T-Mobile/GoSmart Mobile 3G on iPhone 3G/3GS/4/4S/5 Confirmed Areas

Seattle here, actually a bit north in Shoreline.

My iPhone 4 is picking up 3G in most locations. It keeps 3G signal on I5 to downtown.

The $30 100 min/5GB plan is perfect for my usage.

I got the SIM online for 99 cents, bought a $30 card at the grocery. Activated online and picked the $30 plan while signing up.

3G confirmed in Flagstaff, Arizona (small college town 2 hrs north of phoenix)

Pretty interesting that T-mo already provides 3G up here (tested on my old unlocked iPhone 4, which is currently being used on t-mobile). I was really surprised to see "3G" up on the status bar of my gf's phone. It'll probably be a looooong, long wait until I'll be able to get AT&T LTE service here on my i5. So, kudos to T-mobile for their quickness on getting the iPhone compatible network up and running so quickly.

Just stopping at Chicago Midway on the way back to Colorado and got 3G.

A T-Mobile employee let me borrow their SIM card to test out coverage in my iPhone.

I live & work in the St. Louis area.

At home - EDGE, 100 kbp/s.
At work - EDGE, 100 kbp/s. (east side of Forest Park)

I don't think I'll be switching to T-Mobile any time soon.

TMO LTE launching in Las Vegas in about 2 weeks.

Xenomorph said:

A T-Mobile employee let me borrow their SIM card to test out coverage in my iPhone.

I live & work in the St. Louis area.

At home - EDGE, 100 kbp/s.
At work - EDGE, 100 kbp/s. (east side of Forest Park)

I don't think I'll be switching to T-Mobile any time soon.

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Well, if you believe T-Mobile's CEO, they're rolling out iPhones some time in the next 3-4 months. I'd like to think they'd get their network refarmed almost entirely before they'd do that. Might be worth checking again later this quarter.

smitty303 said:

Just stopping at Chicago Midway on the way back to Colorado and got 3G.

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There's 3G in Colorado too.

AlphaDogg said:

There's 3G in Colorado too.

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Yeah, but it's still very spotty south of town. Although, when I force my iphone into 3G via a toggle, I find some low signal level 3G. I wish I knew how to make the phone favor 3G over edge with a jailbreak.

smitty303 said:

Yeah, but it's still very spotty south of town. Although, when I force my iphone into 3G via a toggle, I find some low signal level 3G. I wish I knew how to make the phone favor 3G over edge with a jailbreak.

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how do i force 3G only?

kvizzel said:

how do i force 3G only?

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In searching for a way to see if I could get my phone to ignore edge signals to favor 3G I read some posts about "toggling" the 3G mode to force the iPhone to first search for a 3G signal before locking to a stronger edge signal. It seems that even though there may be a weaker 3G signal available in an area, if the edge signal is stronger, it is used, as you might expect.

So, in my quest to see if there was any 3G service lurking near my home, I did the following.

1. Go to Settings/Carrier/Automatic and turn it OFF (this might be optional but one post suggested it. It also seems to work with automatic ON for me)

2. Go to Settings/General/Cellular and toggle the Enable 3G setting from ON to OFF and then back to ON

I believe the toggle of Enable 3G from OFF to ON makes the software try to find a 3G signal to lock onto before giving up and looking for an edge signal. I have uncovered more 3G service this way. However, with weak 3G signals that drop, you fall back to edge. I've also read some posts related to iOS 4 about editing a file on a jailbroken iphone to select only 3G service (i.e. ignore edge). But I haven't tried this as I have iOS 6.0.1 on my iPhone 4. Addtionally, there may be some Cydia apps like SBsettings or iControl that can disable edge and use only 3G from a control panel. Again, haven't tried them yet.

Now, if I can only figure out how to take out those edge cell sites without anyone noticing!

RotaryP7 said:

TMO LTE launching in Las Vegas in about 2 weeks.

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And it will be just as spotty as their 3G coverage. who cares

It will probably take until the end of the year for T-Mobile to have consistent 3g nationwide. Lte will probably only be available in the top markets.

gkarris said:

Yes...

The near western suburbs of Chicago where I live is now entirely on 3G - total goodness...

The lines at T- Mobile stores around Chicago when they get the iPhone are going to be long...

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I'm considering breaking my att contract to get t-mobile in chicago. Can you comment on reliability downtown and/or other parts of the city? The map shows downtown is fairly well covered, but I'm also particularly interested in Lakeview and Hyde Park.

I have to break my contract (aka pay) to unlock my 4S so I can't just swap in a sim and test it out.

Speranza89 said:

I'm considering breaking my att contract to get t-mobile in chicago. Can you comment on reliability downtown and/or other parts of the city? The map shows downtown is fairly well covered, but I'm also particularly interested in Lakeview and Hyde Park.

I have to break my contract (aka pay) to unlock my 4S so I can't just swap in a sim and test it out.

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The only bad coverage in the area is in the suburbs far out from the city limits (like well past Hoffman Estates). Voice is still good, but it's still only EDGE out that ways....

upnorth85 said:

Wise decision not to come to t-mobile until they have contiguous 3G coverage rather than spotty 3G and widespread Edge coverage. I may permanently bale out from T-mobile if in 2 months there is no improvement. I have 4 phones to move over.

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I would not even mind the spotty 3G coverage in NYC if it didn't affect the entire phone. Right now, when moving from 3G to Edge zones, I always get a drop in service ("No Service") and once the signal is restored, the Internet no longer works even if it shows 3G or Edge on top of the screen. Turning the cellular signal off and on again does not help. The only solution is to turn off the phone and restart. The call quality on T-Mobile is dreadful even when I am stationary in the middle of the Upper East Side. I was trying to wait it out, as I was told by customer service that it should get better, but it's been 1 month and there is no improvement. Sure, $30/mo is not bad but missing important calls or being unable to check important mail is the reason I got an iPhone in the first place. If only T-Mobile communicated the status of their refarming. You'd think Manhattan would be done by now.

Hi guys, I'm in Utah (SLC area) testing for a certain pink company and we're testing something very similar to this. Not sure how into detail I can go, but it's definitely being worked on.

Hello everyone , just check airportal.de and it states that 3G was spotted in Honolulu . Has anyone else tested this ? I'm in Honolulu , and once T-Mobile has 3G on the island , I'm gonna make the switch . Thanks !

Just noticing Tmobile 3G for the first time in Rochester NY. Excited to check out the coverage... Speed seems good.

jordanskills134 said:

Hello everyone , just check airportal.de and it states that 3G was spotted in Honolulu . Has anyone else tested this ? I'm in Honolulu , and once T-Mobile has 3G on the island , I'm gonna make the switch . Thanks !

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I was in Honolulu last week and was only able to get 3G signal with my T-mobile iPhone at the airport. I had 3G enabled the whole time and went all over Oahu but it always showed "E" so I assume they haven't refarmed the rest of the island just yet.

I was getting 3G on my 4S at the 1st Bank Centre in Broomfield, CO. No speed tests, unfortunately.

T-mobile has been refarming frequencies. The 1900 Mhz PCS network supports 3G on the iPhone. The LTE will run on the 1700 Mhz which again is compatible with AT&T and iPhone 5.

The problem though is that their 3G coverage is very spotty. I used the iPhone 5 for a month in a "refarmed" city and am back on my SGS2 running on AWS 1700/2100 Mhz.

What plan are all of you using for your iPhones?

NewAnger said:

What plan are all of you using for your iPhones?

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Currently I'm on the 5gb plan, but when my contract expires I'll switch to unlimited.

Ohio?

Maybe if I post something every day in every forum covering this subject, Tmo might finally show some love to us here in Ohio. I mean, c'mon, Columbus isn't that small of a market. I bought two full-priced, unlocked iPhones last summer under the assumption the refarm project would be complete by end of 2012. Still waiting....

Thanks for letting me b* & moan.