RSSReport: T-Mobile to Announce UMTS
By Ed Oswald | Published October 4, 2006, 4:23 PM
T-Mobile may announce its plans to transition to UMTS as early as Friday, according to press reports. The nation's fourth biggest wireless carrier was the big winner in the recent FCC wireless frequency auction, and it is believed that much of the frequency gains would be used for its 3G plans.
According to analysts, T-Mobile's UMTS would operate on the 1700 and 2100 MHz bands, much like CIngular's offering. These frequencies are different than those used in Europe for UMTS - meaning the phones would only work in the US until dual-mode handsets are produced.
Expected to attend the announcement are both T-Mobile USA executives as well as those from Deustche Telekom, the carrier's parent company, eWeek says. While sources say news about T-Mobile USA's 3G plans is imminent, pundits are not certain it would be on Friday.
Possibly furthering those analysts' claims is the fact that T-Mobile USA has not confirmed that there would be a press conference for that day. Either way, implementing UMTS across T-Mobile's nationwide network would likely not be completed until 2008, at the earliest.
Currently, T-Mobile's network is only equipped to handle EDGE data, which offers data speeds equivalent to a dialup connection at 56k with bursts of higher speeds.
Compare this with Verizon and Sprint, who can offer 400-700kbps speeds with bursts much higher thanks to EV-DO, and Cingular, which can offer similar speeds through its recently launched UMTS network. The result is that T-Mobile has been shut out from the lucrative corporate cellular sales segment.
T-Mobile USA is not permitted to comment on the content of the story due to a mandatory "quiet period" following the FCC auction.
and one more thing. T-mobile in the UK warned people that using Skype over 3G will violate their contracts and they would shut their sim card off.
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|UMTS you can have data and voce at the same time. that is truely one big advantage to edge and EDVO which only allows data
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|i'm confused. 2100 is for europe and the frequency is not allowed yet in the US. the US has been using 850-1900 for the UMTS. what is the 1700?
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|Every news article related to T-Mobile USA has been referring to the FCC quiet period for the last couple of weeks. Any word how long the period will last?
If they're rumored to have a press conference this week, does that mean that the regulatory quiet period is ending then?
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|Agrred with Spank,
3G is garbage. Yeah is good for text and small pictures but for true highspeed is trash.
Save your money for 4G.
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|Feel free to correct me if im wrong but arent those data speeds only available near tmobile hotspots? It would be neat to have highspeed access at starbucks without paying for it, but it's not something i'd use... ever...
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|what data speeds? 56K? I frequently stream radio programs that are mp3 @ 128Kbit/secs so the article is definatly wrong about the EDGE data rates. Plus it fails to mention the slow 3G upload speeds, where in some instances, EDGE is faster....
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|What instances? You mean when the EDGE carrier has full reception, and 3G doesn't? Yeah, that's a good comparison.
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|I think UTMS is stupid and that tmobile just should wait a few years and then spend what they saved on not building UTMS on 4G which is gonna be 100mbit transfer rate.
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|Can T-mobile really afford to wait? All their rivals have already started building out their 3G networks but T-mobile has not. Sprint and Verizon already have 3G coverage in most urban areas that they serve. If T-mobile doesn't start providing some improvement in their data rates the only customer they will have in 2-3 years will be the people that only use their phones to make voice calls.
The other problem I see is that 4G is farther out then I think you are implying. I can't even get 100mbit/s on a landline for any reasonable cost. What makes you think we will see 100mbit wireless in the next 5 years?
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|Because of this: http://www.betanews.com/...ere_Comes_4G/1157146876
and for the record, most people do use their phones for phone calls...
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|Even that article says the spectrum hasn't even been allocated for 4G. 2 years is optimistic for a usable roll-out (ie, with decent coverage) given 3G coverage is still lacklustre.
It will be a while before 4G is a viable option - and the solution might not necessarily be provided just by mobile carriers. In Aus, an ISP holds rights to a lot of WiMax spectrum - it could be an interesting market.
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