T-Mobile 3G is live in Vegas, baby

That's right, kids, T-Mobile launched 3G data in Vegas this morning. The 1700MHz AWS 3G network went live for phones that can hit the UMTS 3G data stream, and if your phone is one of those, you may want to look for the pretty little icon and start doing some Intertron browsing. T-Mobile still expects to hit another 20 markets this year (along with some new handsets), so if you're not in Sin City, be patient -- 3G is coming.

[Rage @ Aug 6th 2008 10:23AM]

Congrats to T-mobile, you finally have 3G.

[Techie @ Aug 6th 2008 4:40PM]

Chicago please! I said pleaseeeee....

[CAHLITO @ Aug 6th 2008 10:25AM]

Come On NYC!!!

[Nando @ Aug 6th 2008 10:26AM]

LAWLZ!!!!!!

[Josh @ Aug 6th 2008 10:28AM]

vegas is a slightly easier market to implement given it's size and surroundings...i wouldn't count on nyc for a while

[asurroca @ Aug 6th 2008 10:42AM]

what? NYC was the first market to get T-mobile's 3G... they've already been running it for a while....

[Kurian @ Aug 6th 2008 11:05AM]

The Viper is coming. 5-75.

[Knives_Out @ Aug 6th 2008 10:26AM]

I still love that xerox promo. tmo sure isn't breaking the bank on getting the word out.

[Richard @ Aug 6th 2008 10:27AM]

Hmm.. why put October 1st on the poster if it's launching in some markets earlier than that? Why not do localized posters or something?

[asurroca @ Aug 6th 2008 10:45AM]

October 1 is apparently the official roll-out date... at which point all their entire 3G network will go live. Obviously, you'd want to flip the switch in a few test markets beforehand. Hence: NYC, Vegas, Austin, etc.

[curtisrutland @ Aug 6th 2008 10:28AM]

Better late than never, I guess.

[konshuss @ Aug 6th 2008 10:29AM]

only 5 days late according to the poster.

[BlowURmindBowel @ Aug 6th 2008 10:32AM]

Or two months and 25 days early, if you correctly interpret the date (for LV anyway)...

FAIL! :P

[BlowURmindBowel @ Aug 6th 2008 10:35AM]

I also get my own FAIL! here...

1 month and 25 days early...

It's still to early...

Have a nice day...

Don't choke on it...

[konshuss @ Aug 6th 2008 10:35AM]

er wait. only almost 2 months early... or almost 7 months late. either way, wtf?

[Jason Harris @ Aug 6th 2008 10:32AM]

So this applies only to the 3 or 4 3G phones t-mobile currently uses. Too bad my E71 won't work on T-Mo

[MadMike @ Aug 6th 2008 10:36AM]

For comparison, does anyone know AT&T's 3G frequency? 1800MHz?

I'm gathering that you would need a specific phone and not any old unlocked phone.

[Michael @ Aug 6th 2008 10:40AM]

AT&T 3G frequency is 850/1900. They have quite a lot of good phones that support the frequency

[jephersun @ Aug 7th 2008 3:35AM]

AT&T - 1900 and 850

T-mobile - 1700

Rest of the world - 2100

[Jim. @ Aug 6th 2008 10:37AM]

In other news Rockford, IL got ATT 3G this morning! High five for 3Gs!

[Michael @ Aug 6th 2008 10:39AM]

yay??

Now, where's the great smartphones that uses AWS...

Sigh...

[UK31337 @ Aug 6th 2008 10:42AM]

I'm amazed to see such a huge fuss over this like it's some kind of big deal... Europe has been near-100% 3G for at least four years now. It's old news and I can't believe that the US still has to see it as something new and exciting.

I'd never even have *heard* of EDGE if it wasn't for the first-gen iPhone, Europe can't comprehend that stone-age technology. In fact, I'm willing to bet that the 3G iPhone was a rush job when Steve Jobs suddenly realised he had a market, outside of North America, which didn't rely on wax tablets and cave paintings to communicate. iPhone without 3G = epic fail in Europe which is probably why Apple did it.

[Nando @ Aug 6th 2008 10:44AM]

Wow, you're a dick. Can you comprehend that?

[BluesK1d @ Aug 6th 2008 10:50AM]

Thats fantastic. Too bad Europe doesn't have any sites worth visiting at 3G speeds which is why you are here running your mouth.

[curtisrutland @ Aug 6th 2008 10:55AM]

Europe also has far, far less open rural area, where nobody would get any benefit from 3G anyway. And T-Mobile is way behind the game anyway. Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T have fairly large 3G networks. But again, they aren't totally national because there is so much rural space in America that it would be a waste of their money to put a 3G infrastructure there.

Also, you are an asshole.

[Andrew @ Aug 6th 2008 11:13AM]

... Egypt has had 3g for longer than the u.s., so now Egypt is more technologically advanced than the u.s.? more like areas like Egypt and europe are more densely populated so its easier to deploy 3g networks like that. Oh yea and enjoy getting raped by your amazing europes mobile data charges dirtbag.

[limaxray @ Aug 6th 2008 12:38PM]

yawn... the US is only behind in GSM 3G, because, well, it sucks for open rural places like the majority of the US. This why GSM coverage in the US is only decent near major cities. We've had CDMA2000 3G pretty much everywhere for a couple of years now. CDMA2000 takes less power and less spectrum to cover the same area as a comparable GSM system and that's why it's currently our most wide spread network technology.

Oh, and lets not forget, T-Mobile is a partially-socialized European company and the only national US provider not to offer wide spread 3G coverage.

[Paul @ Aug 6th 2008 2:33PM]

You must really feel great when you put down America's old technology in an attempt to raise up how great Europe is. Who cares about Europe? This IS a big deal because it's a faster network coming into new cities that will greatly improve the usability for a lot of people. How can you not understand why that would be a big deal to some people?

[Paulmichael @ Aug 6th 2008 3:59PM]

Man, that's some pure pwnage, in the biggest sense that I've seen in a long while on this site.

[aMp 732 @ Aug 6th 2008 10:50AM]

You talk like Europe is cutting edge for electronics? Maybe they had 3G in more places but they are way behind the curve when it comes to tech usually. USA and Japan smoke the em. Ever check out electronics issues that occur in those great european cars? Trust me I do I drive a VW ughhhhhhhhhhh

[ecobore @ Aug 6th 2008 12:14PM]

Uhhhh! US cars have good electronics!!! - now c'mon. I have driven a LOT of US cars and they are anything but advanced in their onboard electronics. My BMW Z4 is streets ahead (even though it is built in the US!)

[zeta @ Aug 6th 2008 5:59PM]

Your seriously believe that? Ever compared broadband coverage and bandwidth? Traffic systems (all of them?)? Energy efficiency?

[ecobore @ Aug 7th 2008 1:48AM]

Uh, see http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/357551468/ for an idea of how European vehicle tech is advancing!

[David @ Aug 6th 2008 11:10AM]

I agree with Nando, who let in the Eurotrash? No offense to the rest of you fine Eurofriends across the pond. The guy probably doesn't even have a cell phone, he probably peddles fruit to tourists from the States. Furthermore I love T-Mobile great customer service, but really poor selection of phones. Maybe 3G is their first step toward getting some quality phones.

[Ian @ Aug 6th 2008 2:53PM]

But he's UK31337.

get it? UK ELEEEET. He's leeeeet! A mad haxor with mad sk1lllzzzzz. Ph33333r h1m!

[PPC @ Aug 6th 2008 11:17AM]

What kind of speeds is t-mo's 3g getting?

[messi @ Aug 6th 2008 11:59AM]

As a Euroguy i find this quite amusing. As UK31337 said, whats the fuss? In Sweden where i live 100mbit@home and 3G connections on the cellie and laptop is no biggie. Im surfing the web with my lappie at the summerhouse or in my boat at 7.2mbit using a 3G USB dongle.. oh yes the traffic is free and not limited. 40$/month all included.

Btw aMp 732 dont say that US makes better cars than EU. Sure the tech on a low end VW might be off, but still they try to put some techie stuff in the cars. US manu. still uses leafsprings etc etc... stoneage bro.
Anyway that was my .02

[jephersun @ Aug 7th 2008 3:35AM]

How many 1700 band phones are there?

And which phone that is currently with t-mobile supports it?

[Zak @ Aug 6th 2008 12:23PM]

You're kidding, right? "What's the fuss"?

This is about Vegas, and last I checked Vegas was not actually in Europe. If it were, then yes there would be no fuss. You see how that works now?

[allenvanhellen @ Aug 6th 2008 12:08PM]

I use T-Mobile because they have cheap pricing. I've personally never been in a place where my phone didn't work but my friends's phones did. I send lots of texts and pics, I can google, facebook, and myspace, and I can talk a lot (especially to my top-5) and it costs me ~$68/month. 3G will be icing on the cake, although to be honest, I don't even care about it. I guess I would care if I had a laptop and were not near a wi-fi hotspot, but I'm patient and my work doesn't require me to be online at high speed 24/7.

P.S. Something else that's cool about T-Mo: If you forget to pay your bill for a week or so, and they "cut-off" your service, people can still call you and you can talk to them, you just can't dial out. That's a bit nicer (and not as embarrassing) as the operations of other carriers.

[ecobore @ Aug 6th 2008 12:14PM]

Jeez, how exciting! 2008 and Las Vegas gets 3G.... We have had it in our tiny little rural village in France for years!!!! Why is the US so backward with cellphone technology!?

[Kevin @ Aug 7th 2008 4:50AM]

Because the US is less densely populated than France, so rolling out new data technologies is more expensive here...or, because t-mobile has let themselves fall behind in 3G deployment....or, because the demand for mobile data only really sparked in the US about a few years ago.

Take your pick.

[AJC @ Aug 6th 2008 12:40PM]

I dont understand these idiot comments. Can you please read the whole article before posting? 3 other carriers have 3G in Vegas, my iPhone has great 3G coverage in vegas. T-Mobile is late to the game in pretty much every category for cell carriers. Hence them launching 3G in their 2nd market ever.

[getStringFromObj() @ Aug 6th 2008 12:50PM]

It could be the fact that the FCC, in its infinite wisdom, decided that instead of settling on one technology and allowing everyone to work together and deploy a single network which is more cost effective, they would allow the market to decide with competing technologies.

-or- it could be that it is more difficult to deploy 3G in a city and surrounding area of nearly a million people with a several hundered trx's as opposed to your "tiny little rural village" in france were there are no casino's or dancing girls to distract the tmo crews and probably under ten towers.

-or- it could be the fact that we pounded the germans so bad bailing your ass out during the war that they are hesitant to bring the latest in technology to our country... just sayin'

[tomas @ Aug 6th 2008 12:55PM]

wow, T-Mobile offers 3G here in eastern EU for over 1 year ...

[Christian @ Aug 6th 2008 1:24PM]

wait! so what's t-mobile charging to use 3G? also phones with that function specifically video phones, will they now work here?

[icepop4who @ Aug 6th 2008 2:15PM]

what happens in vegas, stays in vegas.

hopefully not this case though. i want my 3g!

[Famous by Marital-Association @ Aug 6th 2008 2:33PM]

It's big news because you'll get more dependable 3G service with tethering for $19.99 per month on top of your .

Verizon = $50.00/mo just for data.
AT&T = $60.00/mo just for data.
Sprint = about $70.00 per month since you have to have the "Unlimited" Plan to Tether (I think?)

[Ian @ Aug 6th 2008 2:59PM]

Yes, and the US has had 3G for years as well. It's just TMO a wonderful Euro company that just can't seem to keep up with the allegedly inferior American providers like AT&T, Verizon and Sprint.

Based on your Euro Superiority theory TMO should have been first to deploy 3G here. After all it's no big deal right? What took them so long? Why is this mighty European carrier last to the game?

[Charlie @ Aug 6th 2008 3:01PM]

Hey! I'm in Vegas!
I finally have a reason to switch from AT&T. Except I just got the new iPhone.... and the 3G service for it here is HORRIBLE... call dropping, call missing HORRIBLE..... any way to get out of my contract because the service sucks?