I hadn't seen numbers that high for Sprint LTE yet. That's not too shabby. I just hope they built the infrastructure well enough to handle everybody and their grandma with a 3G Sprint handset now getting new phones and jumping on their LTE network within the next 1-3 years.
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Apple Must Approve Carrier LTE Networks Before Allowing iPhone 5 to Connect to Them
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I hadn't seen numbers that high for Sprint LTE yet. That's not too shabby. I just hope they built the infrastructure well enough to handle everybody and their grandma with a 3G Sprint handset now getting new phones and jumping on their LTE network within the next 1-3 years.
So how was Apple ensuring the best possible experience by advertising the iPad3 as LTE capable in Europe?
Good quality control on Apple's part.
Too bad they didn't use the same quality control on their maps app. Or the antenna on the iPhone 4. Or Final Cut Pro X. Or.......
this is bad marketing on apples side. has been all over the swiss news, that the LTE network starts now and iphone5 users have to wait for an update from apple until the first quarter of 2013 - while android users can just use it right away.
i dont see how this is any good for the customer.
i dont see how this is any good for the customer.
Normally, I might agree. However, after the garbage I've had to put up with recently on my iPhone, this strikes me as being more of the same. This has the potential to impact users, too, not just carriers. What if I as a user have an unlocked iPhone, and I move to a new place and bring my unlocked iPhone with me? Let's say there is a carrier in this area that has an LTE network that is fully capable of being used with my unlocked iPhone 5, and I (you know, "the user") decide that I want to use that network, but my iPhone refuses to connect to that LTE system not because of any issue with incompatibility, but because Apple hasn't authorized that specific network.
That's bullcrap.
-- Nathan
Actually.... a few miles away I can get 43mbps. And the speed doesn't even matter anymore unless you are tethering
I thought the same thing, the carriers were actually telling the truth for once. I really hope that mexican LTE support is enabled by carrier updates, if not we'll have to wait until end of January or more for 6.1
So if I buy an unlocked iPhone 5 and try to use it with an LTE network that doesn't yet offer the iPhone, I can't use LTE? That's kind of crap.
Yeah, they've had a good track record in that respect (mapgate springs to mind). Went with a Nokia Lumia 920 instead.
I wouldn't take the article too seriously. It could be much more of a mutual testing effort than this suggests.
doesn't use the same LTE bands and it's not an official carrier so there is really no basis lol
Perhaps LTE doesn't work
You bought into LTE because of performance. Since Apple has not yet enabled it, you are likely the beneficiary of not experiencing poor LTE performance over the Finish carriers' network. So instead of complaining about not having the service, you would be complaining because the service would not be working properly.
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What's the problem? Just because LTE has not been tested for functionality yet, doesn't mean you have no connectivity. You still have 3, 3G, 4, 4G.
Why the whining? You really need to download The Matrix to your iPhone 5 over the cellular network just because you're too impatient to do the downloads over wifi?
You bought into LTE because of performance. Since Apple has not yet enabled it, you are likely the beneficiary of not experiencing poor LTE performance over the Finish carriers' network. So instead of complaining about not having the service, you would be complaining because the service would not be working properly.
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What's the problem? Just because LTE has not been tested for functionality yet, doesn't mean you have no connectivity. You still have 3, 3G, 4, 4G.
Why the whining? You really need to download The Matrix to your iPhone 5 over the cellular network just because you're too impatient to do the downloads over wifi?
That's not the point. Contrary to any other LTE phone on the planet, you cannot use LTE on the iPhone, even if the other carrier's network uses the same bands and is (would be!) technically 100% compatible.
Apple advertises their phones quite verbosely on their web site:
"Cellular and Wireless:
GSM model A1428*: UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 4 and 17)
CDMA model A1429*: CDMA EV-DO Rev. A and Rev. B (800, 1900, 2100 MHz); UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 1, 3, 5, 13, 25)
GSM model A1429*: UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 1, 3, 5)"
http://www.apple.com/iphone/specs.html
But what are these claims really worth? I can have a contract with a carrier that operates a perfectly standard-conforming LTE network (LTE is not just some hodge-podge cobbled together individually by every carrier - it's a worldwide defined standard, you know?) on band 3. Like, for instance Swiss Swisscom. And the iPhone - contrary to any other conforming headset on the market - is still doing nothing on that network.
That means Apple's claims regarding LTE are basically worth... nothing.
So what purpose do they serve? They look like deceptive advertising, designed to trick me into assuming I can get LTE - when, in reality, I can't. And why can't I? Because Apple has knowingly and arbitrarily disabled the functionality in software.
Are you talking about using an iPhone on an unauthorized carrier or them not approving certain LTE networks?
Are you suggesting that Apple is the approving/authority of LTE networks, common Apple is not up to snuff with their LTE and have yet to bring their gear up to the standard.
Apple should be saying that the phones are not yet capable of LTE on all networks. and stop blaming the carriers. Sounds to me like the same kind of spin they gave to the recent UK judgment (the other person is wrong, not Apple...lol).
Don't get me wrong, I like Apple gear, just seems like they are trying to control the environment to slot into their ecosystem.
apple has carriers by the balls, software updates or carrier updates enable LTE on the phones. When the UK launched their 4G network for iPhone 5 user's it said there was a carrier update and walla the enable LTE toggle was there.
That's why they've always made sure every carrier has to support Visual Voicemail regardless of how much revenue Apple stood to lose if a network decided not to.
apple has carriers by the balls, software updates or carrier updates enable LTE on the phones. When the UK launched their 4G network for iPhone 5 user's it said there was a carrier update and walla the enable LTE toggle was there.
I'm talking about why I find it deceptive to advertise support of wireless standards while actually limiting them like Apple does:
- If you advertise wireless standards, there shouldn't be any carrier discrimination, whether it's called "authorization" or "approval". And there should be no need of a firmware update.
- If you choose to - arbitrarily - limit LTE support to selected carriers (maybe as a means to ensure a certain standard of customer experience), you should better be upfront about it - rather than hiding it in fine print footnotes and behind additional linkage.
...while, in fact, the majority of carriers does not support Visual Voicemail.
Well what is the point of having LTE if it doesn't work? The carrier settings determine if the LTE switch is there or not. I could have sworn in the keynote that it had what carriers would support LTE
The problem is that it is my phone and so it should be my decision, not Apple's. I don't see what's so hard to understand about this.
-- Nathan
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Was this meant to be sarcasm? As AppliedMicro pointed out, there are many, many carriers that Apple has agreements with to sell iPhone who have never implemented Visual Voicemail.
-- Nathan