As we've seen with both Sprint and T-Mobile, LTE launch locations pop up well ahead of official launch markets as the companies run pre-commercial launch tests. Users now say that they're seeing T-Mobile LTE signals pop up in Detroit, Minneapolis and New York City. Minneapolis is slated for a May launch, while both Detroit and New York City aren't officially expected to come online until June. T-Mobile previously stated they aim to cover 100 million potential customers with LTE by the middle of 2013, with 200 million potential customers covered by the end of this year.

Washington State's Attorney General is hammering T-Mobile over the company's new no contract claims, insisting that the carrier is engaging in false advertising. Washington AG General Bob Ferguson seems to have taken particular issue with T-Mobile's promises of a $99 iPhone 5, which requires users pay $99 down, then twenty four monthly payments of $20.

After AT&T's attempted takeover of T-Mobile was blocked by regulators, it didn't take T-Mobile long to re-embrace its role of industry upstart, launching a series of ad campaigns that took pot shots at AT&T. Now AT&T's returning the favor.

• Fiber to drive global broadband revenue growth to 2018 [telecoms.com]
• No cash for broadband: Europe's super-fast future torpedoed by budget cuts [zdnet.com]
• Hold off updating your iPhone 4S to iOS 6.1, European carriers warn customers [gigaom.com]
• AT&T: We didn't execute well on T-Mobile deal [fiercewireless.com]
• United Airlines adds Wi-Fi for overseas flights [latimes.com]
• Cellular carriers seek smooth handoffs from LTE to 3G [pcworld.com]
• Google: Self-driving cars in 3-5 years. Feds: Not so fast [extremetech.com]
• At least two-thirds mobile traffic will be video by 2017, Total mobe data shifted doubled during 2012 - Cisco report [theregister.co.uk]
• IP Address Snapshots Not Sufficient Evidence To File Infringement Suit; Prenda Lawyer Faces Sanctions [techdirt.com]
• NTIA will hand out $121.5M to aid FirstNet effort [fiercebroadbandwireless.com]
• Vehicles and mobility are converging but fragmentation, lack of standards may hinder progress [fiercewireless.com]

*For more interesting links to broadband and related tech news from DSLReports.com & other sites throughout the day, follow me on Twitter @ChrisBBReports!*

As Broadband Reports reader johnnn first scooped back in December, T-Mobile has quietly been deploying their implementation of HD voice without much fanfare. Unlike upcoming versions of VoLTE, T-Mobile's implementation of HD voice doesn't eat batteries for breakfast, and it's also operating at a significantly lower bit rate (12.65kbps).

T-Mobile made waves last year finally stating they'd be selling the iPhone in 2013. At the same time the fourth-place carrier announced they'd also be getting rid of subsidies this year, meaning you could pay full price for an iPhone, or pay it off by adding $15-$20 to your monthly bill.

T-Mobile has launched HSPA+ service in the company's 1900 MHz spectrum in several new markets as the carrier continues to woo unlocked device owners. According to a blog post by CTO Neville Ray, the company has expanded what they're calling "enhanced" service in Chicago; Reno, Nevada; and Fresno, Sacramento and a few additional portions of Southern California. "T-Mobile has now enhanced the network in 23 metro areas, and we have already reached 100 million people with this improved network experience," said Ray. While the improvements are great, T-Mobile still has a lot of work to do in order to be prepared for their launch of the iPhone in 2013, with huge portions of their footprint nationally still only offering EDGE speeds.

T-Mobile has launched HSPA+ service in the company's 1900 MHz spectrum in several new markets, and the carrier continues to woo unlocked device owners. According to a blog post by T-Mobile Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray, the company has turned on 1900 MHz in Seattle, Minneapolis, Atlanta, and additional portions of the Bay Area.

In addition to T-Mobile announcing that they'll start selling Apple products in 2013, is the potentially more interesting fact that they'll stop selling subsidized phones. Speaking at Deutsche Telekom's annual investor conference, T-Mobile CEO John Legere confirmed that subsidized phones will no longer be a part of the company's business model next year, with consumers either paying full price for devices, or choosing to pay the device off in installments.

The Communications Workers of America (CWA) is attacking the MetroPCS and T-Mobile merger, insisting that the deal will cost a significant number of American jobs. In a filing with the FCC (pdf), the CWA insists that the deal would result in the potential loss of more than 10,000 jobs, hidden under the promise of "network and non-network synergies,'' created by the deal.

Insisting that MetroPCS and T-Mobile are "cheating shareholders" through a "drastically undervalued" deal, MetroPCS investors have filed suit to block the deal. The deal would give Deutsche Telekom a 74% stake in the combined company, and involves a 1-for-2 reverse stock split and a $1.5 billion cash payment to shareholders at $4.09 per share. The deal also involves shutting down the MetroPCS network, and migrating users slowly over to the eventual T-Mobile LTE network. However, MetroPCS shareholders aren't happy with the arrangement, saying that it favors T-Mobile owner Deutsche Telekom and the company's executives:The plaintiffs are demanding "injunctive and declaratory relief" for "derivative and class claims of breach of fiduciary duty, abuse of control, gross mismanagement, unjust enrichment and corporate waste."

While T-Mobile didn't get the iPhone 5, they're pulling out all the stops to ensure that the damage caused by that fact will be minimal. The carrier has stated they're pushing out HSPA+ in the 1900 MHz band so unlocked iPhones can use their faster network, and they also hope that their recently announced return to unlimited data can also help differentiate the carrier. In addition the company has stated they'll have iPhone 5s in stores for demonstrations but won't sell them. T-Mobile however has now stated they are selling iPhone 5 friendly nano SIMs in stores, having gotten their first shipment over the weekend. We'll see if this effort has any major impact when we get a closer look at T-Mobile's quarterly earnings.

While T-Mobile won't be getting the new LTE-based iPhone this week, they're pulling out all the stops to ensure that the damage caused by that fact will be minimal. The carrier has stated they're pushing out HSPA+ in the 1900 MHz band so unlocked iPhones can use their faster network, and they also hope that their recently announced return to unlimited data can also help differentiate the carrier.

T-Mobile finds itself still trying to recover from their blocked acquisition by AT&T, and last quarter lost 205,000 subscribers during the second quarter. While the company has done well in prepaid services, postpaid customers continue to be a problem in no-short portion due to the lack of the iPhone -- something that doesn't appear to be changing anytime soon. A leaked T-Mobile employee training document notes a date of September 21 as part of a "selling against the iPhone" training effort, strongly suggesting T-Mobile once again won't be part of the iPhone festivities. The carrier has stated they're pushing out HSPA+ in the 1900 MHz band so unlocked iPhones can use their faster network, and they also hope that their recently announced return to unlimited data can also help differentiate the carrier.

T-Mobile's failed love affair with AT&T -- and the distractions it caused -- continue to hurt the company, the carrier's earnings today indicating that T-Mobile lost 205,000 subscribers during the second quarter. While the company's postpaid business continues to suffer with a net loss of 557,000 contract customers, the company continues to do well in the prepaid space with a net gain of 227,000 prepaid customers. T-Mobile's strong prepaid presence resulted in a $207 million net profit for the quarter on $4.88 billion in revenue. T-Mobile, especially without the iPhone, continues to struggle in their battles with AT&T and Verizon for postpaid, while facing a lot of younger upstarts nipping at their heels on the prepaid low-cost market.

Several users have written in to note that T-Mobile suffered a several hour nationwide outage last night, the company's network being inaccessible for many between the hours of 6:00 and 9:30. The company has yet to give an explanation for the outage, but says that the majority of customers should be back to normal. "T-Mobile experienced a network data issue Monday night that affected service for some customers with a 3G or 4G device," T-Mobile said in a statement. "Some customers were not able to initiate a data session, or experienced intermittent data connectivity." T-Mobile is busy installing new equipment at 37,000 cell sites and refarming spectrum in order to launch LTE in 2013.

• With LTE on deck, India primes to leapfrog U.S. in mobile broadband rankings [fiercebroadbandwireless.com]
• Are Broadband Markets Stagnating? [forbes.com]
• A quarter of the world's households now have Wi-Fi [macworld.com]
• T-Mobile: We use spectrum 50% more efficiently than Verizon in top markets [fiercewireless.com]
• Verizon challenges other carriers' network speeds in '4G throw down' [fiercewireless.com]
• AT&T’s Wi-Fi experiment: Watch ads, get access [gigaom.com]
• Viacom's anti-Google copyright case rises from the dead [theregister.co.uk]
• Geotargeting And The Slippery Slope To Fragmenting The Internet With Localized Censorship [techdirt.com]
• Clearwire, NetZero 4G and the coverage quandary [fiercebroadbandwireless.com]
• Dish hoping to receive FCC go-ahead by summer's end [fiercebroadbandwireless.com]
• New York State Attorney General Announces Purge of Sex Offenders From Online Games [forbes.com]
• Comcast, TWC Still Bullish On Interactive TV [multichannel.com]

A few months ago, while visiting my girlfriend's parents' farm, I hear a sound -- a sound I hadn't heard in probably ten years. It was the sound of dialup Internet.

Back in 2008 Sprint announced a deal wherein they'd decided to sell a number of their towers to pay down debt, then turn around and lease those towers from the company they'd sold them to. In order to fund their planned upcoming LTE build, T-Mobile appears to be contemplating a similar move -- and is looking to sell a significant number of U.S. towers in order to raise cash. The tower sale could raise as much as $3 billion, according to an estimate by Macquarie Capital analsyt Kevin Smithen. Those funds will be combined with savings from recent layoffs and the $4 billion cash/spectrum/roaming boobie prize they received from AT&T in order to help get their LTE network up and running sometime in 2013.

• Which cities have the fastest Internet in America? [smartplanet.com]
• Some in New Zealand government calling for espionage investigation into Chinese broadband company Huawei after Aussie NBN ban [3news.co.nz]
• AT&T Redefines the Meaning of 'Unlimited' Data Plan [cio-today.com]
• Row 44 Now Offers In-Flight Video-on-Demand for Any Airline Worldwide [streetinsider.com]
• Apple offers 4G iPad refunds over Australian LTE confusion [slashgear.com]
• T-Mobile battles the subsidy beast (by raising prices) [gigaom.com]
• RapidShare Declared Legal In Court, With a Twist [torrentfreak.com]
• New UK broadband advertising rules restrict speed claims and 'unlimited' services [broadbandgenie.co.uk]
• Verizon Envisions 4G Wireless in Just about Anything [technologyreview.com]
• Here's How Law Enforcement Cracks Your iPhone's Security Code [forbes.com]
• Mass BitTorrent Lawsuits Return to the UK [torrentfreak.com]
• A surge in learning the language of the Internet [nytimes.com]
• Comcast now offering business customers fully managed VoIP service, eliminates the need for on-site phone systems [multichannel.com]