T-Mobile expands HSPA+ footprint, now covers over 25 metro areas
By Chris Ziegler 
posted June 16th 2010 12:00AM
posted June 16th 2010 12:00AM
T-Mobile USA is announcing the expansion of its mobile broadband network, offering 4G speeds to more than 25 metropolitan areas across the U.S. and expects to cover more than 75 million Americans with HSPA+ by the end of June. Complementing the network expansion is the availability of the T-Mobile® webConnect Rocket™ USB Laptop Stick, the first HSPA+ capable device from a national U.S. wireless carrier, in these new areas. In addition, 15 released T-Mobile devices benefit from faster speeds with HSPA+ including the newest smartphone available from T-Mobile this month - the Nokia E73 Mode.
Now 4G speeds and the webConnect Rocket USB Laptop Stick are available in metropolitan areas across the country including Los Angeles; Dallas; Atlanta; Houston; Seattle; Tampa and Orlando, Fla.; Pittsburgh; Charlotte, Greensboro, and Winston-Salem, N.C.; Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Okla.; New Orleans; and Charleston, S.C. In addition, HSPA+ has been expanded to Bentonville, Ark.; Anderson, S.C.; and Fayetteville, N.C. T-Mobile's HSPA+ mobile broadband service is already live in New York; Philadelphia; Las Vegas; Memphis; Upstate New York; Connecticut; Providence, RI.; and the Washington, D.C., suburbs.
T-Mobile has made considerable progress in the number of areas with faster mobile broadband – and expects to continue this aggressive pace to deliver HSPA+ service in 100 major metropolitan areas with backhaul in place, covering 185 million people in the U.S. by the end of this year.
So, when are they releasing new Loyalty customer pricing?
@klondikebar
Way to go T-mobile. It's too bad that their voice footprint isn't in rural areas. Cheers though on improving your 3G network. :)
and when will they release Phones that don't look like they are meant for pre-schoolers?
first to Android and now have the weakest android lineup...hopefully when WinPho7 rolls out they'll at least step it up with that.
PS...microsoft should've released the Kin series for T-mo...not saying it's a great phone, but all the SK junkies would've jumped on the Kin.
@AbsoluteDesignz
"weakest"? Seriously, all T-Mobile customers are just looking at their phone lineup with blinders on.
If you want weakest, check out AT&T. If you want second best check out T-Mobile. They're launching the GALAXY S soon, and have a host of other Android phones.. Sprint just got the HTC Evo and all of the sudden they're the premier carrier for Android? Please.
@ASEVENSEE4 I'm a disgruntled G1 owner who was waiting for a great G2 expecting a lot and we got the MyTouch Slide...
however I didn't know about the Galaxy S coming to T-mo USA...I skimmed the title of that article and somehow thought it was going to UK...good news that is then...hopefully they market it properly.
@AbsoluteDesignz
The Galaxy S is going to all four carriers here in the states. Just with different names and minor changes. For example when it goes to AT&T it will be called the i897.
@AbsoluteDesignz
use a mytouch slide before you knock it. It's easily as fast as a 1ghz phone and the UI is awesome.
@AbsoluteDesignz Um, about the Sidekick comment.. I really don't think that us Sidekick users would really go for those =P I'm glad that the Kin is no where near T-Mobile. I love my Sidekick but it could be a lot better. I'm looking forward to this Galaxy S though.
@ASEVENSEE4 I'm secretly hoping that the Evo gets smashed by a competitor (T-Mobile). With the new releases so far it seems as if it's only competition is the new iPhone hahaha.
@Shakarak touche...
@AbsoluteDesignz T-Mo is currently the only carrier for the Nexus One, since this is Google's official phone it appears that android OS updates are coming to it must faster than other carriers' comparable android phones. I wonder how long it will take to get froyo on the EVO, while N1 users are already enjoying the massive speed updates that froyo brought.
@ASEVENSEE4
Actually duche, the Samsung Galaxy S Pro is coming to Sprint with you know, a sliding keyboard, a led flash, you know 4G, and uhm about 21 times more 3G coverage then the crap network known as T-Mobile, read a fucking book as McLovin would say
Which phones *actually* have HSPA+ capability in T-Mo's lineup, rather than just HSPA 7.2?
@iansltx Good point. Which of these phones support the HSPA+? Certainly it can't be all of those pictured above?
@Bean
The radio support HSPA+, so any 3G T-Mobile phone works with the new speeds
@Bskballa92 BEEP BEEP BEEP INCORRECT.
T-Mo's 21 Mbps HSPA+ network is certainly backward compatible with the plethora of 7.2 Mbps HSPA devices available with the carrier now, however what Bean and I are looking for are devices that can actually take advantage of HSPA+ to either get speeds in excess of 7 Mbps or to get reliable high speeds (10 Mbps maybe?) on a network that isn't unloaded.
@iansltx
In Dallas on my HD2 im gettin 9.9-11.2 mbps, what would you qualify as 'taking advantage' of hspa+?
@iansltx All of tmobile's 3G phones will see a speed improvement as part of this HSPA+ rollout. In the process all the backhaul links are being upgraded to handle the bandwidth. all HSPA 7.2 devices should be able to max out, and as some are showing even the HD2 which is HSPA 7.2 according to specs, has been able to pull upto 10mbps in a few examples ive seen over on XDAdevelopers. even an HSPA7.2 device maxed out is faster than the real world speeds people are seeing on Sprint's "4G"
@Bskballa92 when you say the Radio it sounds as if you are talking about the software (rom) not the physical device making any phone which can be rooted and successfully flashed capable...
And still doesn't have presence between the coasts...I want to try you out T-Mobile but you should concentrate on covering the nation before adding HSPA+ to the few people that can actually use your network.
@Protonucleus
riiiiiiiiiiight, they should alienate their customers in major markets for people that are probably completely satisfied with Verizon.. makes a whole lotta sense
I want to see a map
If you can actually pick up a decent signal...
Hey! T-Mobile! Improve your coverage and signal strength... then we'll talk.
I'm getting some 4G speeds in Dallas with HSDPA 7.2mbps (which is one of the speed stages apparently) on my CLIQ... proof: http://www.speedtest.net/result/848596804.png
tethered to my mbp with pdanet..
@mrawesome that doesnt look like 4G speeds. 4G speeds I thought usually averaged to about >1.3Mbps
On another note, Im a bit close. I live in the Washington DC area and I get about 0.9Mbps :)
@wako oops disregard... my comment. I feel like an idiot. you have your speedtest in MBps :D
@wako read it again; my down speed is 4.65 Mb/s my up speed was 1.36 Mb/s ... That's faster than all the EVO 4Gs I've tested (while on 4G) in the same area.
@wako its all good
@mrawesome heres mine from my nokia n900 and it has a 5 yr old sim card getting new one hoping for faster results http://www.speedtest.net/result/848464647.png
@wako There is no real definition on 4G. In Sweden at least 7.2Mbit (what mrawesome has) is called 3G+ or Turbo. Note: bit, not Bytes, you were right the first time sort of. It's basically enhanced 3G.
4G on the other hand would be the LTE technology that started about half a year ago. It was first released throttled but that is now removed and you should now be able to get 80Mbit in the center of Stockholm.
Now give us a none crappy phone please. HD2 was a good start and Im liking how youre getting cozy again with Nokia, but honestly? The myTouch slide?
If the new iPhone 4 comes out on Tmobile I might have a nerdgasm
Hmmm, being a Portlander, this makes an HD2 look more attractive. Root that thing and turn it into a wifi router - Bam, no need to pay for internet anymore.
@o TINY o
I already do this, my speeds are pretty decent most of the time. Sometimes I experience so major dips tho. In any case, fortunately, with the HD2 you do not need to root to use it as a wifi hotspot.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=538874&highlight=phone+browsing
I love xda
Galaxy S Pro looks promising.. T-mobile please?
http://www.speedtest.net/result/848464647.png
@Atlantian danng niice numbers.. I've seen 4+mbps a lot but never hit 5mbps.. you must be really close to a tower or out in the open.
@mrawesome I just hit 6 :)
@hineschr http://www.speedtest.net/result/848986767.png
T-mobile should advertise the Nexus One. It's by far their best phone still.
Seems the US carriers are around 1 year behind in 3G speeds compared to Europe (we have had this for about 1 year). But they are catching up real quickly, since the US was 2 year behind in the implementation of 3G to mass population.. Give it a year or two and the US will leap ahead (unless the LTE technology goes mass in Europe faster)
Question guys... If and when I unlock my iPhone 4 to use T-Mobile, will I be able to get HSPA+ speeds since HSPA+ works with any HSPA compatible phone? Will 3G work on an iPhone 4 brought from the US using T-Mobiles frequencies??
@Fatalll
Short answer, no.
Sadly this matters not since I'm waiting for the SGS.
Unfortunately none of the 3G capable iPhones work in 3G for tmobile. All we get is Edge.
Tmobile is 1700/2100 gsm/3g the iPhones have the 2100 part but not the 1700.
Seriously though I would love it if: better android phones were offered on tmobile: droid, or the evo and/or the iPhone, and a web os device came out for tmobile.
@tjrchka Try Sprint. They are the only other carrier with similar pricing to T-Mobile and the coverage is much better. I could see not wanting to go to VZW or ATT due to price and some shady business practices but Sprint and TMo are kinda tied for cost. I wouldn't mind TMo and considered switching for the Nexus One last January but by the time my contract was up, we had the Evo available and I prefer that phone anyway.
@tjrchka Look closely, it's not even the same 2100.
Also, T-Mobile is ~1700 UP (from cell), and ~2100 DOWN (from tower), instead of AT&T's unified up/down on either ~1900 or ~850. Of course, unified == less bandwidth too.
For comparison, UMTS I 2100 (most of the world) is ~2100 DOWN, and ~1900 UP.
Samsung galaxy running that wack ass touch wiz interface man please that phone is gonna fail. Sprints galaxy pro looks better anyway spec wise
idc about pricing cause i got unlimited web anyways and im in one of those metro areas so im waiting on my mutha FUQIN SPEED BOOST BICH
What the f***???
Fayetteville, Winston Salem, and Greensboro but no Raleigh-Durham???
*Sigh*
In Houston Tx just did a speedtest.net test on the nexus one with the new t-mo hspa+ getting speeds at 3788 down and 1618 up, super sweet!!!!
Where's the list of Devices that can support this? This link from tmonews (http://www.tmonews.com/2010/06/t-mobile-expanding-hspa-markets-today/) says there are only 15 devices that can take advantage of HSPA+, but my reading states that *any* 3g device should be able to support the new speeds. So anyone have the real info? My N1 better be able to take advantage of this awesomeness.
And I agree with others about TMO: Expand your coverage, then kick up to high speeds. Why is it that the cart is always in front of the tail end of the horse!?!?!?