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iPhone Finally Coming To T-Mobile In 2013
New submitter kc67 sends this report from ABC:
"Five years after the iPhone originally launched in 2007, T-Mobile will finally start carrying it. It might not be as buzz-worthy as when Verizon finally got the iPhone back in 2011, but it's going to be a pretty big deal for T-Mobile subscribers next year, when the carrier starts selling Apple products. ... T-Mobile USA CEO John Legere said while speaking at the Deutsche Telekom conference Thursday that it will carry the iPhone and will offer it in a different way. 'What was missing? A certain number of customers wouldn't come to the store if we didn't have the iPhone,' Legere said. 'We worked very, very hard for a deal that made sense for us.'"
Unfortunately now a certain number of customers won't come to the store if there are douche bags.
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http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/mobile-phones/
and you see an iPhone 5. T-Mobile have been offering it over here for a considerable time.
About time the US caught up with other parts of the world...
They are moving to a non-subsidized model, which is hot. As it stands you get your iPhone for $200 then end up paying $1400 extra in some cases for an overpriced 2 year contract. I bought my own phone and did this already on T-Mobile, I only pay $30 a month for "unlimited" data (up top 5 gigs at "4g") and 100 minutes of talk time, which is all I need.
Sprint especially made the mistake of just committing to a huge number of iPhones at a staggering price they must now subsidize. Will be interesting to see if people are still willing to pay the True Price for an iPhone (e.g. $600) versus maybe $450 for a high end Android phone.
Legere mentioned offering the iPhone for $99 and then allowing customers to pay off the rest in monthly increments.
FTFA
What's mentioned in TFA, but not TFS is the news they include that they will be moving away from subsidies. This I think is an awesome improvement! Think about it, "I can pay $30 less per month, put that into a savings account and every 2 years get a good phone... or I can get a good phone now and pay an extra $50 per month for a worse plan and if I mess up it ruins my credit" They mention changing subsidies to a "payment plan" type of thing, which is really what it should be considered. I completely welcome this change.
As a result, they provide their phones with minimal margins because they'll make it up in monthly fees(for the service). I bought my wife a phone with T-Mobile and I was amazed I could get a relatively decent Android phone for $200. Try finding a decent smart phone from another carrier at that price. Also, her plan is flat $50/month with no contract, and unlimited everything. Last time I looked at AT&T, the equivalent plan was $110/month and a similar low-mid-range phone was $450 without a contract
I only pay $30 a month for "unlimited" data (up top 5 gigs at "4g") and 100 minutes of talk time
Wow. In Canada, with Telus, $50 gets 1 gig of data, with the "option" of paying $25 for an extra 2 gigs. And Voicemail is an add-on for another $8 a month.
Three Squirrels
The world has moved to Windows Phone.
Kinda. AT&T has had the iPhone for ages so if that were the only problem...
The issue is the 3G version of GSM, UMTS, which T-Mobile, until now, has run on the AWS spectrum. (AT&T was running it on 800MHz Cellular and 1900Mhz PCS) iPhones don't support AWS.
T-Mobile is doing "spectrum refarming", adding 3G to its PCS frequencies. The interesting part of this is that this means an influx of iPhones shouldn't significantly affect users of better smartphones, as we'll still be able to use the AWS 3G (and in some cases, both AWS and PCS.)
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