After an unsuccessful union with Sprint, T-Mobile is going after its former suitor’s customers, as well as its other competitors’ subcribers in the wireless world. Today, the magenta-colored carrier announced an aggressive promotional campaign that offers a free year of LTE data to castaways from AT&T, Verizon and of course Sprint.
Sprint has unveiled its newest family data plans in an attempt to win back customers that have fled to rivals AT&T and Verizon. The new plans offer twice as much data as the competition at about the same prices. It’s the latest move by the floundering carrier following the less-than-stellar reception of its recently-announced “Framily” plans.
The new plans allow up to ten lines with a shared data pool of 20 GB—paired an additional 2 GB per device as part of a limited-time offer—for a grand total of up to $40 GB of shared data through 2015. A pricing chart (below) breaks down how all of the charges in the new plans work, including an additional $10 per tablet and shared data packs of up to 60 GB.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wh5l0xsIqnA]
A mid-range phone powered by a Snapdragon 400 processor isn’t going to excite many people, but the Sharp Aquos Crystal coming later this year to Sprint does have one very appealing feature: a near-invisible bezel …
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T-Mobile on Thursday assured customers that it will not be enforcing broad unlimited data throttling across its network, but rather will be slowing down only select users that are in violation of company policies.
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In the world of wireless, words like “unlimited data” have their restrictions if you take the time to read the fine print of a carrier’s service agreement and it appears that T-Mobile is not exempt from such practices. An alleged internal memo obtained by TmoNews details how the company will address customers suspected of using its network to access peer-to-peer file sharing services.
From 9to5Toys.com:
Today’s Amazon Gold Box Deal of the Day is the HP Chromebook 14 in Red or Turquoise refurb for $199.99 with free shipping. That’s $129.01 off the list price and the lowest we’ve ever seen this Chromebook which includes 200MB of free 4G wireless for life thru T-Mobile with the ability to get more data at T-Mobile’s rates. The 4-lb machine features 14-inch/1366 x 768 display, 4GB RAM/16GB Storage amd 1.4GHz Haswell processor.
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A few days after we saw new photos of the upcoming metal-bodied Samsung Galaxy Alpha in white, an FCC filing spotted by phoneArena reveals the height and width.
Listed only by its FCC ID of A3LSMG850F, the dimensions fit earlier rumors that the handset would be smaller than the Galaxy S5, with a 4.8-inch 720p display in place of the S5’s 5.1-inch 1080p screen. The dimensions are shown as 133x67mm, around a centimetre shorter and about half a centimetre narrower than the S5 …
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Android 4.4.4 is now available to Xperia Z1 owners on T-Mobile’s network. The new software push moves the handset’s build number to 14.4.B.0.37 and adds a few cosmetic changes, along with support for Sony’s SmartBand SWR10 and Lifelog app.
Sprint’s plans to buy out the U.S. arm of T-Mobile from Deutsche Telekom came to an end today, the Wall Street Journal reported. According to the Journal, Sprint’s leadership was concerned that it would be too difficult to get United States regulators to agree to the merger.
The announcement is not yet official, but is said to be planned for Wednesday. If the merger had succeeded, the two companies would have united under the Sprint banner, possibly abandoning all of the “un-carrier” moves made by T-Mobile in recent years, including free one-week iPhone test drives on the network and unlimited music streaming on a variety of services.
Another day, another rugged phone from Kyocera. Today, the company announced that its new waterproof, shock-proof, drop-proof, dust resistant Hydro Life will be available to T-Mobile customers at Wal-Mart for $125 on August 8th and MetroPCS subscribers on August 29th. Known for its tough devices, Kyocera’s IP57 certified smartphone should help even the biggest klutz overcome what the phone maker refers to as “fragiphoniphobia.”
Galaxy S5 owners on Verizon and T-Mobile are receiving new software that targets a few carrier specific items. Big Red’s over-the-air push for Samsung’s flagship smartphone brings enhancements to the device’s Caller Name ID, Message+ and cloud apps. The phone’s new software also resolves a lengthy list of bugs, such as Visual Voicemail when using an S-View flip cover, improved connectivity when streaming music and several stability fixes.
T-Mobile announced during its earnings report that it has now completed its US roll-out of its Voice over LTE service after its launch in Seattle back in May and expansion to 16 markets last month.
With more than 8 million VoLTE-capable devices on the T-Mobile network, our customers have made over 52 million crystal-clear VoLTE calls to date.
VoLTE offers faster call setup and better audio quality during calls through HD Voice, as well as the ability to switch seamlessly between voice and video calls. It’s supported by a limited number of handsets at present, with the Galaxy S5, Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy Light and LG’s G Flex among them, but is likely to become a standard feature over time. Verizon has also announced that it will be launching its own VoLTE service nationwide later in the year.
T-Mobile also noted that JD Power just ranked T-Mobile the highest in customer service among the top four major U.S. wireless providers, AT&T taking second place, Verizon third and Sprint Nextel fourth.
As it announced previously, T-Mobile is today launching the new affordable Samsung Galaxy Avant. We previously detailed how the device could have remote unlocking capabilities providing users with the ability to temporarily or permanently lock the device to a carrier through a dedicated app. The app, which was said to be in testing, wasn’t mentioned in T-Mobile’s press release today.
The Samsung Galaxy Avant boasts a stylish, slim design housing a powerful Quad-Core 1.2 GHz processor, 1.5GB RAM, and a brilliant 4.5” qHD screen. Unique Samsung features further simplify the user experience, including Easy Mode to make the phone easier to navigate for first-time smartphone users, S Voice™ for convenient assistance in your daily life, and Samsung Smart Switch™ to make it even easier to transfer your content to your new device.
The Samsung Galaxy Avant is available at T-Mobile starting today for $0 down and $9/month on T-Mobile’s usual installment plan. That brings the full total price to $216.
While the Senate recently passed a bill that could make it easier for Android smartphone users to switch carriers after their contract is through, unlocking a smartphone remains a tedious and often costly process in the United States and elsewhere. T-Mobile, continuing its efforts to eliminate the so-called “pain points” associated with carriers, is aiming to solve that problem.
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Although summer is in full swing, the folks at T-Mobile are getting ready for back-to-school season and to make things easier on starving students, the carrier is adding accessories priced from $69 – $250 to its Equipment Installment Program (EIP). This new setup lets T-Mobile customers purchase items like smartwatches and audio gear with a 24 month payment plan for no money down.
America’s four major wireless carriers are all accepting pre-orders for LG’s G3, however some lucky T-Mobile customers are reportedly receiving their new smartphone early. The magenta-hued network is scheduled to start selling the device to the public on July 16th, so receiving the device almost a week early is pretty sweet.
According to a leaked internal T-Mobile memo, accessories being sold to eligible customers will qualify for an EIP (equipment installment plan) starting on July 20th (via TmoNews). Much more expensive smartphone accessories such as smartwatches and high-end Beats headphones are surely becoming more and more attractive to customers, and the un-carrier seemingly wants to give customers an easier way to get their hands on them.
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T-Mobile held its un-carrier 5.0 (and 6.0) event a couple of weeks ago, and the company’s press release to go along with the event had T-Mobile CTO Neville Ray promising that the company would have an “LTE footprint north of 230 million pops by the end of [the] month.”
It appears that, just in time, the company has hit this goal. And in sarcastic and hilarious fashion, John Legere has taken to Twitter to confirm:
Neville confirmed we hit 230M POPs of LTE! Met our goal but still going! Where you at @Sprint? I hear you’re running behind. #sprintlikehell
— John Legere (@JohnLegere) June 28, 2014
Along with its growing LTE network, the un-carrier 5.0 event brought a slew of other announcements including an iPhone 5s test drive program, free streaming for iTunes Radio and other music services, and the company’s own music streaming service dubbed “unRadio.”
T-Mobile is now accepting pre-orders for the LG G3 and will begin selling the device at its retail locations on July 16th, the company announced today. In addition to revealing its release plans for LG’s new flagship smartphone, the carrier boasted about its successful early release promo of the handset, which racked up over 74,000 entrants. As a reminder the entry-level LG G3 features a 2,560 x 1,440 display, a quad-core 2.5GHz Snapdragon 801 processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB storage and Android 4.4.2 KitKat out of the box.
Amidst a plethora of swearing and shaming of its competing cellular carriers, T-Mobile CEO John Legere took the stage tonight at the company’s un-carrier 5.0 event to announce that its wideband LTE is now available in 16 markets across the United States. Additionally, Legere announced that its voice over LTE service now covers 100 million people.
Now, we’re announcing T-Mobile Wideband #LTE is now in 16 markets across the US. Our data-strong network is able to handle your data needs!
— T-Mobile (@TMobile) June 19, 2014
As noted in the press release for tonight’s announcements, T-Mobile now offers LTE (in at least 15+15MHz), in the following 16 markets:
And, as for VoLTE, the company has announced that service is now supported in the below listed locales. T-Mobile’s VoLTE is also coming to yet another handset starting tomorrow: the Samsung Galaxy S 5.
Although T-Mobile is rumored to be betrothed to Sprint, the magenta-hued carrier appears to have some prenuptial activities going on. Today, the company teased a new program called The Underground aimed at “true enthusiasts” looking for the latest and greatest the wireless world has to offer. As suggested by its name, this new initiative isn’t for any and everyone, but the carrier has yet to disclose what it takes to get in on the action.
After several months of rumors, Sprint is reportedly finally nearing a deal to acquire T-Mobile USA. The two have reportedly been in negotiations for awhile now, but they have apparently finally reached an agreeable number. The deal, as it stands now, would have Sprint acquiring the Uncarrier for $31.3 billion. T-Mobile currently has about $15 billion in debt and $5 billion in cash. Sprint is valuing the company at roughly $40 a share.
Following announcements for the roll out of Android 4.4.3 for a number of Android devices yesterday, Motorola today confirmed its own roll out schedule for Moto X, Moto G, and Moto E. Here’s the break down of who gets it first starting this week:
While users will get the improved dialer (pictured above) and other fixes we previously detailed for Android 4.4.3, Moto X and Moto G users will also get the Moto Alert app, and “pausing for video recording with a convenient pause/resume button on the viewfinder,” while Moto X gets improved camera image quality:
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Today, T-Mobile announced that its Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 devices will be making the jump to Android 4.4.3. Available now, these small software patches are rolling out to the carrier’s versions of Google’s latest purebred Android gadgets, but they can be installed manually if patience isn’t your strong suit. To start the update process, tap All Apps, Settings, About device and Software update. Once installed, your Nexus 5 should reflect software version KTU84M. If you’ve also invested in last year’s Nexus 7, just repeat the process and your tablet’s software version should display as KTU84L upon completion.
