T-Mobile Just Picked Up the 600MHz “Spectrum Mother Lode” to Bring Their Network Everywhere
  • Posted byby Kellen

T-Mobile Just Picked Up the 600MHz “Spectrum Mother Lode” to Bring Their Network Everywhere

T-Mobile just made its largest investment ever by spending nearly $8 billion(!) to acquire 45% of the FCC’s available 600MHz low-band spectrum that was up for auction. This is the type of spectrum that penetrates buildings better and also reaches further from a tower, which in turn gives wireless customers a better overall experience no matter where they are. This is a huge day for T-Mobile customers and those in markets that have questioned whether or not T-Mobile could keep up with Verizon and AT&T. 

See that map at the top of this post? That’s what T-Mobile says their LTE network will look like by the end of 2017. They’ll do that with this new spectrum purchase and by moving into new LTE markets. For those of you in areas that T-Mobile isn’t even offered, you should probably get ready for it – Magenta is coming.

Of course, we’ll need phones that can utilize this new spectrum and I’m not sure there are any at the moment. Companies like Qualcomm will have to built out support in their modems and then push them into phones. T-Mobile thinks that’ll happen this year, though I’m skeptical it will be that quick. I’m hoping they prove me wrong, though.

Either way, T-Mobile just made a huge investment in its future network that will actually allow it to fully compete with Verizon and AT&T. Not only that, but those two are heavily invested in 700MHz, whereas this 600MHz spectrum is fresh and untouched as can be. That could mean an even faster experience without congestion for some time.

T-Mo customers, good stuff, right?

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Via: T-Mobile
Written by

Kellen

It’s not often that you get to merge personal passions into a professional life, but that’s what Kellen did when he launched Droid Life in 2009. After working years of unsatisfying jobs in the medical and property management fields, he took a risk to try and create an online community while playing with the coolest gadgets on the planet each day, a risk that has turned out to be incredibly rewarding. Outside of Droid Life, Kellen is your typical Portlander who drinks way too much good beer, complains often about the Trail Blazers, and can be found out on the streets for a run, rain or shine.

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315 Comments

  • This discussion of whether T-Mobile is conclusively “better” than Verizon is flawed. If someone from Florida told someone in Alaska (during the 67 days of night) that solar power was better than fossil fuel… the person from Alaska would disagree. It’s all about locality. Look at the T-Mobile coverage map. Really zoom in on some parts nowhere near where you live. It may be a lot better or a lot worse. T-Mobile is really spotty around my house in PA. I did a T-Mobile test drive last year when a T-Mobile store opened nearby, and I couldn’t keep a phone call at work or along my commute route. If I drove a little out of my way to a different part of the suburbs, the reception was great. I had to stick with Verizon, since I spend 95% of my time in T-Mobile deadzones. I’m so close to the fringe of good service that I’m going to consider the T-Mobile coverage map when I buy my next house in a better school district.

  • That’s Great News!

    However (of course, there is a *however*) in order to be able to take advantage of the 600 MHz Spectrum Bands, device manufacturers alike (i.e., Apple, Samsung, LG, HTC, etc.) must integrate processors and LTE radio chips that would support it (i.e., Snapdragon Qualcomm, Intel, A10, etc.)

    And with all the manufacturers trying to cut production costs, it would possibly take a long time for mobile devices to adopt this technology.

    I don’t even think any of the latest Qualcomm 835, Exynos, Kirin or MediaTek SoCs has 600 MHz band support.

  • Once Verizon kicks me off my plan I will be going to T-Mobile. I’m actually very happy for the company.

  • Like others have said, you wont really see the use of the 600 until 2020 because of TV. Also, you will need a phone to utilize the new bandwidth…Qualcomm is still working on those chips. Meanwhile, AT&T and Verizon is continuing to develope the 5G which should be rolling out in 2020. So, by the time T-Mobile finally catches up, AT&T and Verizon will once again be jumping ahead.

  • In work in production sound- I own several wireless mic systems in this frequency band- about $15,000 worth. This sucks for me as I’m now going to have to replace gear that is otherwise in perfectly good working condition, but as T mobile customer I’ll be able to call up people and bitch about this from more places then I could before.

  • Verizon just booted a 7 year customer, never late on a payment, from their grandfathered Unlimited Data Plan for, get this, using too much data! LOLMAO!

  • As long as it continues to increase competition and lower prices and increase data allotments to full unlimited, I’m happy.

  • T-Mobile has this strategy that consumers really like called competing on quality. Where they invest large sums of money in their network and user experience, and make deals with content providers people care about. It’s a neat tactic the other big players might want to emulate.

  • Nice! I live in upstate NY…switched to T-Mobile 3 months ago after being a Verizon zombie for 14 yrs on grandfathered unlimited. For the most part VZW coverage suffers most places TMobile does. But you roam on ATT, so it’s not that bad. You get 4g where you actually need it. Who needs coverage I on the Apalachin mountains? Vzw overrated at that price point I paid. Now I save 35$ a month. And everything falling into place. Coverage will keep expanding. And man…Dunkin donuts gift cards every Tuesday…Can’t beat it ha

  • I’ve made $84,000 so far this year working online and I’m a full time student. I’m using an online business opportunity I heard about and I’ve made such great money. It’s really user friendly and I’m just so happy that I found out about it. The potential with this is endless. Here’s what I do
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  • If they pay broadcasters to clear the spectrum early they can deploy it around the end of the year if that goes right, and that’d be in the markets where they can get them to clear it soon. If not it’s 2018-2020 when we can expect to see it. I could see them paying broadcasters to clear it quicker in the markets where they have no low Band or plan on expanding in to.

  • I’ve been on T-Mobile for 1 year now since leaving Verizon. Best choice I’ve made so far. Love the better cell reception and speeds. Hopefully this will make it even better!

  • All of these people saying T-Mobile sucks. I have T-Mobile, Verizon, and ATT and they are all the same. Most speed tests I do T-Mobile does better. But as for coverage the only time Verizon is better is when I’m out in the middle of nowhere.
    I’m a pretty satisfied customer.

  • I don’t expect to see it until at least 2020. I have tmobile and as much as I would love to see it come true, it’s simply not the case.. Now maybe they can get some of it up and running that soon, but I doubt they will be beating out Verizon’s coverage within a few years.

  • Bye bye Sprint this should have hurt your stock price TMobile just issued a death blow to a merger but your coverage is better in my area then every other wireless provider except att Verizon and TMobile sucks in Oshkosh WI dropped calls all the time.

  • I get a lot stronger signal on my Tracfone phone than I get on my T-Mobile phone so T-Mobile definitely needs to make some improvements.
    And I’m certainly not a fan of the foul mouth con man John Legere.

  • Looks like T-Mobile customers will see an increase in their bills starting next month to pay for that acquisition.

  • If they come to my area I will drop Verizon in a heartbeat. Tired of being raped without lube.

  • I’ve switched from Big Red to Tmobile about a year ago….my butt is going back to Verizon though. I’d be paying an additional 30 but frickin Tmobile is so unorganized. I’ve had a pleasant time talking to their customer service but calling them twice a month to get my bill right is crazy! My bill has been higher than what I used to pay with Verizon because they keep messing up my “credits”. I’ve been trying to get my 2 free line promo right since December and each passing month my bill kept going higher and higher. Maybe in 5 years I’ll see what’s up again with Tmobile but for right now ….forget them.

    Edit: And their data service is good but not as good as Verizon…in my experience. Their voice service sucks compared to Verizon.

    • Thought I was the only one still not seeing the credit for the free line promo from last November. I also called and messaged them several times after patiently waiting for 2 billing cycles.

      • We’re not the only ones. I had “converted” a few of my family members and coworkers to Tmobile when that promo was going on. None of them go their full credits yet. They’ve received credits for one of the lines but not both of them.

  • Progress, but doesn’t add tangible value until there are phones available that can take advantage of the new spectrum.

  • So this is basically the VZW 700MHz win many years ago.

    Except, with all due respect to @Timotato:disqus ‘s girlfriend, there is more penetration, but at a slower speed.

      • Physics. The lower the carrier signal, the lower the bandwidth.
        Theoretically. Mathmatically.

        • I don’t see what you mean. A 5×5 block of LTE is the same speed no matter the frequency.

          • I’m not an electrical engineer (oh wait! I am! but haven’t dealt with digital communications on the practical level in decades), but you can’t deliver as much information on a lower frequency.

            edit: Again, theoretically, or mathmatically.

          • Correct, but lower frequency blocks tend to be smaller since there is less “room” in lower frequencies. 700MHz bands tend to max out at 10MHz, with many at 5MHz or less. Higher frequency bands, like AWS, tend to go up to 20MHz, offering twice the bandwidth, but worse building penetration and range.

          • CA does not work with close frequencies. In fact, 600 and 700 MHz blocks are too close for CA , which is one of the reasons Verizon stated they weren’t very interested in 600 MHz. Since 600 MHz bands haven’t been defined yet, there is no rational I am aware of to assume that adjacent blocks can be combined. I personally think it will be a longshot since we’re talking about international standards here, not just what TMO may want to do.

          • b17/b12 are not adjacent (contiguous), they are overlapping. 17 is defined as a subset band of 12. It’s been awhile since I read though the 3GPP latest releases. I believe starting with rel. 10, they allow combining up to 2 intra-band contiguous channels (I just brushed off some tables). That could allow TMO to have 10MHz of usable channel space in the same band if they bought up the right licenses. I haven’t read though the later releases (I believe they are approved up to rel 13), since 10 is what most deployments today are based on. I’ll try and grab a copy of 13 to see it this has changed to allow >2 CCs in a intra-band CA.

          • I was mostly talking about the b and c blocks that T owns all of for the most part. Didn’t think it’d be any different with 600Mhz.

          • BTW – this is assuming the same signal modulation in used. Higher frequencies, being shorter range, also tend to use more efficient modulation schemes whereas lower frequencies designed to maximum robustness/range tend to use more reliable, but less efficient modulation schemes.

          • But there’s the problem. Because that 5×5 block travels farther, more people use it, hence the slowdown. 700 yards from the site, you are right, there’s no difference in the frequency/speed (assuming same block size…blocks are smaller for lower frequencies). But you will hang onto that 600mhz signal longer than you will the AWS signal, so it slows the 600 signal down for everyone. This is critically true in rural areas where there’s less cell sites.

  • Believe it when I see it. T-crapo is worthless in the southwest part of Wisconsin, where as Verizon and US Cellular are it. AT&T sucks too.

  • Can current modems access that spectrum (via firmware update) or must new devices and with new modems be created?

    I.e. can my current at&t device go to T-Mobile and take advantage of the spectrum when available?

    • To the best of my knowledge, the 600 Mhz LTE bands have not even been designated yet, just the channels (the bandwidth is decided, but has not been standardized into how the blocks will be used). You hear of a lot of LTE bands that current smartphones can use, like these for the Pixel FDD LTE: B 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/13/17/20/25/26/28/29/30. None of these fall into the new spectrum that was just auctioned. I haven’t seen the X16 modem specs for the Snapdragon 835 yet, so I don’t know if it has enough profiles to be “flashed” for 600Mhz LTE support later.

  • Also, lower spectrum waves might penetrate buildings better (YAY!) but won’t carrier data speeds as well, right?

  • This is great news. At my work place, I can hardly get signal and only get it during morning but once everybody come to work at 8am, the signal seems to slow down every single day!! The low band signal they have is either congested or just can’t penetrate the building good enough. So, i am looking forward to this spectrum.

    • It’s actually the other way for me. I’m getting better signal inside building with T-Mo than VZW.

  • My grandfathered unlimited contact on VZ is up summer 2018. Hopefully by then T-mo will be an option where I live! Looking promising.

    Of course they’ll also need a plan that provides unl data AND hotspot (~150+ GB /mo minimum). But this is looking good.

    Baby steps…

      • This dumb question again. Normally I’d respond, but your name, even if ironic as I assume it is, is so lame that I’m not going to explain for the umpteenth time.

    • I doubt any carrier will ever offer unlimited tethering so I’d hang onto that if you need it.

  • I so want to believe this. But the snake oil can be strong with TMO sometimes.

    • Let’s hope so. Am seriously considering go phone because of tmos inept coverage/penetration for Fi. Kills my battery when the signal is just bad enough to keep the phone searching for and acquiring signal.

    • Would T-Mo give MVNOs access to the bands or hog it all to themselves and Metro? Can they even hog it all to themselves?

      • I’m not entirely sure how that works but I don’t think you can section off certain bands/customer since it interacts with the antennas the same way a TMo phone would.

      • I’m not entirely sure how that works but I don’t think you can section off certain bands.

        • If the FCC allows for it, they could tell Fi to disable the new bands. I don’t see T-mo doing this in the least, as the new bands will translate to more Fi subscribers, but you never know.

  • To Kellex:

    I just had your story pop up in my Google Now cards, and it looked interesting so I followed the link. After a few seconds of reading your piece, my browser reloaded a page that completely overtook your first page, with something about me having a 15 minute (or was it second?) window to avail myself of some fantastic offer, accompanied by an activation of my phone’s vibrator (I assume this was because my phone was in silent mode outside of which I’dve heard some sort of audible alert tone.

    Needless to say, I *immediately* closed the browser window and backed off of your site. It was truly one of the most annoying and unpleasant online experiences I’ve had it quite some time.

    I understand that you need to run advertising to support your site and enterprise, but allowing your advertisers to run such adverts bespeaks either a woeful lack of oversight of your operations, a complete lack of respect and regard for your readers, or both. I’d like to know why you think this is an acceptable way to treat your readers.

  • I’ve been in the carrier mobile infrastructure business for for a long time (making SMS/MMS, IMS, RCS and similar equipment). I’ve built equipment that ends up at 3 of the 4 major US carriers (everyone but Sprint). Here’s the truth as I know it:

    Most of this won’t be “available” until well into late 2018, and it won’t be fully available until 2020

    Mobile 5G mmWave will be a big push to consumers 2019/2020 (fixed mmWave 5G is all over the news now)

    Mobile 5G requires a robust 4G to operate efficiently. Effectively, the 4G is used to calls, messaging, low bandwidth IMS/RCS, and the long range control channel for 5G services.

    TMO was in desperate need for more 4G LTE low frequency channels. Without them, their chances of deploying a robust 5G network are crap.

    Verizon and AT&T invested in this space early on in the 700MHz space (Verizon bought the most 700MHz), so their needs for 600MHz were minimal. AT&T just scooped some up to fill a few holes.

    Verizon + AT&T are already making heavy investments into mobile 5G and are leading the way in the US.

    So, basically, TMO NEEDS these block to stay relevant in 2020 and beyond. Verizon and AT&T do not. TMO may get a brief boost in overall 4G performance come 2019, but it will be short lives and 5G begins to take over. Basically, TMO is playing catch up to Verizon and AT&T’s 10-15 year plans that they started 10 years ago…

    More detail on the auction here:
    http://www.rcrwireless.com/20170413/policy/t-mobile-us-dish-comcast-dominate-600-mhz-incentive-auction-verizon-a-no-show-tag2
    “Television broadcasters that gave up their spectrum holdings as part of the auction’s reverse bidding process are now on the clock to give up those licenses over the next 39 months. That timing would put full spectrum availability into early 2020, or about the time most expect commercial “5G” services to be coming on air.

    Initial 5G deployments are expected to focus on higher band spectrum licenses in the 3.5 GHz band as well as millimeter wave bands higher than the 15 GHz band. These bands are set to include broad swaths of spectrum support in order to meet the expected capacity needs of 5G services.”

      • Cheaper? Yes! Better? No!.

        Compared to Verizon, TMO has a lot to do to catch up with.

        • I just switched my company’s 1,000 cell phones in NYC from Verizon to T-mobile, saved the company thousands per month, got rid of contracts, and everyone has full 50mbps+ LTE in every borough and outside the state as well.

          I don’t know how Verizon is better, at all.

          • I experience way more areas with little/no coverage on TMO where I had 0 issues with VZW.

            TMO is a great value but you can’t honestly say it’s better than VZW unless you are only looking at cost.

          • Heading down from Norcal to Socal and in Truckee are particularly bad. My friend on VZW had great speeds so I had to tether off him.

          • I had verizon for YEARS. Finally in November I switched to TMO. I can safely say coverage is not as good and speeds are not as good. In my office building there are times where I will show 4/5 bars of coverage but as soon as I open an app, it says “no service”.

            Driving down to Socal there are areas where I have little or no coverage vs on VZW I had decent connection the majority of the highway.

            Dollar for dollar, TMO is a good value, but it is by no means better in terms of service.

          • Sure there is. I live in an area with terrific T-mo coverage, but when I am talking to someone on T-mo, they tend to drop the call one out of ten times. Usually because they walked into a building or hit a dead spot. Can’t remember the last time I dropped a call with people on ATT or Verizon. Sprint is way worse than T-mo though. I use ATT GoPhone.

        • I get better download LTE speeds on t-mobile today, than my friends do on verizon today…. so T-Mobile is Cheaper in my area, AND better in my area too !

      • try leaving Tmobile after about 3 months of service and see if they don’t send you a bill for “early termination fees” for $300 a line instead of the other standard $150 that all the other service providers charge… they don’t have “contracts” but they make it MORE expensive with “other fees” for leaving early…..

        • They literally do not have early termination fees because there are no contracts.

          If you leave you only have to pay off the phone if you financed one, the balance of which is kept separate from any bill.

          Don’t lie on the internet.

          • Took the words right outta my mouth. I work at Tmobile, and what he just said was a straight LIE

          • i am sorry.. do you work for the termination department? because i have the bills and letters where tmobile charged him $300 per line for EVERY line he cancelled EARLY.. and then charged him for the phones with no options to turn the phones in…

          • You seem to be pushing this concept of contracts pretty hard. I have no contract with Verizon for the last 2 years. You can’t even sign a 2 year contract with Verizon even if you wanted to now. I had no contract with AT&T before that. I hated the 9 months before that I had with TMO. You found a cheaper carrier that covered your needed coverage area, pat yourself on the back, but don’t preach that since they’re the carrier for your specific needs and price that they are the solution to everyone’s needs. Believe it or not, your needed coverage area differs VASTLY from mine as well as most other people’s. I’ve never been to NYC once, so I don’t care what they offer there. But I do travel a lot. And TMO never had the coverage I have now. Nor did they EVER have the coverage that there maps said they did, or that their CS people said they did. Biggest reason I left was that they said they had LTE at my house and had zero service anywhere within 10 miles of there. So I tried to get a signal box to install, yet they wouldn’t give me one because they said there map showed I had service there. Really? So finally sent a person out to check it and guess what? No signal. Then I called to get the box again and was told that this had never happened before. I doubt it.

          • I am a tmobile customer that was SO Tmobile, that a friend of mine brought his ENTIRE business over. Once he found out that Tmobile didn’t work for him, 3 months later he tried to leave and they not only tried to charge him for the phones (AND DID NOT allow him to turn them back in!) but also charge his $300 per line for “cancelling”… which was almost $2,000.

            So the next time you “THINK” you know what you are talking about.. feel free to take a hike and go piss in a barrel for all i care..

            I was there when it happened.. I saw it.. and my friend was SERIOUSLY PISSED at me!

            Thank you for wasting my time for reading your comment which knew NO BACKGROUND information on the story behind it…

            keep keyboard cowboying though.. i am sure Dreamworks is still looking for trolls.

          • You need to clarify business lines in the first place. Business lines for several carriers still offer contracts.

          • From the link you posted:

            “So while T-Mobile isn’t going to charge you any fees if you leave their service if you’ve already paid off the cost of the device, you will have to pay off the cost of the device in its entirety if you leave before you’ve paid it off.”

            You have to pay off the device. Nothing there about any $300 ETF. Sounds like this either happened back when ETFs were still a thing or there was something else entirely going on that isn’t being mentioned.

            T-Mo dropped ETFs when they dropped their subscriber contracts – but anyone who was still on one of those contracts was still tied to ETFs until the subscription contract ended. If they were one of those folks – well, that’s too bad, but not an example of T-mobile being deceptive.

            As for turning it in to avoid paying for it – I cannot even begin to process what kind of logic supports that.

          • FROM TMOBILE….
            https://www.t-mobile.com/Company/pdf/english/English_Manual%20Preprinted%20SA.pdf

            Cancellation and Return Policy.
            For contracts of one year or more, I may cancel without paying a termination fee by going back to the original point of purchase and
            returning all devices I acquired with my activation within 14 days from my activation (Return Period). The Return Period may be longer in some states. I may have to
            pay a restocking fee for any phone I return. If my Rate Plan (including any required data service in my Rate Plan set forth above) is cancelled after the RETURN PERIOD, I will be required to pay an EARLY TERMINATION FEE OF UP TO $200 PER LINE OF SERVICE on contracts of one year or more.
            ■ I understand I may be unable to switch to a different Rate Plan or other service, and if I switch, I may be bound by my existing or an extended contract term (including early termination provisions and fees) and/or charged a migration fee of up to $200 per line.

          • Did you notice any dates in that contract?

            Did you notice how $200 is not the $300 ETF you complain of above?

            Did you notice that it is a service contract?

            Did you know T-Mobile hasn’t offered those for quite some time, now?

            Did you notice your complaints here are utterly irrelevant to anyone on their current plans?

            I’d say I was sorry your friend had a bad experience, but it looks as though it was entirely your friends fault. You just provided something that clearly states the subscriber’s responsibility. You could read it. I could read it.

            Apparently your friend…couldn’t? Sucks to be him.

          • “did you notice…” great come back….. did you.. did you did you.. great job …. you can read..
            johnny tattle tale here who still doesn’t get it…
            Admit you were wrong.. there ARE ETFs… (as per the link I provided to the Tmobile website that is CURRENT and LIVE)

            The $200 refers to basic consumers.. this was a business account so they added $100 to the ETFs per line… MORON.

            Do you work for Tmobile? Do you work in the termination department? Because your “definition” of “quite some time now” is WAY OFF.. this happened LAST YEAR.

            SO AGAIN I REPEAT… TMOBILE HAS ETFs… they may not have “contracts” with “dates”… but you start out on Verizon as a business.. leave and go to tmobile and then try to leave Tmobile and go back to Verizon after 3 months…

            GOD you people are morons…. my original statement is still correct and you wasted your time and mine whilst I was correcting you.

          • Good lord. Name calling? You really have lost the battle with your intellect, haven’t you?

            “my original statement is still correct”

            No. Your original statement is false. There is no argument that could possibly support it.

            Let me remind you what you claimed:
            try leaving Tmobile after about 3 months of service and see if they don’t send you a bill for “early termination fees” for $300 a line instead of the other standard $150 that all the other service providers charge…

            What tense is that in? To whom is it targeted? Present tense? Everyone?

            Newsflash – sweeping generalizations are going to be wrong almost 100% of the time because that is just not how reality works, bud.

            I have been with T-Mobile for 7 years. I am Currently on T-Mobile’s ONE plan and if I were to leave them today I could do so without dropping one red cent on ETF charges. Not $300, because I am not a business. Not $200, because I am not on an old subscription plan. Not $150 either. Why? Because I do not have a service contract with them.

            Your friend apparently did.

            Your statement is proven false.

            Now, had you claimed that your friend, due to a contract he signed before T-Mobile ended their service agreements and thus their ETFs, still had gotten an ETF because he apparently forgot about said contract, well – that might very well have been a correct statement. It would also not have made T-Mobile out to look like the bad guy here though, so I can see why you didn’t word it that way – it really just makes your “friend” look like an idiot.

            Now, toss around some more insults and pretend you haven’t completely gone off the deep end and lost all ability to reason. Once you do stop frothing at the mouth though, have a great day.

          • I lost my intellect? I haven’t lost anything. You though have gained more troll power the more and more you respond. The trolling is great with you.

            My original statement is STILL CORRECT.. whether you chose to believe it or not. I cannot change your stupidity on your beliefs of what you think you read.

            I proved you wrong already by giving a you a LINK with a DESCRIPTION DIRECTLY FROM TMOBILE that says they have early termination fees. Just admit it. That’s all you need to do.

            It doesn’t matter what tense, what pronoun, what subject, what language, what level of stupidity you have… it’s a proven fact. Written by Tmobile. I just happen to have indirect experience with it as well, which swayed me into correcting certain people about “no contracts” or no “ETFs”.

            This was not a “sweeping generalization”.. this was again.. a FACT.

            I am so glad you are the T-Mobile expert here. Do you work for the early business termination department? Are you their lawyer? Did you write the contract for business users? I am sorry, but your time with the company as a consumer customer does not prevail here when I presented you with the fact that this was a business account. You very well could be correct that you would not get a “contract ETF” charge on your account if you left today. No..I would actually agree with you on that point. You would NOT get an ETF because of your 7 years.

            This again… and I have to reiterate myself… has NOTHING TO DO WITH BUSINESS ACCOUNTS.

            Now.. as far as you referring to my friend as an “idiot”… I am glad you think so… because that friend went on what Tmobile and myself both “proclaimed” as “no contract” because they say that EVERYWHERE. So he went on that..
            So his 2.3 million dollar business decided to switch. Was there fine print in the contract that caused him his $300 ETF? Absolutely. DID anyone EVER check into the business side of it? NO.. including the sales rep, myself and him. Was that something that, with 20/20 hindsight we ALL should have checked.. absolutely. Yes, that is his/mine/our fault, but that doesn’t make him an idiot.

            So you take your self proclaimed “expert” self and go eat a bag of dicks.. and again.. for the last time … my first statement was still correct.

          • …and you went full-retard.

            Your original post said absolutely nothing about business contracts. Oops. Perhaps you were too busy going mental to proofread?

            And that contract. It’s outdated, something T-Mobile doesn’t even use any more, and one which you yourself admit didn’t apply to business accounts even when it was something they used. But man, you just cannot seem to stop posting links to it.

            Did he do his homework? Nope. Did it bite him in the ass? Yep. Is that somehow anyone’s fault but his own? Newp. Are you still going to sit here, slobbering in rage over your keyboard, trying to claim T-Mobile will charge us all ETFs if we leave after 3 months? We’ll see.

            Care to publicly humiliate yourself some more? Go for it. I promise I’ll watch.

          • Wow.. STILL standing by my original statement.. which IS STILL TRUE.. because AS I STATED.. ETFs ARE A THING on Tmobile… (still showed you proof…) The contract IS NOT OUTDATED…. leave tmobile today… or find a friend who doesn’t have tmobile.. have them sign up for service and try to quit 3 months in.. and come back to me again. Consumer or Business… it doesn’t matter. They HAVE ETFs.

            i am not here to debate my friend’s situation.. i am here to debate the fact that Tmobile has “contracts” even if by another name. and Tmobile has ETFs… still again proven….

            but yet you still stand there.. even with my proof that i have provided.. calling me a liar.. OK.. who’s the crazy one???

          • “Consumer or Business… it doesn’t matter.” Only if you utterly deny this little thing called reality….

            Jackass, your “proof” is an outdated contract. They no longer offer subscriber contracts to consumers. There is nothing more to it. How can I say this in a way that you can grasp? This is a fact. This is not debatable. The one you keep bringing up is from 2014 and is no longer used for new customers. It cannot be. A T-Mobile employee could not sign you up for a plan requiring this contract even if you held a gun to their heads (please don’t – I do not see you as they type to be able to control yourself, so rather, just never pick up a gun in the first place, okay?) There is no plan a non-business consumer can get through T-Mobile that will allow you to sign a contract for service requiring an ETF if canceled early. Period. End of Story. It is simply not possible to do at this time. I’ll say it again.

            I could quit T-Mobile. Sign back up a week later and quit in three months and not pay an ETF. Because I couldn’t if I wanted to. Because they no longer offer the plans that had them. They do not. At all. I’ll say it again.

            The only contract for payment a non-business consumer can currently get through T-Mobile is not a service or subscriber contract, but a device payment contract for the cost of the device only. There is no early-termination. None. You pay it off and you are done. You fail to pay it off and you get billed for the remainder. That is it. End of story. No ETFs. No interest. I’ll say it again.

            And yes. One thousand times; Yes. You are a liar. You claim a new non-business subscriber can get a non-existent plan that carries an non-existent ETF and all you have to back that up is an archived service contract from 2014 for plans they no longer offer. You are not only a liar, but you are unreasonable and you utterly refuse common logic.

            That’s it. Over and out. I’ll not say it again. Lie all you want. Have fun with that. I actually do have better things to do than play with abject imbeciles such as yourself.

          • “Don’t lie on the internet.”
            “and everyone has full 50mbps+ LTE in every borough and outside the state as well.”

            Someone should take their own advice.

          • Oh I have no doubt you can pull the speeds. It is a matter of what speeds you get two blocks down the road from there and when you go inside.

        • No… They don’t have contracts, the only thing that’s due if you leave is if YOU decided to FINANCE a phone through them. If you lease a car, can you just decide to leave and keep your car without paying anything?

          • ok… for some reason.. you people don’t listen.. just because they don’t call it “contracts”…. they just call it something else… i am being dead serious… their ETFs are $300 per line + the cost of the phone. this is a HORRIBLE practice.
            They don’t give you the option to turn the phones in. You have to pay the phones out AND you have to pay $300 per line (also prorated) that you disconnect for “leaving early”… i am talking about this from experience.. not made up stories…..

          • Uh no, you are wrong. You may be talking about their practices many years ago, but they do NOT have ETF’s. If you sign up, get a brand new S8, and after 2 months you decide to leave the only payment that will be made is for the rest of the phone (which could be $500, or even $700 depending on how much you owe). You can’t simply turn in your phone and have the payment wiped clean, you need to pay off the phone. Once you do that you can sell it or use it on another provider.

            You do not, I repeat, do not have to pay for the phone AND an ETF. Now you said your friend was a business, so there’s a chance he signed a business contract, but as far as consumer accounts go there is no ETF.

          • no actually i am not “WRONG”…. ok let me make this VERY CLEAR….. HE has a business.. he left Verizon and came to Tmobile as a BUSINESS… when he found out, 3 months later that it just was’t working for him.. he went back to Verizon. Tmobile then charged him not only for the phones.. but $300 PER LINE for leaving early….

            AND… ON TMOBILE’S WEBSITE: (https://www.t-mobile.com/offer/switch-carriers-no-early-termination-fee.html)

            “What is an “ETF”?
            ETF stands for Early Termination Fee, which is the fee charged by T-Mobile to cancel your service before your contract expires.”

          • We all know what an ETF is.

            Thanks.

            What we are trying to get into your thick skull is that T-Mobile no longer offers service subscriptions so it no longer applies to anyone on their current plans (or any of their plans after they stopped using the subscriber contracts).

            Your original statement claimed an ETF would apply to anyone who quit service after 3 months. It is utterly laughable. Please stop. You either have no clue what you are talking about or you just cannot grasp reality in your current state. Take a break. Gather your senses. Return when you are once again capable of reason.

          • this is DIRECT FROM TMOBILE….
            https://www.t-mobile.com/Company/pdf/english/English_Manual%20Preprinted%20SA.pdf

            Cancellation and Return Policy.
            For contracts of one year or more, I may cancel without paying a termination fee by going back to the original point of purchase and
            returning all devices I acquired with my activation within 14 days from my activation (Return Period). The Return Period may be longer in some states. I may have to
            pay a restocking fee for any phone I return. If my Rate Plan (including any required data service in my Rate Plan set forth above) is cancelled after the RETURN PERIOD, I will be required to pay an EARLY TERMINATION FEE OF UP TO $200 PER LINE OF SERVICE on contracts of one year or more.
            ■ I understand I may be unable to switch to a different Rate Plan or other service, and if I switch, I may be bound by my existing or an extended contract term (including early termination provisions and fees) and/or charged a migration fee of up to $200 per line.

          • DIRECT FROM TMOBILE….
            https://www.t-mobile.com/Company/pdf/english/English_Manual%20Preprinted%20SA.pdf

            Cancellation and Return Policy.
            For contracts of one year or more, I may cancel without paying a termination fee by going back to the original point of purchase and
            returning all devices I acquired with my activation within 14 days from my activation (Return Period). The Return Period may be longer in some states. I may have to
            pay a restocking fee for any phone I return. If my Rate Plan (including any required data service in my Rate Plan set forth above) is cancelled after the RETURN PERIOD, I will be required to pay an EARLY TERMINATION FEE OF UP TO $200 PER LINE OF SERVICE on contracts of one year or more.
            ■ I understand I may be unable to switch to a different Rate Plan or other service, and if I switch, I may be bound by my existing or an extended contract term (including early termination provisions and fees) and/or charged a migration fee of up to $200 per line.

    • This is great news as it will keep t-mobile very relevant in the industry which means prices will still be reasonable across the bord. But like you said Verizon and Att are still going to be on the forefront of 5G.

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    • Disagree. I have the same experience as you do including Sprint (except VZ). Tmobile has tons of experience and are very very efficient in how they deploy their network, they built up LTE in 2 years from scratch. They proved that they can re-purpose spectrum much quicker with 700Mhz. They have already committed to roll it out starting this year in the investors calls and full build out by the end of 2017. Track record proves you can believe them.

      Also 5G is not going to overlay your 4G like what happened with 3G to 4G. It is not possible because of the frequencies. 5G would be used in surgical precision to improve capacity and speed at big events, converting wireline to wireless etc. It is not going to be a replacement for 4G. 4G LTE will stay well beyond 2020 for a long time. TMO also has started the trials already and have promised Gigabit LTE this year. So they will be at par with them by 2020 with both 4G and 5G. VZ and ATT are using the 5G terms as marketing gimmick because they know the 4G gap is closing down.

      This auction is a big step forward for them to truly be national wireless carrier and grab new customers where they didn’t venture before. They can now truly compete head to head.

      • If you read my statement a little more carefully, you see that I said that LTE will be a necessary element of 5G network infrastructure. I never implied that LTE was going away in any way, shape, or form. As stated, TMO needs these lower frequency bands to stay competitive, so I am fully agreeing this is a big step forward for them, but it won’t be a fast step based on the license turnovers. This is not virgin spectrum, but spectrum being repurposed. Unfortunately, with this huge investment they are making to “catch up” on 4G, they will likely be slower to market with 5G. I know Verizon’s 5G plans, and it goes well beyond “surgical” deployments and convergence (but that will be part of it). AT&T I know fewer details about, but based on the equipment they are testing, it looks like they plan to go wide, too. It seems our experience differs.

        Last note – Gigabit LTE is an order of magnitude slower in terms of latency, throughput, and subscriber capacity, so I would never call it “on par” with 5G mmWave. Likewise, the CAT16 LTE (Gigabit LTE) is only expected to be available limited markets, as there just aren’t that many 20MHz channels available for CA. Just like HSPA could never reach the the capacity or speed of LTE-A, LTE-A will never reach 5G mmWave. In the beginning of the transition, it may seem that way with throughput of both services being close at a subscriber level, but LTE just starts running out of legs as 5G is just warming up.

      • “Also 5G is not going to overlay your 4G like what happened with 3G to 4G”

        Not “like”, but 4G will very likely be the long-haul carrier for the 5G network. 5G doesn’t travel well. AP or DL wrote up a pretty good story on how 5G is likely to work out not too long ago.

      • Bro, its funny how all my brother in laws always ask me to stream music at our bbq events cause their verizon lte limit is always an issue with them. Many of us are not cheap, but rather hold on to our unlimited plans. I mean didnt verizon lose a sh load of customer beacsue of that? Keep trying bro, get a life.

    • yep….channels 36-51 have to go bye bye first….and some will have almost 3 years to move. ,That will tie up the frequencies most likely in the cities and suburbs…..plus as you know, the phones aren’t even on the market yet.t It will result in much better building penetration, and save lots of money by allowing the tower spacing to be greater. It’s a great move for T-mobile, and if I lived in a city, they would be my carrier. I am mainly in rural areas on the east coast, and the high frequency bands are murder for reception…..and ATT just doesn’t cut it.

  • I gotta imagine there are already devices that could use this spectrum immediately right ? Or at least I’d imagine most of the Nexus devices that have both GSM and CDMA bands .

  • As a Google Fi user, I hope that my next phone (Pixel 2 or 3) will get to use these fancy new towers!

  • I’ll believe that Midwest coverage when I see it, they’ve shown no interest covering this area up to this point

  • It will be interesting to see how this changes their plans going forward in terms of pricing. Since they will be on equal footing with VZW and AT&T in terms of footprint, will T-Mo feel inclined to keep their enticements like T-Mobile Tuesdays, etc…

    • Why would it be a nail in the coffin sprint has over 15 partners from the ( CCA ) COMPETITOR CARRIERS ASSOCIATION that uses 700mhz and phones that was made from 2015 till now support band 12 and it count as native coverage so i really wouldnt say that

  • Cool. But it sucks I will probably upgrade my phone this year and it won’t come ready for this.

        • Likely not till the Pixel 3. I work in telecom and TMO is pushing hard on the 1700 and 900 MHz spectrum. They say they’ll have 600 up and running by the end of the year but I think that highly unlikely. I wouldn’t be surprised if they only deploy small markets of the 600 as a test while hanging on the rest for 5G.

  • “See that map at the top of this post? That’s what T-Mobile says their LTE network will look like by the end of 2017”

    Yea except the soonest they can deploy spectrum anywhere is Dec 2018.

  • Motherlode, FYI.

    This could certainly be the kick to get me off Verizon, although their new unlimited plan has unexpectedly reduced my 2-line monthly by $40. Wouldn’t mind a broader selection of phones.

  • It doesn’t matter what carrier you have, this is great for the wireless industry, period. This adds more pressure to ATT and Verizon to keep building their network and making it better. Competition is always a great things for every consumer. While this is most beneficial to Tmo customer in the short run obviously, this will also help customers of the big 2 as they can’t just sit on what they have. They will keep innovating and investing. All customers win, it is great when companies have competition.

      • It’s more competition. T-Mobile brought back unlimited data to VZ and T because people were switching to T-Mo. This wouldn’t work so well if T-Mo didn’t have coverage and a few years from now it’ll be even better.

        This spectrum will indeed make VZ and T compete.

        • I really like my VZ unlimited data now too. I’ve never used over 5 before in my life. now I use around 5 so i’m still far away from the 22 limit. My sister hits 22 monthly she’s never had a slowdown.

          • Right now I’m over 30 GB with the new Verizon unlimited plan. The only time I had a slowdown was when I was in Cancun last weekend. That slowdown only took place after I used up 500 MB of data during the day. After 24 hours I had full speed again until I used up another 500 MB. Besides that I was good to go. No slowdowns domestically.

          • And how much do you pay? I’m paying $100 for two lines on Tmobile for unlimited everything and HD video.. I would bet you’re paying around $75 per line for this on contract? I have no contract

          • $110 for the plan
            $20 x 3 line access fee = $60
            $11 x 2 total mobile protection (iphones) = $22
            $9 total equipment coverage (pixel)

            $201 before taxes

            When I was on the grandfathered plan it was $280 before taxes and without tethering.

            No contract since each phone is paid off. The old verizon plan didn’t have any tethering at all. This one gives 10GB of tethering to each line.

            Your plan is definitely an old one on T-Mobile. T-Mobile isn’t an option where I live. I’ll stick to what I have.

        • And I honestly doubly thank Tmobile for that and the millions (including myself) that switched and scared the pants out of Verizon and ATT. Now, it’s time to go back to Verizon. lol

      • The better TMO gets, the more their promotions will entice customers of AT&T and Verizon to leave. When AT&T and Verizon feel the heat, then they start offering promos and reducing prices. Its a huge win for everyone in the long run. If TMO did nothing and people didn’t have a reason to move, the big 2 would be bending you over with even higher prices. You can’t deny TMO’s impact on the big 2’s pricing and promos.

  • Maybe i won’t be switching to Verizon after all. ?

    This is great news for TMo and it’s customers, no doubt about that.

    • Except it’ll be 2020 before most of this spectrum gets deployed and ZERO phones can use this new band.

        • Law or internet comments. It has to jump in number for each one. By the time people stop posting the estimate with be 3035.

      • Assuming Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X20 modem is included in their next SoC, then phones being released later this year or early next will be capable of using this new frequency.

          • Yep. Assuming it can be deployed from existing towers, which seems to be the case, that won’t take long at all.

      • Legere said there’s a million sq. miles of this new spectrum area cleared by the FCC able to be used this year….

  • In before the T-Mobile hate comments.

    I have lived in the suburbs for a long time and visited rural areas plenty. I had both T-Mobile and Verizon at the same time since I worked for both of them and the coverage was nearly identical. I had spots where VZW didnt work and spots that TMO did not work. It was about even but Network speed and reliability has always favored TMO.

    With that Said I left TMO after 6 years just few months ago due to their Net Neutrality BS.

  • T-Mobile has been such a joke for so long it’s kind of sad.

    At first, I liked the whole “un-carrier” thing and gave them a shot a few times over the years. Each time the network still wasn’t up to par compared to Verizon or AT&T and I went back. And with each coverage improvement they made, albeit, still not enough, up their prices went until now, they are right in line with the big two *and* their network still doesn’t have as good of coverage.

    Additionally, EVERY TIME (I shlt you not) I tried them and cancelled my service and returned the phone they NEVER cancelled the service and kept billing me and every time I called, they would promise it was cancelled, but would keep billing me until they sent me to collections and in response I would contact their executive level management/board etc and POOF, finally, cancelled and 0 balance…but with a collection hit to my credit that they just leave there (I even disputed it the first time and they actually upheld it!).

    Thanks aholes.

    Never again.

    • There are millions of carrier problem stories out there. Enough for every carrier to have their own version of War & Peace.

      • I can never understand why people try to make excuses like this for “their guy”; be it a carrier, Apple, Google, whatever.

        When I can REPEATEDLY have the EXACT SAME PROBLEM that is an absurd problem to have in the first place, that is no longer every company/carrier has these problems/stories out there, that is now, that carrier/company is INCOMPETENT.

        • I’ve had bizarre and unacceptable problems with both Verizon and At&t over the years. Moved from Atlanta to Colorado and my Verizon coverage went from good to horrible. No coverage in buildings, deadspots all over the place and horrendous customer service.

          I have no need to defend T-Mobile because your problem is your alone. You not liking doesnt affect me even a little. However, you say I’m defending them while I laugh because you came here just to bash them.

          My point is that your problem is not unique or limited to one carrier. Everyone has or will have problems with a carrier.

          • So you DO want to be known by all as Captain Obvious. Got it.

            I will point out, I’m willing to bet the issues you had were likely not the exact same issue over and over with the same carrier (outside of the “issue” being a policy or procedure they have in place)???

          • Man you are trolling hard.

            Overcharged every single month and told it was resolved every single month. I had my sim card shut off, switched with my wife’s and switched with 4 different random people about a dozen times. Phones that had to be replaced 4 or more tomes to get one that would work. Sending my account to collections after I ended it and paid them off, but refusing to acknowledge that even after 5 different reps told me they could aee the payment. And the list goes on and on and on.

            So T-Mobile screwed you and Verizon screwed me. Like I said, everyone has their stories. Your problems aren’t unique or special. It sucks, but big companies screw things up and we have to sort it out.

          • Some other person here said that. Tell me, how is stating my bad experience with this company or any company or product for that matter, “trolling”?

            Seems to me like that word is starting to be used a little too regularly to try to insult somebody rather than just straight up calling them names as that is apparently an acceptable name to call people.

            I for one am all about feedback and reviews of products and companies for others perusal to see what others experiences are with those companies or products, but apparently around here you’re a troll if you do it.

            Seems kinda stupid folks.

          • So there has never been a negative review of ATT or Cricket which you recommended to someone below? wow, finally a perfect consumer company with no negative reviews.

          • I believe the other person was referring to you negativity on a thread about something that is nothing but positive for the whole industry.

            I was referring to your attempt at insulting me in that comment.

            What you are doing isn’t generally considered feedback or a review. If that was your intent then I believed you missed the mark for anyone reading it. It mostly comes across as blind rage hatered.

          • My God I am so tired of reading comments from people like you that get off on their superiority complexes and point out every little problem with everyone else’s post’s of whom they disagree, just so they can feel more special about themselves.

            Blocked.

          • Hahahhahahahahaha.

            So actual feedback and an attempt at constructive criticism are the final straw? I guess you aren’t all about feedback after all.

          • I’m actually a pretty happy guy most of the time 🙂 Admittedly though, I do tend to “speak up” more in being critical about a product or company than praising…something I do need to work on I guess.

            But, I’m critical because I want to see said products or companies improve.

        • Thank you for your post. I read the good and bad posts to help me decide if I want to become a customer of a business, with the understanding that many may not be legit. Ignore people criticizing you. They probably work for T – Mo. If not, they need to get a life and stop bullying those who disagree or simply share experiences.

      • Then block me you idiot…moron? troll?…hmm, can’t decide, so I’ll go with all.

          • You are of course 100% entitled to your own opinion. However, reading through in the proper timeline may change that opinion.

            As I and others have stated, this happens on every T-Mobile article. A positive or negative thing happens for the carrier and customers. Then a bunch of people jump in and attack or insult everything. It happens with most Samsung articles too. We all hear the “I hate ________ because of ________ reason.” In just about every comment section. It gets really old.

            Mcdonsco was called out because he does it often. He along with a few others choose to spit hate on positive or negative articles repeatedly. You’ll also notice I tried to have a reasonable discussion with him, but that didn’t go to well.

    • Give it a rest. I’ve been with Tmobile for many years and never had an issue.

      So my good experience cancels out your bad experience.

      You must be very lonely to respond to everyone in this thread. I feel for you.

      • Hey genius, you get an email that allows for a quick response to replies on your comments. It ain’t rocket science.

        Completely astonishes me how people will bash the hell out of you on here for simply voicing your experience with a particular company or product because they either like that company or have not had that same experience with that company.

        Welcome to the human race folks! We are all different and we all have different experiences, get over it.

        • No one’s bashing you for simply voicing your opinion, it’s you going out of your way to respond to virtually every person on here that had something positive to say about Tmobile. Share your opinion, but then leave it at that. Have a great rest to your day.

        • I’m surprised that anyone uses an email alert for Disqus. Anytime you log in to apparently any website with comments, you’ll be alerted to other replies.

          Personally, I try to limit the number of alerts I get in a day. Life, family and whatnot.
          But if you need to hear a response to everything you write, here you go!! (Oxygen tone, you are cued!)

          • Curious why you would associate me toggling email alert on replies to “need to hear a response to everything you write” which to me, sounds like an attempt at an insult?

            What’s the point? You don’t use them, I and many others do, that’s why it’s an option. I don’t see why you would specifically reply to someone just to bash them for utilizing such an option.

          • “Curious why you would associate me toggling an email alert on replies to “need to hear a response to everything you write” which to me, sounds like an attempt at an insult?”

            “Hey genius, you get an email that allows for a quick response to replies on your comments.”

          • Pedro, that says nothing to explain your post.

            Why don’t you try asking me why I have those setup?

          • Pedro, that says nothing about why you made that assumption.

            Why dont you just ask me why I have those setup if you are curious rather than assuming you know already?

      • Why are you being so mean – over phone service comments? I feel for YOU, buddy. Life is too short. Relax. Or, does T-Mo pay you to post like this?

    • They did that to me many years ago. Big reason I’ve been reluctant to go back. I hear many former customers say the same. Hopefully they are better now.

      • If you’re in or near a big city and don’t go rural very much or rarely, it’s just fine. But if you’re all over the state you live in it’s pretty frustrating.

      • Yeah, maybe it was just how I returned the phones (in store), but three times same problem seems like more than a random glitch.

    • I’ve had tmobile for 15 years and they have only gotten better.

      I have to One lines, unlimited for $99 a month.

    • You seem surprised at the backlash you received on this comment.

      I had Sprint in the early 2000’s. We called in due to a service issue with one of our phones and went through multiple rep, hang-ups, even a manager or two, when the CS rep started calling my wife names and being extremely vulgar. Hung up, canceled service, and have avoided them like the plague ever since. It sucked – but it was our experience alone.

      I mention this only because while it angered us and likely made it certain we would never again use Sprint, I’ve never even loosely implied that our experience with them had any relevance whatsoever to anyone else or that it defined the company as a whole in any way.

      I’m not making excuses. I am not defending T-Mobile’s handling of your situation here at all. I agree your experience was a bad one. Sharing that experience is one thing; I just shared mine with Sprint above; but you’ll notice I did not use that experience as the basis for an attack on the company – I didn’t even loosely imply that they were “a joke” or “incompetent” due to my bad experiences with them.

      You did both of those things, and that is very likely the source of and sole reason for the backlash you’ve witnessed against it.

      Again, sorry you had to deal with such a bad bad experience – there really is no valid excuse for it. I’d be pissed as well. Life, eh?

  • Been a Verizon customer for a while, but this may finally make me switch. Gotta get that GSM life with many more devices to choose from ?

    • Do yourself a favor and go AT&T or even Cricket to go GSM. See my post below…T-Mobile has a competence problem in addition to noticeably less coverage than Verizon or AT&T.

      • I’ve had T-Mobile for over 2 years. T- mobile is a great choice and has the best pricing.

      • I’ve had TMO for the last 5 years .. no competence issues. Are you thinking back to the 20th century? 😉 And the point of this article is spectrum for coverage. They said last year they were converting all 2G towers to LTE and this is how they’ll do it. AT&T has this greed issue where as when you travel outside of the U.S. you get beat in the face with charges while TMO has really good LTE roaming.

        • I’ve also known people on TMO in the last 5 years that switched off of it because they couldn’t hold a call. And to put it bluntly, I’ve never known *anyone* who travels for a living that has TMO for their carrier.

          TMO seems to be a very location specific experience. If you live where there’s coverage its great. If you live in a less populous area, it can be disastrous. While better than only just a few years ago, it seems many dead spots remain.

          • There’s been a few times where I’ve been in the mountains or other remote locations and had perfect T-Mobile service, while my Verizon friend had none, or maaaaybe 1 bar if they were lucky.

            But this is anecdotal. Can’t speak for all areas. This was in Colorado while hiking a fair distance from Denver.

          • Well I know a lot of airline employees that have and love T-Mobile and guess what they travel for a living. You can always find that one spot/area that any particular carrier struggles with service which can be due to spectrum availability, terrain in relation to their tower or even just their ability to put a tower up. I know one area here in GA in particular that the other 3 carriers have a tower but the city/county won’t let TMO have one because the feel 3 is enough and don’t want another one.

            Regardless from someone in the airline business, having unlimited, free international roaming, free gogo and I rarely ever have call issues I can’t imagine having anyone else as a carrier.

        • Worked fine for me with no noticeable difference in coverage from Verizon for a few years (on Cricket to boot!). Only problem I had was unreliable MMS which ultimately I chalked up to a Cricket issue.

          • I have to agree with you on this one. I’ve seen zero difference in coverage between Cricket (AT&T) and Verizon even on cross-country trips. And having a large selection of GSM unlocked phones AND a cheaper plan keeps me happy!

          • Yup. Everyone always mentions the 8mb cap on Cricket but it never effected/bothered me. But, I also don’t play games nor download massive files on my phone, though I do use hotspot a lot :-/ (nevermind the fact that the higher speeds aren’t common on the other carriers unless you’re usually in a strong signal area; pings are a lot better though, so for gaming its probably noticeable).

            I only went back to Verizon because my additional line on a family plan costs me less than what I paid on Cricket and I know the coverage is #1 and that my MMS problems would cease (which, they have).

            As for phone selection, I need to be limited, went a little crazy with my mobile tech addiction the last few years being GSM; my bank account is much happier now.

        • As a company, I’d tend to agree with you. But as a mobile provider, they’re pretty good. They also bought up almost all of the 5g spectrum. So soon enough they’ll be leavin everyone in the dust.

      • Agreed. I traveled from California to Tennessee recently on the I-40 and rarely had service. We had to keep using my dads Verizon phone to stay in touch……. I had service in big cities, but that’s it.

      • The whole point of this is now T-Mobile is going to be able to compete on many more levels.

      • I switched from AT&T (14 year of service) to T-Moble a 2 years ago. I travel almost weekly for work and have had very few issues with their service. Recently, I switched to their unlimited plan, can’t beat unlimited data/unlimited tethering, unlimited in-flight Gogo Service, unlimited international calls and texting, International roaming when i’m abroad for half the price i was paying for ATT. 2 phones (unlimited) and 3 tablets(5 gigs each) for $115/month. On top of everything else they offer T-Moble Tuesdays…i’ve received nearly $200 in credit for Lyft since that program started along with dozens of other items…movie tickets, free magazines, food etc. Tmoble is pretty amazing as a company.

    • hhmm…according to DSLReports.com “The spectrum itself won’t be immediately usable. The FCC says the agency is now beginning a 39-month transition period to move broadcast stations to new channel assignments before that spectrum is put to use — most notably on expanding the range of existing networks thanks to the 600 MHz band capability of penetrating through walls (aka: indoors).”

      so I’m not sure what TMo is talking about

      https://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Dish-ATT-Comcast-TMobile-Big-Winners-in-Spectrum-Auction-139371

      • This is correct. It will take that long to re-pack all the TV stations that currently are in the 600Mhz bandwidth. It will be 2020 before the full spectrum can be used.

        • Not only that, I wonder if there’s enough fiber to carry all that traffic.

          A 10Mhz LTE channel can carry 150MB-200Mb of data. Next, at 600Mhz, that 10Mhz channel could cover as much as 1200 square miles.

          Adding to these complications, and in many areas, TMO won 40-50MHz. If fully used and deployed, across 40-50,000 towers that’s a lot of data.

          Point is, It’d require a great amount of engineering work; and TMO’s network is congested as it is…! A recent report in my area showed TMO having a 4.5% dropped call rate; nearly 4x the amount of VZ and double the amount of AT&T.

          • Yeah it’s like they didn’t even do anything good at all. Hell, we should be picking on them loudly for this rather than celebrating their good fortune. Hell, we should act like people that have stock in some other company while we are at it.

          • unlimited data is back because of TMO, 2 year contracts are over with (even though ppl sign up for device payments) bc of TMO, price wars are bc of TMO. I LOVE what TMO is doing, but I’m not okay with marketing lies and misleading the general non-techie/informed populace.

          • Taking nothing away from TMO’s admirable successes in challenging the duopoly, it must be said that the end of contracts and healthy competition (price wars) are due at least as much to MVNOs like the TracFone brands as to TMO. They’ve been cleaning clock with pre-paid no-contract since the early 2000s. They were so good at it that all the big carriers now imitate their business model.

          • Right, cause Clifton K. Morris surely knows more than the thousands of engineers working at Tmobile. I use tmobile, and their network is not at all congested in any area I have visited. By far, the fastest mobile data speeds – in my personal use. This includes all over upstate NY, New York City, Chicago, LA, etc…Tmobiles network is phenomenal. I regulary get speeds of 30-70mbps down and 15-40 mpbps up.

            Tmobile is the only large network (wireless or landline) around that knows how to treat their customers as well. I’m a huge fan of what Tmobile has and continues to do.

          • Mr. Morris is responding to the marketeers, not the engineers, and I found his comments very helpful. I like TMO a lot, but be assured they will take opportunity to promote sausage casings filled with cr*p as much as anyone else in the Telecom business.

        • I’ve made $84,000 so far this year working online and I’m a full time student. I’m using an online business opportunity I heard about and I’ve made such great money. It’s really user friendly and I’m just so happy that I found out about it. The potential with this is endless. Here’s what I do
          !wr270c:
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      • T-Mobile is talking about all the greatness that will happen once that 39-month transition period ends!

    • This won’t be fully operational for a few years. It’s not like it’s going to be ready tomorrow.

      • I know and I never said I was going to make the switch immediately. I was just welcoming the new development.

      • In John Legere’s statement they say they have plans to have some areas up on 600 by the end of the year. It notes that their tower radios by Ericsson and Nokia already support 600.

        • It’s going to be limited at first to very rural areas, as all the urban and those in 50-100 miles of urban areas will have to wait until TV broadcasters move.

    • I just made the big switch from Verizon to T-Mo in March. I NEVER thought I’d give up my beloved Verizon unlimited data plan but then I had the need for a second line. I was paying $96 a month including taxes and fees and after corporate discount for my ONE Verizon line. My TWO T-Mo lines are $100 total, taxes and fees baked in. I live in DC so coverage is not a problem plus now I get to use this sweet Axon 7. Really enjoying the GSM life so far.

    • GSM, sounds like some one stil living inside of a cave. LTE is the future LOL and with Verizon we already had LTE, then LTE Advanced, and now working to get 5G, meanwhile you still want to get GSM LOLssssssssss!!!

        • I think you should Google what you just said because LTE is it’s own separate technology which is added as a layer on top of GSM or CDMA network’s to enhance the service they are not one in the same whatsoever.but hey don’t mind me I just read about it no big deal

          • LTE is based of GSM technology. CDMA is pretty much dead, once Verizon kills their 3G and 1x voice and data.

      • T-Mo is probably closer to 5G than any other carrier right now… Not to mention that LTE is GSM technology

      • I think you may need to do some research on GSM, CDMA and LTE because your statement shows that you are misinformed about the technology that you speak of.

    • Perfectly said. I’m in the same boat. I’m ready!! So stoked for all the unlocked goodness

  • T-Mobile was awesome for me as long as I stuck to freeways and cities, but I had to switch to VZW for coverage in rural areas. Has T-Mo built more towers or is this just adding spectrum to existing towers? If it is the same towers, then I fear that their coverage problem isn’t solved by this.

    Honestly, I’d be happy to switch back to T-Mo if I can get LTE coverage everywhere.

    • This spectrum reaches further, so they may be able to avoid building more towers. Or, if more towers are deemed necessary, they may not need to build quite so many.

  • I wonder if Project Fi will be able to take advantage of that as well. If so, this will be huge for me 🙂

    • Once the phones with the proper modems in them are available, i see no reason why they shouldn’t be able to take advantage of this.

      • Every carrier and OEM has their fanboys. They will argue that their carrier of choice and phone of choice are the best and nothing will change their mind. You’ll see plenty of them here on this thread talking about how T-Mobile sucks and “insert carrier name” is better because “reason x,y or z”.

        • Except Sprint. I’ve seen a few people say Sprint works for them, but I’ve *never* seen someone argue that Sprint is the best.

          • Given what you pay and what you’ get with Sprint, I’d say it’s the best, BUT the big caveat there is you can’t be out in the sticks. Then no bueno. 90% of customers, though? Winning.

          • The only thing Sprint wins at is price. They’re the slowest, they have the worst coverage overall, and they’re still using CDMA for voice, so there’s no VoLTE or unlocked phone compatibility (minus a few exceptions).

            They’re the only major carrier that still can’t do simultaneous voice and data without two active radios in the phone, which most new phones don’t have.

            So even those who have Sprint and it works fine for them, they still don’t argue that it’s the best because many of them know it’s not. It’s just cheaper and it works.

          • I mean I’ve had Sprint for 5 years now and in the last month they have significantly increased speeds. I regularly hit 60 Mbps no matter what time of the day. Last night was the highest I’ve ever seen with 130Mbps. I will agree that coverage lacks but thats the only downfall I’ve ever ran into with Sprint. Sprints launching Gigabit wireless tested in Louisiana at a stadium. We have to give Sprint props from where they used to be. They have improved a lot in the last few years.

            Not a fanboy for Sprint. Looked into T-Mobile (lacks coverage in my area) and Verizon Unlimited ( Would jack my phone bill 3x the amount I pay with Sprint with everything the same) They say that its 180 for four lines which isnt true once you add the I think 20 dollar access fee per line. Thats another 80 on top the 180 plus phone costs. Sprint is my carrier of choice have never had an issue. Actially have gotten coverage full LTE where Verizon people are sitting on 1x. Although that isnt common just thought it was funny. Hopefully Tmobile will bring coverage to my area.

          • I live in southeastern Louisiana and, while I never had a speed test on RingPlus (former Sprint MVNO) reach over 20Mbps, I will say Sprint was pretty good overall. There was one (fairly busy) spot in town where service was utter garbage, but it worked fine almost everywhere else. In fact, I seem to travel to more areas with bad service on AT&T now than I did with RingPlus.

            Verizon, on the other hand, has been phenomenal since I switched to them for my main line six years ago. It’s so very rare I’ll have bad coverage somewhere and someone on another carrier has better service than me, but the other way around is not uncommon at all.

          • Yeah, central Illinois is a strong Sprint Market. Seems to get the latest upgrades first. Only nice thing about illinois. Lol

          • Yeah, Verizon and all of its little charges is absolutely unbelievable. Four lines with this amount of data for this price, plus device access fee, plus this tax, plus that tax….before you know it, your bill is nowhere even close to what the original promo was pushing. Bunch of misleading bulls***! So nice to be on Cricket where my bill is exactly what they advertise. Not a penny more. No taxes, no fees, no device access charges.

          • The voice/data thing is STUPID. But I can assure you, this is a Sprint congestion decision and NOT because they don’t have the capability. Why? Because my S3 on Jellybean could do it. The upgrade to KK and higher has seen Sprint lock this feature down. Now that IS STUPID, but from their perspective allows their speeds to compete. And yes, they do compete. http://rootmetrics.com/en-US/rootscore/map/metro/louisville-ky/2017/1H – 2 percentage points behind where I live. Ottumwa< IA maybe not so much, but… I pay (AFTER taxes/fees, which is important) 140 for two lines of unlimited everything. And frankly, I pay too much, but my wife wants unlimited (even though we RARELY even use 8 GB per month of data, which would save us some bank. But considering the price I pay, and the minimumj hit I take in service, I would argue it's the best. Not the fastest, but the best, if that distinction makes sense.

          • The reason Sprint doesn’t have VoLTE is because calls drop when you lose LTE, unlike on AT&T and T-Mobile. Verizon allows it anyway because they have so much LTE, but Sprint still has too many 3G-only spots.

            Old phones could do voice and data because they’d use 3G for voice and LTE for data, but that uses significantly more data powering two radios. Apple never built this into the iPhone, so only select Android phones ever took advantage of this.

        • So Ill argue that Verizon has the best network in my area….but do people really argue its someone inately better and always will be? If someone has a network that is as good with unlimited data for less money ill switch. I have a grandfathered Unlimited plan, so for now, no one else can offer me a better plan.

    • Naw but I do love competition. Everyone should love TMobile now. They brought back unlimited and now are forcing more hands.

          • i am not salty. i am very serious. I am a tmobile customer that was SO Tmobile, that a friend of mine brought his ENTIRE business over. Once he found out that Tmobile didn’t work for him, 3 months later he tried to leave and they not only tried to charge him for the phones (AND DID NOT allow him to turn them back in!) but also charge his $300 per line for “cancelling”… which was almost $2,000.

            So the next time you “THINK” you know what you are talking about.. feel free to take a hike and go piss in a barrel for all i care..

            I was there when it happened.. I saw it.. and my friend was SERIOUSLY PISSED at me!

            Thank you for wasting my time for reading your comment which knew NO BACKGROUND information on the story behind it…

            keep keyboard cowboying though.. i am sure Dreamworks is still looking for trolls.

          • You sir are a certified troll… you crawled out from your bridge to repost this same lame ass story about your friend again. You obviously don’t know what you’re talking about because everyone that actually has TMO knows there are no ETF’s. Period.

    • what argument? the fact that tmobile is playing catch up like they always have? yes, that is confirmed with this purchase.

      FWIW i like tmobile, if I switched from VZW that’s where I’d go….but just saying.

    • Wait there are Verizon fanboys? I mean ill argue that they have the best network in my area, because its true. But who is actually a fan of Verizon? Or any telecom for that matter?

  • This is going to really make T-Mobile a strong competitor with Verizon and AT&T, now T-Mobile has more 2-4x more low band spectrum than Verizon and AT&T. Bring on the band 71 phones!

    • Yeah, hopefully they won’t become evil like Verizon once they can actually compete with them in coverage. I don’t trust any corporation to not get a big head and strong arm their customers if/when they get big enough.

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