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T-Mobile to Release Software Update With LTE and Visual Voicemail Support for Unlocked iPhones on April 5

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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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TmoNews reports that T-Mobile USA has issued an internal memo announcing that it will release a new carrier update on April 5 that will add LTE support for unlocked iPhones running on its network. The update will also bring Visual Voicemail and other features to the devices.
The T-Mobile Carrier Update is a minor iOS software update that enables official iPhone support by T-Mobile. When installed, the software update enables a handful of capabilities like Visual Voicemail, MMS Settings and Network/Device optimizations that customers do not have access to today.

On April 5, the software update will begin being pushed via OTA to all iPhone devices on the T-Mobile network with iOS 6.1.x or higher.
Click to expand...
tmonews_iphone_carrier_update.jpg
The software update for existing handsets will come one week before T-Mobile officially begins offering the iPhone, although it has for a number of years catered to iPhone users seeking to bring their unlocked devices to the carrier.

iphone_5_tmobile_april_12.jpg
While existing T-Mobile customers using unlocked iPhones will be able to access LTE speeds in just a handful of cities, the carrier is working on rapidly building out its LTE network. Existing users will also continue to have some limitations on network access, as Apple will be releasing a tweaked iPhone 5 as part of the T-Mobile launch, with the new hardware providing full compatibility with T-Mobile's network including AWS Band 4 frequencies that are unsupported by iPhone devices sold to date.

Band 4 is where much of T-Mobile's 3G network is housed, an issue that has long forced iPhone users on the carrier to fall back to slower EDGE networks on Band 2. T-Mobile has been working hard to shift its 3G network over to Band 2 to provide greater 3G compatibility for existing customers, but the transition is not yet complete.

Article Link: T-Mobile to Release Software Update With LTE and Visual Voicemail Support for Unlocked iPhones on April 5
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2013/04/02/t-mobile-to-release-software-update-with-lte-and-visual-voicemail-support-for-unlocked-iphones-on-april-5/
daneoni

daneoni

macrumors G4
Mar 24, 2006
11,598
1,146
Always found it weird that more carriers didn't/haven't jump on the Visual Voicemail train. Such a useful feature. Ditto for HD Voice.
 
R

Ryth

macrumors 68000
Apr 21, 2011
1,591
157
5s is probably right around the corner in June...probably waiting before I make the switch over to TM.
 
V

viperGTS

macrumors 68000
Nov 15, 2010
1,560
941
Hopefully this update fixes the signal issues I've been having as of recent. I keep dropping to "no service." :(
 
D

DarwinOSX

macrumors 68000
Nov 3, 2009
1,636
183
daneoni said:
Always found it weird that more carriers didn't/haven't jump on the Visual Voicemail train. Such a useful feature. Ditto for HD Voice.
Click to expand...

Apple requires carriers to include it at no additional cost. Others, like Android devices, don't, so companies like Verizon charge for Visual Voicemail. Apple also doesn't allow carrier bloatware or branding on their phones unlike Android which is festooned with logos and a crazy amount of bloatware. Verizon even put their logo on the home button of the Note 2

----------
Ryth said:
5s is probably right around the corner in June...probably waiting before I make the switch over to TM.
Click to expand...

Not sure how people can live with T-Mobile coverage unless its great where you live and you don't travel much. Whatever Verizon's faults are coverage isn't one of them. Especially LTE which nobody is even close to them on including AT&T.
 
B

britboyj

macrumors 6502a
Apr 8, 2009
814
1,086
T-Mobile is making a good case to steal me away when my Verizon contract expires... The important questions are:

  1. Will they unlock my phone while I'm on a payment plan, if I travel overseas?
  2. Is tethering included in their LTE Unlimited?
  3. What's their LTE Network performance like?
 
V

vmachiel

macrumors 68000
Feb 15, 2011
1,772
1,440
Holland
Cool. I've called with HD-voice, it's actually noticeable. Well.. if you go back to normal quality that is. Kinda like if you go back to a non-retina 9 inch iPad if you used a retina one for a while.
 
alphaod

alphaod

macrumors Core
Feb 9, 2008
22,183
1,245
NYC
Okay, so it won't require an OS upgrade. That's good.

britboyj said:
T-Mobile is making a good case to steal me away when my Verizon contract expires... The important questions are:

  1. Will they unlock my phone while I'm on a payment plan, if I travel overseas?
  2. Is tethering included in their LTE Unlimited?
  3. What's their LTE Network performance like?
Click to expand...

If you look at their plans everything includes tethering. Verizon iPhone 5s already come unlocked, but they don't work on 3G on T-Mobile.

As for network performance, on compatible devices T-Mobile feels pretty good. I mean if the minuscule difference between LTE and HSPA+ browsing Facebook or your favorite site really is going to make a difference.
 
W

wkadamsjr

macrumors 6502
Jun 29, 2010
282
62
DarwinOSX said:
Not sure how people can live with T-Mobile coverage unless its great where you live and you don't travel much. Whatever Verizon's faults are coverage isn't one of them. Especially LTE which nobody is even close to them on including AT&T.
Click to expand...

Obviously speed does not concern you. Maybe Verizon hits more markets (for now), but AT&T is much faster. And if you aren't on LTE, look out. Data speeds drop off considerably on Verizon. In fact, Verizon is the slowest of the four major US carriers in non-LTE markets.
 
W

writingdevil

macrumors 6502
Feb 11, 2010
254
32
britboyj said:
T-Mobile is making a good case to steal me away when my Verizon contract expires... The important questions are:

  1. Will they unlock my phone while I'm on a payment plan, if I travel overseas?
  2. Is tethering included in their LTE Unlimited?
  3. What's their LTE Network performance like?
Click to expand...

I was in TM store in Hollywood Friday and they said it won't be unlocked until it's paid for. I wanted it for film job in Austria, where nano-sim chip is dirt cheap compared to roaming.
Tethering comes with all other plans up to their limit, but only 500 mb with unlimited, but you can buy more @ USD10/2gb/month.
Check it out: https://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/individual-plans.aspx

Edit: Actually, despite what guy said in store, TM phone customer service says they will, after two months service, unlock for Euro nano-sim card
 
Last edited:
Nermal

Nermal

Moderator
Staff member
Dec 7, 2002
20,632
3,987
New Zealand
b.inazawa-fan said:
So this https://www.macrumors.com/2013/03/2...a-tweaked-model-a1428-phone-with-aws-support/ isn't a new hardware revision, just software tweaks? Great, else people who bought an unlocked 5 before this would've been burned.

EDIT: Or well, reading carefully, the T-Mobile note doesn't mention it'll add LTE support. Guess I'm wrong and it is new hardware.
Click to expand...

The new hardware adds WCDMA 1700 (what T-Mobile calls "4G"). The existing hardware already supports LTE Band 4 and just needs the update.
 
J

JPark

macrumors 6502a
Jun 5, 2006
662
158
wkadamsjr said:
Obviously speed does not concern you. Maybe Verizon hits more markets (for now), but AT&T is much faster. And if you aren't on LTE, look out. Data speeds drop off considerably on Verizon. In fact, Verizon is the slowest of the four major US carriers in non-LTE markets.
Click to expand...

I haven't done a direct comparison, but I can't believe it's slower than Sprint's non-LTE (assuming no Wi-Max, which iPhone doesn't support and which Sprint is killing off). Sprint's 3G is slower than AT&T's Edge.
 
L

lowbatteries

macrumors regular
Mar 21, 2008
236
36
what about ST?

I wish Straight Talk would do this. I have my AT&T iPhone running on ST and having to do a hacky SIM-card swap or jailbreak just to get the MMS settings right is a pain.
 
G

gatearray

macrumors 65816
Apr 24, 2010
1,130
232
great news if you live in the sticks!

4G LTE Initial Market launches 3/26/2013
Las Vegas, NV
Phoenix, AZ
San Jose, CA
Houston, TX
Washington D.C.
Kansas City, MO
Baltimore, MD


yep, that's it. :)
 
D

dewthedru

macrumors regular
Nov 22, 2010
178
2
I'm confused. If I buy a Tmobile IP5 today, will it be updated via the update to run on the T-Mobile LTE and 3G? Or LTE and just Edge when LTE isn't available? Or do I need to wait until April 12th as per the other threads?
 
M

madsci954

macrumors 68030
Oct 14, 2011
2,725
658
Ohio
dewthedru said:
I'm confused. If I buy a Tmobile IP5 today, will it be updated via the update to run on the T-Mobile LTE and 3G? Or LTE and just Edge when LTE isn't available? Or do I need to wait until April 12th as per the other threads?
Click to expand...

The official Tmo iPhone wont go on sale until the 12th with pre-orders on the 5th. That model will work on all Tmo bands from 3G to LTE. This coming update on the 5th will add support to current iPhones, giving proper MMS and LTE connections. If you have an iPhone 5 currently on Tmo, you still cannot get on their 3G if your area has not been refarmed, you still would have to buy the new one.
 
R

Ryth

macrumors 68000
Apr 21, 2011
1,591
157
DarwinOSX said:
Apple requires carriers to include it at no additional cost. Others, like Android devices, don't, so companies like Verizon charge for Visual Voicemail. Apple also doesn't allow carrier bloatware or branding on their phones unlike Android which is festooned with logos and a crazy amount of bloatware. Verizon even put their logo on the home button of the Note 2

----------



Not sure how people can live with T-Mobile coverage unless its great where you live and you don't travel much. Whatever Verizon's faults are coverage isn't one of them. Especially LTE which nobody is even close to them on including AT&T.
Click to expand...

Works great in the NOVA/DC area. Just went on a road trip from VA to MN...didn't have any issues the whole trip.

To each their own.

----------
britboyj said:
T-Mobile is making a good case to steal me away when my Verizon contract expires... The important questions are:

  1. Will they unlock my phone while I'm on a payment plan, if I travel overseas?
  2. Is tethering included in their LTE Unlimited?
  3. What's their LTE Network performance like?
Click to expand...

I highly doubt they will unlock it. Only way will be to buy the phone upfront.
 
T

Tiger8

macrumors 68020
May 23, 2011
2,479
649
No Love for Nokia Lumia 810

T-Mo was supposed to push software update for Nokia Lumia 810, but decided against it last minute.

Maybe because Windows 8 phone is already doomed? (just like Windows 7, Windows 7.5)?
 
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