T-Mobile webConnect available today, carrier's first 3G modem
By Chris Ziegler 
posted Mar 25th 2009 12:01AM
posted Mar 25th 2009 12:01AM
posted Mar 25th 2009 12:01AM
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You meant to say 'first 3G modem in the US'. In the UK, T-Mobile has had 3G USB plans available for years...
You meant to say 'first T-MOBILE 3G modem in the US'. In the US, other carriers have had 3G USB plans available for years...
Unless we specify otherwise, it's safe to assume that when we refer to "T-Mobile" we're referring to T-Mobile USA, not T-Mobile UK, T-Mobile Czech Republic, T-Mobile Germany, et cetera. If we're referring to one of Deutsche Telekom's European networks, we'll call them out by name (and notice we didn't say this was DT's first 3G modem).
Didnt you know no other countries exist outside the USA? :-P
That's illogical, Captain Ziegler. You're talking about a Germany company to an international audience and assuming that we know you mean their US market?
We're not trying to play favorites, we're just trying to be efficient. Nine out of ten times, when we talk about T-Mobile, we're talking about T-Mobile USA, and we trust that our readers can figure that out. For clarity's sake, though, I've updated to call it out as T-Mobile USA specifically in the post itself.
just another point, $249.99 contract free! What a rip off, I got my PAYG O2 HSDPA usb modem for £29.99. If this thing can go faster than my current real world best of 4.5Mbps then fine, but if if not then WTF!
in the time Chris spent defending his lack of T-Mobile country clarification, he could have easily added "USA" to the post... interesting how it took him two replies before submitting to defeat and added USA... talk about "efficiency"
o sugar snap. i might actually be able to use this
Yeesh, PLEASE for the love of god fact check!!
This modem has tri-band 1700/1900/2100MHz HSDPA/UMTS radios. T-Mobiles US 3G network runs on 1700!!!
What are you talking about? Did you read the post?
dude, did you add in that AWS after I posted that? lol
If not (which is almost 100% the case), I am sorry. Good job on calling me out!
www.engadget.com
You forgot the obligatory "Nice post" comment :-P
That is some spam i will visit....
How does it compare to Verizon's EVDO?
I've had both, and at least in northern NJ, they're very similar. T-mobile 3G coverage drops off considerably if you get more than an hour from NYC, but it's not terrible. Speeds are comparable and vary greatly on both networks depending on signal strength and network congestion. I wouldn't call either particularly speedy, but both are certainly good enough for mobile web browsing, which is what I use them for.
moreover, I wonder what the bandwidth cap is if any
I don't see it on the t-mobile website...
I take it this means we'll start seeing the number of cities in T-Mobile's 3G coverage rise into the double digits? I sure hope that's the case.
Does T-Mobile have the same stupid 5Gb hard cap as Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T? I've used 14Gb monthly on Sprint in the last three months and, as you might guess, they have invited me to 'leave the network.' i.e. sent me the "We are terminating your contract." (but no ETF, big whoop .. I needed the wireless modem)
Assuming it's the same as the "umlimited" data plan I have from t-mobile for my G1, then yes. Everybody has a 5GB cap now. There is no such thing as "unlimited 3G" in the US.
...and you sir, are the *reason* why those 5gb caps are in place. Do your heavy surfing on a wired modem at home, stop negatively impacting the wireless network that the rest of us use for basic websurfing and email.
Mr. Anderson...
(Or should I call you 'Neo'?) Woah there. You're making a lot of assumptions there, the first one being 'wired modem at home.' I am a nomadic software consultant, never in a city longer than two or three months at a stretch. I'm precisely the kind of person that Sprint originally marketed these CDMA modems to two years ago. A business professional on the go that needed broadband access to the internet.
'Impacting the wireless network.' my bum. Sprint knows, and does, capacity planning for their network infrastructure. Like any phone company, they do tend towards over subscribing the network, at some unknown ratio. However, EVDO rev A is designed to burst at 3mbit and operate between 700kbit and 1.5mbit on average. It is Sprint's poor capacity planning, not the 'usage of users like me' that has caused this issue. Most EVDO base stations are outfitted with at least 3mbit of bandwidth, concentrating into large pipes (OC3 and OC12's for the most part) that can easily handle the load.
The modern internet, with media-rich applications makes it so that people easily hit over 5GB of transfer in a matter of days, not weeks.
I am, and always will be, an early adopter of these technologies due to the work I do. In the course of my work, I have to compile and transfer large software images (50-100 megabytes, easily) as well as check out and check in work into the SVN server over the company VPN.
Europe, Asia have very robust 3G infrastructures and the companies have tiers that deal with this kind of traffic without charging overage fees that cost ~$50/GB (and to think our companies used to charge $50/MB just two years ago...). The cell broadband companies in the US have the infrastructure, but continue to use truly archaic billing systems and outdated capacity planning, then have to play games with billing and their customers to make up for their lack of understanding.
Don't demand 'basic websurfing and email' out of a network that's designed, and even advertised, to be a broadband network. If you think the capacity is that limited, you've already bought into the message those companies are trying to sell you .. that the network is anywhere near capacity at all. It isn't.
Just like SMS (the back data channel used for SMS messages is part of the specification for CDMA/TDMA/iDEN and GSM) .. it costs the carriers almost nothing to transfer and route that data, yet they charge fees that make it look like it's some rare commodity.
The bottom line? It costs Sprint less than a -tenth of a cent- per gigabyte to move the data around. So, why should they charge you five cents per megabyte again?
And here I am stuck with EDGE.. which is probably a good thing..
how on earth is that a good thing?
Sad, T-mobile doesn't even cover my area for normal phone service, let alone this. They have a lot of work to do if they ever want me as a customer. A cheaper rate does you no good when you have no service. Even worse I live in a fairly populated area, att works, alltell/verzion works here, as well as sprint.
Where are u at? Tmo has a 10 gb cap on g1 and 5gbfor this. I live in deep south texas and were getting 3g this summer its awsome tmo started selling g1,s in area stores already, just waiting for the day my signal changes to 3g like at the call center
Hehe been using 3G modem for years now!
Americans, don't get to hyped about the 3G modem, and don't expect 7.2 mbit. Be very happy if you get 2mbit, and very very happy if you reach 3-4mbit, you have to live just under the antenna.
Cheers
How exactly does this work? Can I take the SIM card out of my G1 and put it in this modem because I already have a data plan? Or do I have to buy a separate data plan?
You could always just tether your G1 to your laptop. Then you don't need a separate data plan or hardware.
Now please have a prepaid plan for data, like in other countries, too! Gee, the US was far ahead with a mobile data add-on for 20 USD some years ago but now it is EXPENSIVE and SLOW :-(
In Sweden a 3G subscription is 99 SEK per month (yes, thats 12.15 USD) and in Germany there are 'daily' flatrates for people who don't need 3G every day. Pay 3 bucks per day you use and it and you are good...
ATT, T-Mobile, when do you have these contracts?
So, why is America a few years behind other western countries when it comes to mobile broadband? Lack of competition/investment?
Actually, probably too much competition and diversification of technology in the begining (TDMA, CDMA, GSM)
With multiple competing platforms and incompatibility between carriers (particularly Verizon & Sprint in the beginging), it only worked as a disadvantage to Europe's one standard and requirement for compatibility. If the U.S. carriers all agreed to one technology, they would have benefited from scale, coverage, and equipment pricing. Instead we have the dicey coverage between the surviving technologies instead of blanket coverage of the entire country. And we also have higher pricing for txt and data??? ridiculous!!
We're not THAT far behind here in the US! We've had 3G for years on 2 or 3 other national carriers. T-Mobile's huge delay in getting 3G was caused by delays in the availability of the 1700 MHz band which T-Mobile uses due to their total spectrum allocations. Basically the FCC screwed them over. (Admittedly, T-Mobile would have been the latest national carrier to get it, since they're more value focused than cutting edge, but the embarrassingly long delay isn't all their fault.)
We already have this in the UK http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/mobile-broadband/
I bought mine on the "PayAsYouGo" model last week and have been getting some pretty impressive speeds.
just use your phone as a 3G modem?
Love it
While I think the price point is ok with or without the contract, the monthly rate of $60 is too much for now -considering the speed, availability and data limit- but when one of the big four hit $40/month for the same 5GB limit, I'll be seriously interested. Cricket wireless offers 3G data plans at that price, but from what I understand it only gets service in your specific urban area.
This is redic... how many cities does tmobile service with 3G, 10-15?
you be surprised, and before you start talking, T-mobile has some of the fastest 3G speeds right now, just because there isnt to many people on the network like ATT or Verizon or Sprint. T-mobile is working on a 4G network but only because of the competitors, actually the reason Verison and ATT is goin to try to push it out so fast is because there coming to the limit on the towers of 3G, T-Mobile can still up the speed if they wanted to, while on 3G and still be working on a 4G.
http://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/pcc.aspx?MapType=Data&WT.mc_n=3GData_coveragerighttout2&WT.mc_t=OnsiteAd
FILA:
I'm sorry, but no carrier is anywhere -near- their limits on the potential bandwidth of 3G, even now. It's poor capacity planning (and in many areas severe oversubscription) that has led to this situation. If the base stations used by AT&T had the industry specified backhaul (~40Mbit) rather than the ones they tend to use (~6mbit) there really wouldn't be any issues.
If T-Mobile drops the monthly service to $50 or so, more people are going to sign up.
Pricing and cap are the same as the big 3 but 3G coverage is much smaller = FAIL
sheesh, ya, I have to agree. I only pay $15 more per month than this for unlimited voice, unlimited data, and 400 text messages for my G1 , and that practically IS a 3G modem. Who in their right mind would buy this? Hell if I wanted to I go with their cheapest voice plan and the cost would practically be the same as just the data on this thing.
Bah, T-Mobile 3G coverage is crap in the northern OC and in San Dimas, CA.
"Please don't call it that."
Huzzah! Maybe now they'll expand their 3G network to cover the spots it shows on their map(I live right in the middle of an area that shows up as 3G but have NEVER gotten 3G anywhere within 7 miles of my house)
I work for tmobile and the data stick is NOT available without a contract. FLEXPAY CUSTOMERS CANNOT GET THE DATA!!!!!
I called up T-Mobile Customer Support, and came to the conclusion that this is another scam from T-Mobile. Here are the following restrictions:
1) The T-Mobile WebConnect cannot be used with any existing data plan. I asked and got confirmation that I can't use my G1 data plan with this device.
2) In addition to paying for a separate data plan ($59.99/month) for the T-Mobile WebConnect, you have to get a second phone number! That's right, I can't add this on to my current T-Mobile phone number.
3) I think you're limited to a 5GB download limit per month. You have to install software that monitors you download limit. I don't know what happens to the WebConnect device after you reach your monthly limit.
To T-Mobile: Thanks for putting out a device that everyone wants, but hook it up with a crap service plan and usage restrictions so that no one--except for people who can expense it every month--get it!
As an employee of tmobile i can assure you it is not a scam, it works exactly like the previous aircard did, just has 3g capabilities and is usb.
it is considered a new line of service just like the old one was so thus a new phone number is always required.
and yes you cannot attach it to your existing phone data plan because it is specifically designed for the usb stick
there is a 5 gb limit and after that it is $0.20 per MB
How exactly is it a scam?
Verizon and sprint don't let you share a number onto their broadband cards.
This is a 3G data plan, not a mobile data plan. I'm not surprised it's separate. Again, compare to the competition.
5GB cap like everyone else. It's 20c/MB overage i believe. At least they won't cancel you.
Not sure what the issue is here.