T-Mobile 3G goes live, with data (kind of)

T-Mobile's 3G network started going live today, and it looks like that early word from a company memo may not hold true for all users. Some markets may in fact have a silent soft-launch of faster data rates, we've heard from several tipsters who've said that they're already getting faster data service, and now the company itself getting the word out that it's launching data as well. But company peeps were indeed instructed to make sure customers don't count on that faster data being present; bottom line is you may have it, you may not (but if you take T-Mobile at its word, you should). NYC is the first market to light up, but others should come online soon -- anyone trying it out? How's it going? Hit us up in comments and let us know!

[Alan @ May 2nd 2008 8:36PM]

Its running so nicely!

Really impressed.

T-Mobile Rock!

[Paul @ May 3rd 2008 11:19AM]

Which phone are you using?

[Totalfixation @ May 2nd 2008 8:37PM]

Heres to no 4G anytime soon.

[derX @ May 2nd 2008 10:38PM]

How about we take this one day at a time.

[aaron @ May 2nd 2008 8:46PM]

Who's going to be impressed with their very limited handsets available for 3G?

LOL

[Joseph Singer @ May 2nd 2008 9:52PM]

You're *never* going to get lots of different 3G handsets simply because T-Mobile's implementation of 3G uses an oddball combination of 1700 and 2100 Mhz. It's doubtful that any hardware manufacturer is going to put gobs and gobs of models that are only usable on one service. Economies of scale is what the manufacturers are going for.

[Jamar @ May 2nd 2008 10:02PM]

Well, they did it for China's TD-SCDMA.

[Jonathan @ May 3rd 2008 3:02AM]

Yes. China. You know, where 1/3 of the world's population lives. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it might be considered a larger market than T-Mobile.

[superpotential @ May 3rd 2008 9:19AM]

i think it is likely that there are more cell phones in US than in china, simply because of average income; the US has a large middle class, china does not.

[Chad @ May 3rd 2008 9:40AM]

China has a much larger middle class than the US.

[Brandon @ May 3rd 2008 8:38PM]

We have a little different definition for "middle class" from China.

[SXL @ May 2nd 2008 8:49PM]

So this will replace the EDGE connection? or am I gonna have to get a new plan with 3G *confused*

[tuna @ May 2nd 2008 9:10PM]

Let's play connect-the-dots.

3G networks lighting up on T-mo...

Android phone coming to T-mo...

Hmm...

[CUBSWILLWIN @ May 2nd 2008 9:24PM]

tmobile has been getting a lot of phones and a bunch of rumors for some pretty nice phones like a rumored htc dream (android) and that blackberry kickstart and a bunch of others. I'm thinking of switching to them once my contract expires from sprint or there is a confirmation for an android phone ,cause tmo is getting very temting. nice phones and 3G. Besides, I'm a big google fanboy and my next phone WILL be and android phone for sure.

[Fernando @ May 2nd 2008 9:26PM]

and the t-mobile shadow 2 is coming to t-mobile also, IT ALL MAKES SENSE!

[aaron @ May 2nd 2008 11:18PM]

@fernando

It only makes sense that the "t-mobile shadow 2" would go to T-MOBILE..doesn't it?

[DakStaka @ May 2nd 2008 9:22PM]

Welcome to the European way!

[superpotential @ May 3rd 2008 9:21AM]

i've lived and worked in europe for short periods of time. european cell phone networks are fantastic in that they have solid reception and coverage (even in remote areas, on trains (except in tunnels), in forests, ...). the big downside is that european cell phone use is HORRIBLY EXPENSIVE. "unlimited" plans of any sort are rare without catches (i.e. they will advertise 0.80/hour calling and then you realise that's only on your own company's mobile network and not on the competitors in the country you are in); roaming rates are through the roof; cost to call mobile is much higher than a landline; data plans are also at higher cost than in the US.

basically, you'll most likely have to pay for use and have to think twice before you accidentally hit "refresh" on your google maps application while you are roaming into another european country for vacation, or risk getting charged about 1.5 cents/KB roaming charge for the data use. and probably 1 cent/15 KB for use in your own home country, or horridly high rates if you want unlimited data.

[DakStaka @ May 3rd 2008 1:26PM]

One must detect the tongue firmly in cheek, although it does appear to highlight a certain sensitivity in some. Some may think the comment is a reflection on the USA others more rightly may consider it comment on T-Mobile.

PS. I am an Australian, living in UK, currently working in USA for a telco.

[PEZ @ May 2nd 2008 9:36PM]

To what advantage does 3G give voice? The answer is None.

You wont see real 3G data until tmobile unleashes devices on their 1700Mhz band they won in the FCC auction.

[cromas @ May 3rd 2008 3:27AM]

Not true. More bandwidth = more bandwidth for voice, too. 3G voice is significantly better quality (to my ears) than 2G.

[Nik @ May 2nd 2008 9:43PM]

Is there still any chance at T-Mo getting the X1?

[Dan Davis @ May 5th 2008 11:07AM]

**crosses fingers**

[Mike @ May 2nd 2008 9:48PM]

I'm in NYC with a 3G capable unlocked 3G capable phone and tmobile, i've been all over the city looking for 3G over the past days and no luck.

[Joseph Singer @ May 2nd 2008 9:53PM]

Unless it's a 3G phone with the requisite network capability you will be out of luck. Only phones for T-Mobile's brand of 3G will work.

[mister XR @ May 5th 2008 11:20AM]

I heard you need a "3g sim card" too. Not quite sure how its different from an old-school one, but as soon as I hear of umts2100 rolled out in my area, I'll head on down to the t-mobile store and get loaded up.
Of course, I'll first have to explain to the salesperson what "3G" is, and then have him call ten of his buddies to ask what a "sim card" is, but eventually I think I'll get it working.

[gabe @ May 2nd 2008 9:51PM]

i pay $5.99 for tzones.

u guys can kiss my a$$

[Nik @ May 2nd 2008 9:57PM]

What are you talking about? T-Zones is free.....

[Abuzar @ May 2nd 2008 11:53PM]

Haha owned!

That's what I pay for my phone too. You just have to set the proxies different and then you don't have to pay the full amount.

[superpotential @ May 3rd 2008 9:29AM]

what, that little app that you fire up and then it actually wants to charge you to download apps/ringtones/etc.?

t-zones != internet, at least on my phone, there's a separate web browser and t-zones app, which i hid from view because i don't care for

[Chris @ May 2nd 2008 9:57PM]

As an employee of TMO... I'm ashamed and embarrassed. You'd think that a company who's parent company is one that we're all familiar with would quit jerking around. Their motto is to let someone else do it first and then if it works out, then we'll be on board. Seriously.

As you see ... we're just launching 3G. Way to get aggressive.

Yes, we're getting Android, but people want speed. High-speed data where ever we go, not at home.

TMO employees have to steer away potential customers because they want network cards... guess where they go? Verizon.

I'd ditch Sprint, Metro PCS, Kricket, etc ... for TMO any day of the week, but in the mean time, Verizon and AT&T are the way to go.

There's going to be 3 head-honchos in 5 years, IMO of course:

AT&T
Verizon
T-Mobile

AT&T is making all of the right moves right NOW. Verizon's downfall is CDMA.

[superpotential @ May 3rd 2008 9:30AM]

t-mobile could improve their coverage first, imho.

here are the main reasons why i switched from verizon to t-mobile last month, fyi:
- i travel a lot internationally and i wanted a GSM phone (verizon offered such a GSM/international-roaming addon for blackberries but it was too costly, there was a base fee in addition to the int'l roaming charges incurred)
- i was planning on getting the pearl 8100 but i wanted an unlocked one; t-mobile promised to unlock after 3 months, at&t did not
- t-mobile was cheaper
- myFaves plans with the unlimited DAY calling to people i care about
- UMA and WiFi; my workplace is a lab which does not get any cell reception at all of any carrier, but has WiFi available

that said, the biggest downside i see is that reception indoors is overall terrible, where i don't have wifi, and where i want to walk around (WiFi doesn't let you do that) that's about it.

[CharlieX @ May 2nd 2008 10:22PM]

all the while us iPhone users just think EDGE is the peak of technology.

[Sarig @ May 2nd 2008 11:18PM]

Don't worry, there's a 3g iPhone on the way, then you can think that's the peak of technology instead :) Next year we'll see about sending fully functinal bluetooth your way, but don't hold your breath!

[Abuzar @ May 3rd 2008 12:00AM]

Well on T-Mobile it was, up until today.

[Faisal @ May 2nd 2008 11:05PM]

I'm just confused with all this. My sony W850i's connection type is set to GSM and 3G, but do I have 3g now? I have the 7.99 slow dial up like GPRS connection but what does this do for me? And if there are 3g plans, T-mo should tell customers what to do to get em. And how can I get my phone's calls to go through 3G? I've got no clue on this.

[derX @ May 2nd 2008 11:14PM]

You do not need a special plan to get 3G data; if you have a 3G capable handset, i.e., containing the 1700 band, and it's turned on in your neck of the woods, you have 3G data.

Also, chances are, if you suspect you have a 3G handset for Tmobile and did not purchase it directly from TMobile, chances are, it's not a Tmobile 3G handset: again. it must have the 1700 band.

[palehorse @ May 3rd 2008 12:11AM]

Tmo's phone f'n suck.

If they do not get a decent Android model, the X1, a sweet new Samsung, or the iPhone 3G fails to be compatible with Tmo's 3G, then I'm through with their amature nonsense

I need a cutting edge touchscreen phone, with a slim formfactor, MMS, GPS, email push/pull, video/still camera, full media playback, 3G data speeds, etc... and I need it now.

That's it, I'm moving to S. Korea...

[palehorse @ May 3rd 2008 12:13AM]

"Amateur" even... bah...

[Virtuous @ May 3rd 2008 12:19AM]

Very few TMo customers will own phones or data cards with the necessary 3G frequency. I call this the agonizingly slow 3G data launch. Glad I dumped TMo. When the new iPhone arrives in June AT&T will kick TMo's butt.

[Bryan Thornsberry @ May 3rd 2008 1:05AM]

I wouldnt so much call this a launch...

falling over and spilling a few of your books out of your kinda gay man-bag satchel thing is more like it.

way to be on top of it TMO. And I work for you guys. Glad to know I can continue to tell potential customers who want high speed data "oh its just around the corner" for another year. (been saying that for 2 years now)

[cbodall @ May 3rd 2008 1:15AM]

iPhone 3g on AT&T all the way

and coming soon....... 4G: LTE

[Danny @ May 3rd 2008 4:32AM]

Welcome to the world of 3G.
It's just a shame that they are working on 4G =P .

[hiko36 @ May 3rd 2008 4:49AM]

T-Mobile Dash=3G FAIL!!!

[Brian @ May 3rd 2008 4:58AM]

Engadget, you suck.

You were DEAD WRONG about T-Mobile 3G because you weren't doing your job. You looked at a leaked internal memo to CALL CENTER employees and determined that it was a reliable source of information.

This was the DAY BEFORE the official launch. You could have contacted T-Mobile for clarification. You could have WAITED 24 hours to see.

Now, after you were PROVEN WRONG, you try to weasel things. It's not "kind of" with data. T-Mobile has UMTS data, just like many of us predicted.

There are no data cards fore T-Mobile's 3G network; nor are there even any currently available UMTS Band IV devices with HSDPA. T-Mobile's official stance isn't at all inconsistent considering this.

T-Mobile is very late to the 3G party. You like pissing on them because they sent you a legal threat - a threat that they most likely NEEDED to send you to protect their trademark.

Funny how when Apple made a similar threat you were supportive.

You are not a bunch of gossiping kids. You are a serious blog. I expect you to get the facts right.

[superpotential @ May 3rd 2008 9:36AM]

personally i'd like to hear the gossip and rumors too, because often it brings out some things which are true, much earlier than you would normally find, as long as said gossip and rumors are clearly marked as such.

[Bkzbeatboxxx @ May 3rd 2008 6:38AM]

I got a 3g treo and it works fine, it says edge but it's considerably faster

[Brian @ May 3rd 2008 8:44AM]

Unless you're using an unreleased new Treo, your handset doesn't have the right UMTS bands for T-Mobile (no Treo does), so you're just seeing EDGE. EDGE can hit 200kbps in good conditions; it varies day to day here in Boulder.

The rest of this is a general rant that's not directed at you, so don't see it as criticism. It's not directed at Engadget either, really, because I can't think of an instance where they have gotten this wrong.

I'm tired of apparently well-informed "experts" getting this wrong.

Gizmodo screwed this one up today with the new BlackBerry 9000, and they screwed it up yesterday when they reported that someone was getting T-Mobile UMTS (in the US) with a Nokia N73 (which is impossible - the N73 is UMTS band I only, which means that it won't connect to any UMTS network anywhere in North America).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UMTS_frequency_bands

AT&T uses bands II and V; T-Mobile uses band IV (in the US). Band I is used in Europe, but not anywhere in North America (it overlaps with satellite bands).

Currently, T-Mobile has the only operational UMTS band IV network in the world.

[Jeremy K. @ May 3rd 2008 7:32AM]

Brian, chill out! Talk about overreacting...

[Brian @ May 3rd 2008 8:44AM]

I do not need to "chill out", and I am not "overreacting". Perhaps it is foolish of me to expect that one of the largest technology blogs get their facts straight when they post an article.

Most of the other blogs were no better - BGR and Gizmodo shamelessly copied the same story and ran with it.

If Engadget doesn't bother to do fact checking, I don't need to bother reading it. I can get rumors and supposition from HoFo or a million other sources.

Ironically, the HoFo thread got it right, because there are people there who thought for a moment and realized that the launch of a "voice-only" UMTS network was absurd.

I don't work for a blog, I don't work for a mobile provider, and it's not my job to check stories before they are posted. Engadget could have waited 24 hours for the network to go live, or they could have contacted T-Mobile and gotten an official clarification. Streamline is for the internal use of T-Mobile employees - it in no way represents an official statement from the company and it should not be reported as such.

Factual errors are frequent, but they are usually minor details. I don't like it, but it is a reality. This was not such an error. The entire *article* was wrong in this case. And instead of saying, "oops, we're sorry, we got it wrong", we get this half-assed non-redaction.

Let me be clear:

"T-Mobile's 3G network started going live today"

T-Mobile UMTS went live on the 1st in the NYC, although some testing has in fact been ongoing for months.

"it looks like that early word from a company memo may not hold true for all users."

The memo (on Streamline, an internal intranet site for T-Mobile employees) told T-Mobile call center employees to inform customers that data services were not yet available. There are no UMTS band IV (AWS) data cards currently on the market, so this is not an unreasonable request to avoid customer confusion.

"Some markets may in fact have a silent soft-launch of faster data rates,"

It is likely that ALL operational T-Mobile UMTS base stations offer data service. Current handsets cannot utilize UMTS and GPRS/EDGE simultaneously, so UMTS base stations without operational data services would likely cause data disruptions to those customers with UMTS band IV handsets.

T-Mobile has not officially launched ANY UMTS services. The entire NYC rollout is "silent".

"now the company itself getting the word out that it's launching data as well."

T-Mobile confirmed that their UMTS rollout will include data services when it is officially announced. This statement was likely in response to stories in Engadget and other publications to the contrary.

So, there we have it. Even in the revised article, we have a lot of misleading information that's basically a smokescreen for the fact that Engadget got it wrong.

When you get it wrong, admit you got it wrong.