sure. Even if AT&T has a higher speed data.
  • Reply 20 of 45
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SSquirrel View Post


    This is the listed coverage area for CSpire from Wikipedia. They show a national coverage map on their website, but it's reasonably spotty, esp around the Rockies.





    Memphis metropolitan area

    Mississippi

    Alabama

    Florida Panhandle

    Rome, Georgia



    It also mentions them owning 700MHz airspace in a couple of other states, but not currently licensed for them yet.



    What I want to know is who the fuck at T Mobile pissed off Apple so much that they would skip them like this? I can imagine Apple doesn't want to get entangled w/the pending purchase from AT&T, but still...





    CSpire serves 900k, T Mobile has 33M customers.



    I'm sure its more complicated than that. Sasktel, a regional carrier where I live, got the Phone last year, even though many other's don't. Windmobile is in Vancouver, Ottawa, Toronto, etc. and has only slightly less users for instance.
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