T-Mobile to have iPhone 5-ready nano-SIM cards by mid-October
In a tweet on Thursday, T-Mobile revealed that it will be carrying iPhone 5-compatible nano-SIM cards for use on its network in mid-October, giving subscribers access to Apple's latest handset.
A number of T-Mobile customers took to Twitter recently, asking the telecom if and when it would be releasing nano-SIM cards to be used with Apple iPhone 5 as the carrier is not yet an Apple partner carrier. The company issued multiple responses, as reported by The Verge, promising subscribers access to the appropriate cards needed to operate the new device on its network.
Current subscribers will need to purchase an unlocked iPhone 5 to use the smartphone on T-Mobile's network, however it is unclear when Apple will be selling those versions in the U.S. It was discovered on Thursday that pricing of the unlocked units would be similar to previous iPhone iterations, with the 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models running $649, $749 and $849, respectively.
When the nano-SIM cards do arrive, subscribers will only be able to operate the iPhone 5 on T-Mobile's 2G EDGE network, however the company is slowly rolling out 4G HSPA+ service across the country, with current availability in Seattle, Las Vegas and New York City.
A number of T-Mobile customers took to Twitter recently, asking the telecom if and when it would be releasing nano-SIM cards to be used with Apple iPhone 5 as the carrier is not yet an Apple partner carrier. The company issued multiple responses, as reported by The Verge, promising subscribers access to the appropriate cards needed to operate the new device on its network.
@danielmwilliams We will be releasing the nano SIM mid October, stay tuned as we work to make your iPhone experience seamless as possible^JQ
? T-Mobile USA (@TMobileHelp)
Current subscribers will need to purchase an unlocked iPhone 5 to use the smartphone on T-Mobile's network, however it is unclear when Apple will be selling those versions in the U.S. It was discovered on Thursday that pricing of the unlocked units would be similar to previous iPhone iterations, with the 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models running $649, $749 and $849, respectively.
When the nano-SIM cards do arrive, subscribers will only be able to operate the iPhone 5 on T-Mobile's 2G EDGE network, however the company is slowly rolling out 4G HSPA+ service across the country, with current availability in Seattle, Las Vegas and New York City.
Comments
Can one circumvent Visual Voicemail with YouMail or Libon VoiceFeed (which I like the looks of but don't have)?
http://www.libon.com/en/iphone/on-voicefeed
What else is there that won't work on non official carriers networks? Besides LTE or 3G speeds?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rot'nApple
If Visual Voicemail unavailable, does that mean the phone just rings and rings until the caller gets tired and hangs up?
No.
It means you have to dial your voicemail to listen to your messages rather than than looking at (visual) which voicemails you have.
Originally Posted by Gordon Werner
so ... if one is in Seattle then we'd be able to take advantage immediately of 4G HSPA or would we still only be on EDGE 2G?
Depends on whether the appropriate towers are built there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gordon Werner
so ... if one is in Seattle then we'd be able to take advantage immediately of 4G HSPA or would we still only be on EDGE 2G?
I'm picking up T-Mobile's HSPA+ with my iPhone 3GS here in Santa Clara, CA. Apparently T-Mobile flipped the switch on my tower the afternoon of Sept 12.
http://www.airportal.de/
Lol T-Mobile wants the Iphone yet trashes it in commercials, and they wonder why they are the last to get it, lol Cricket is getting it over them... sad
Quote:
Originally Posted by xRCx
Lol T-Mobile wants the Iphone yet trashes it in commercials, and they wonder why they are the last to get it, lol Cricket is getting it over them... sad
has nothing to do with PR and everything to do with not having the correct technology
Quote:
Originally Posted by OriginalMacRat
I'm picking up T-Mobile's HSPA+ with my iPhone 3GS here in Santa Clara, CA. Apparently T-Mobile flipped the switch on my tower the afternoon of Sept 12.
http://www.airportal.de/
and ... are you able to do all the things you expected to? is it nice and fast?
Thanx
+1
They assumed Apple would build a phone for them sooner or later.
How stunning is it that a cell phone company has to redo their entire network for one cell phone.
That's impact.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SWS
+1
They assumed Apple would build a phone for them sooner or later.
How stunning is it that a cell phone company has to redo their entire network for one cell phone.
That's impact.
It's not stunning that they have to redo their entire network for a phone.
It's stunning that they ARE redoing their entire network for one phone.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gordon Werner
and ... are you able to do all the things you expected to? is it nice and fast?
Thanx
Well, I was doing things just fine over the regular 200Kbs EDGE connection. :-)
But yeah, for the past 2 days since they flipped the switch on the 1900MHz radio, Speed Test has reported 5Mbs which should come in handy if I need the bandwidth.
Yes. That was my point. You hit the wording on the head.
So to use an iPhone on a no contract carrier you have to shell out $850 for the 64GB (because, really, 64 should be the base model, not the high end, but whatevs). What a freakin' gip. No iPhone for me yet again.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rot'nApple
If Visual Voicemail unavailable, does that mean the phone just rings and rings until the caller gets tired and hangs up? And calls again later or you can check caller id. Does caller id work on a non official carriers network?
Can one circumvent Visual Voicemail with YouMail or Libon VoiceFeed (which I like the looks of but don't have)?
http://www.libon.com/en/iphone/on-voicefeed
What else is there that won't work on non official carriers networks? Besides LTE or 3G speeds?
I have had two iPhones on T-Mobile for two years. Caller ID works, regular voice mail works, everything but Visual Voice mail works. What does that mean? It simply means you have to listen to voice mail in the order it arrives. You can't pick and choose what voice mail message to listen to first.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TBell
I have had two iPhones on T-Mobile for two years. Caller ID works, regular voice mail works, everything but Visual Voice mail works. What does that mean? It simply means you have to listen to voice mail in the order it arrives. You can't pick and choose what voice mail message to listen to first.
A nice work around is to use Google Voice and have voice messages recorded on the GV server instead of at T-Mobile.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris_CA
It's not stunning that they have to redo their entire network for a phone.
It's stunning that they ARE redoing their entire network for one phone.
Although it desperately wants the iPhone, T-Mobile is not redoing its entire network for one phone. People forget T-Mobile set aside long term plans to update its network because it made no sense to make such plans if it was going to be acquired by AT&T. The whole reason AT&T had to pay T-Mobile 3 billion when the deal didn't go through is because T-Mobile knew if the deal failed it would be financially injured by putting off such planning.
Moreover, T-Mobile's HSPA network is very fast. Faster than AT&T and Verizon's 3G networks. LTE, however, is faster and this is where T-Mobile is hurting. That and the previous version of HSPA wasn't supported on the iPhone. I can buy the new iPhone though, and HSPA is supported in T-Mobile's frequency range. So, the new iPhone will be quite fast on T-Mobile's current network.
T-Mobile is the best deal for the iPhone. AT&T and Verizon have data caps. What is the point of super fast LTE when you are going to blow through your data cap watching a single movie. Sprint's network is slow. You might have unlimited data, but the speeds are painful. T-Mobile, however, actually has a fast data network and unlimited plans.
I posted this before but over two years it is cheaper and a better deal to buy an unlocked iPhone and go to T-Mobile especially now with the iPhone supporting T-Mobile's HSPA network. The subsidized cost of a 16 GB iPhone on the big three is roughly $450 over two years of a contract. This comes out to a little over $18 a month over two years. Unlimited voice, texting, and data costs $59 a month (under T-Mobile's bring your own phone value plans). So for less than $80 a month (excluding taxes and fees) you have what costs around $130 on AT&T. Further, T-Mobile, unlike Sprint and Verizon, supports simultaneous voice and data.
Quote:
Originally Posted by OriginalMacRat
A nice work around is to use Google Voice and have voice messages recorded on the GV server instead of at T-Mobile.
I have tried that and yes it does work. It really doesn't bother me that much though because all phones lacked visual voice before the iPhone. Since I have never had an officially supported iPhone, I never have had visual voice. You can't miss what you have never had.
There is no need for 64 GB iPhone now. What with 4G LTE and iCloud support that much physical Storage is a waste of money.
The iPhone is made for consuming content not storing your entire content library.
Don't get me wrong to each their own. I just find it a complete waste of money.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tyler82
So to use an iPhone on a no contract carrier you have to shell out $850 for the 64GB (because, really, 64 should be the base model, not the high end, but whatevs). What a freakin' gip. No iPhone for me yet again.
The subsidized portion of the cost is the same no matter what model you pick. So if you want a 64 GB model and you went with a subsidized carrier, you'd pay $399 up front and about $450 would be subsidized. So, that still comes out to about $18 a month for 24 months. So, no matter what model you want over two years you'd save significantly on T-Mobile. What I like about T-Mobile is you'd don't even need a data plan if you are generally by wi-fi. You can customize how much data you want all the way down to nothing.