T-Mobile announces “Bring Your Own iPhone” initiative
Of the four biggest national US carriers, T-Mobile is the only one to not officially carry the iPhone. Still, people find ways to get their Apple handsets onto the GSM carrier’s network regardless of that fact – and today, T-Mobile is making it just a bit easier for people who want to do that.
T-Mobile’s new “Bring Your Own iPhone” initiative was launched today, bringing enhanced support, in-store staff training and unlocked iPhone 4S displays, and an increased push by T-Mobile to launch more of its 1900MHz “4G” HSPA+ networks that the iPhone just happens to support. Here’s the full statement:
We see a big opportunity to make the experience of bringing an unlocked iPhone to T-Mobile even better for customers.
That’s why, beginning September 12th, we’re stepping up our efforts to attract customers with unlocked iPhones to T-Mobile. Each of our branded retail stores will receive an iPhone 4s demo unit and our sales staff will start training to help customers set up their compatible iPhone. We’re also developing iOS versions of helpful T-Mobile applications like T-Mobile myAccount, T-Mobile Visual Voicemail and T-Mobile TV (we already offer an iOS version of our popular Bobsled application).
In fact, we’re already starting to turn up 4G HSPA+ service in our 1900 MHz spectrum. With sites already live in cities like Seattle, Las Vegas, Washington DC and the New York metro area, don’t be surprised to hear reports of iPhone “speed sightings.” We expect to have these improvements deployed in a large number of markets later this year.
Our internal tests of unlocked iPhone 4S devices running over 4G (HSPA+) on our 1900 network recorded on average 70% faster download speeds than iPhone 4S devices on AT&T’s network.
Other than a much better network, T-Mobile also offers deep savings on its plans versus similar AT&T plans: the example T-Mobile gives is that its $69.99 a month plan gives you unlimited talk, text, and data – $50 less than AT&T’s plans that offer unlimited talk and text, but only 5GB of data.
T-Mobile is starting to push the stuff that consumers truly want: iPhones, truly unlimited data, and a fantastically speedy and reliable network. I’ve already stopped into a T-Mobile store this month, and if the carrier keeps up the awesome deals and work that it has been announcing, I may just go in there again with a handful of cash.
[T-Mobile via Mac Rumors]
