T-Mobile Turns on HSPA+ Using 1900MHz in Vegas As Part of Strategy to Woo Unlocked iPhone Owners T-Mobile says the company has turned on HSPA+ service using its 1900 MHz PCS spectrum in Las Vegas, the first full market where it has refarmed its HSPA+ spectrum. Back in February T-Mobile announced that the company would be making the shift to LTE, and has since been busy installing new equipment at 37,000 cell sites and refarming spectrum in order to launch LTE in 2013. While the actual launch of LTE won't happen until next year, a key part of T-Mobile's strategy is to use their 1700 MHz AWS spectrum for LTE while it refarms its 1900 MHz spectrum for HSPA+ service. A major perk of that effort is that the company can then woo iPhone users over to their network without having to eat the costs associated with selling the phone themselves.
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 |  |  a333A hot cup of integrals please
join:2007-06-12
Rego Park, NY
 ·T-Mobile US
 ·Verizon Online DSL
·Cingular Wireless
1 edit | Re: A Bit of a Win / loose situation in my opinion... Pretty sure most AWS handsets are not 1700/2100-only, but also support at least one of the major bands used worldwide (1900-PCS) for 3/3.5G services. Also, I would imagine T-mobile will keep at least a single 5x5 channel of paired 2100/1700 spectrum running the HSPA/HSPA+ services in all but the most desperately spectrum-strapped markets, since it's not quite as urgent for them to upgrade to LTE in markets with DC-HSPA+ (the speeds might be noticeably different for large transfers, but latencies are actually quite similar, and speeds more than adequate for mid-size downloads and media streaming.)
EDIT: Also, IIRC, isn't T-mobile testing spectrum sharing with gov't services on the AWS band? If that's the case, there might be some more spectrum coming their way, making the urgency of moving ALL 3.5G to PCS a bit lower...
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| | |  tiger72SexaT duorPPremium
join:2001-03-28
Saint Louis, MO
kudos:1 | Re: A Bit of a Win / loose situation in my opinion... A few things:
1. They're not moving their 3g off of AWS for a long, long while.
2. All Samsung handsets support HSPA(+) on the PCS band in addition to the AWS band and the IMT band, and most HTC handsets sold in the past 2 years as well. All devices should be able to swap between PCS or AWS depending on which provides better service where they are. Of course, iPhones and the like will only get PCS service.
Also:
They're basically reducing their GSM spectrum to a minimum, and using that spectrum for PCS-3g. Excess AWS spectrum is where LTE will be launched. In some markets (like my own) we may not see LTE until PCS 3g can handle the load, because we only have ~10mhz available.
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| | | | |  tmh
@comcastbusiness.net | said by buddahbless:A win for those with Iphones coming over to Tmobile service or already on it, A loose for those with Tmobile smartphones and feature phones that don't support 1900 mhz HSPA ( and there are quite a few).
it's a win-win-win for me. I have a GNex. Works anywhere in the world I want to be. | |
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| | I plan to use my iPhone 4 on T-Mobile The iPhone 5 looks very nice, and I love the latest gadgets, but my iPhone 4 does everything I need. I hate AT&T's signal quality, so I have already switched to T-Mobile. It's EDGE now but, as with AT&T, sometimes EDGE speed is faster than what I had on AT&T 3G. There are T-Mobile 1900 MHz around me but not right where I live. I trust they are on their way, and it is a relief to be through with T-Mobile. | |
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| Re: I plan to use my iPhone 4 on T-Mobile said by Karl :It's EDGE now but, as with AT&T, sometimes EDGE speed is faster than what I had on AT&T 3G.
Isn't that sad? I can say the same in a few parts of Verizon's footprint, the 3G network is so congested that it's actually faster to force your phone onto 1x. 1x can attain ISDN'ish speeds, which is a godsend when the 3G network is delivering sub-dialup speeds. | |
| | | | In my last sentence I meant a relief to be through with AT&T (not T-Mobile). Sorry. | |
| | | | Couldn't agree more, except I have a 4S. | |
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 King PDon't blame me. I voted for Ron PaulPremium
join:2004-11-17
Franklin, TN
 ·Comcast
 ·Vonage
| Can't wait until they refarm Nashville Right now I'm on an AT&T MVNO called Red Pocket Mobile, and I get HSPA+ connectivity, but it is still very slow. The coverage is great, but I may move back to T-Mobile prepaid, just because the EDGE speeds are almost comparable to what I get now, for slightly less than what I pay now (RPM = $59.99/month vs T-MO = 54.xx/month).
The bonus with T-Mobile is that I have unlimited data, as opposed to the 2GB I get with RPM.
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|  kamm
join:2001-02-14
Brooklyn, NY | TMO's HSPA+ is *FAR* superior to any data service out there Financial District, Manhattan, middle of the day... | |
| | | | | | That is impressive considering the time and place. | |
| |  tobyTroy Mcclure
join:2001-11-13
Seattle, WA | where they have 3g service, or even any service maybe. | |
| | | kamm
join:2001-02-14
Brooklyn, NY | Re: TMO's HSPA+ is *FAR* superior to any data service out there Pretty much everywhere sans redneck-land but that does not matter anyway. | |
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| | | That's a nice speed test and all, but 'FAR superior' to anything else out there? Nah, I think that's hyperbole on your part. | |
| | | kamm
join:2001-02-14
Brooklyn, NY | Re: TMO's HSPA+ is *FAR* superior to any data service out there It is. It's about WHERE and WHEN and then COMPARE THEM right there, apples-to-apples and you'll see. | |
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| | | Here's what I got on AT&T LTE while passing through Bakersfield, about 4 days before it officially went live. I'm assuming there were not very many other people on the tower  .
LTE was a godsend in Vegas. Decent latency, downstream bandwidth usually in the teens. HSPA+ was unusable, maybe 1 Mbps down, a fraction of that up, and 1+ second latency.
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| | | kamm
join:2001-02-14
Brooklyn, NY | Re: TMO's HSPA+ is *FAR* superior to any data service out there Well, no offense but that's in a godforsaken small town, BEFORE IT WENT LIVE... hardly a valid measurement point.  | |
| | | | | | Re: TMO's HSPA+ is *FAR* superior to any data service out there In Vegas, I got similar downstream speeds to what you posted. Upstream might have been a bit higher, I can't remember for sure what it was. I think latency was a little higher though.
Maybe Bakersfield is small to you, but it's roughly ten times the population of where I live .
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 DatxHuh? What?
join:2001-01-21
Austin, TX | 1900 3G available in part of Austin, TX. I just enabled data for my iPhone last Friday and found that certain part of Cedar Park (NW of Austin, TX) area has 3G enabled for the 1900 spectrum. | |
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