iPhone 8 and iPhone X Don't Support T-Mobile's Upcoming 600 MHz LTE Network

[SeaFox]

Shouldn't the title of this article be : T-Mobile has a 600 MHz LTE network and no device to use on it?

No, because they don't have the network yet.
They just have a piece of paper saying they are allowed to run such a network, if they want to.

(I add that last part because that was something some other carriers did once. They outbid others for certain blocks of spectrum, and then sat on them and did nothing. It was just an anti-competitive move to hamper other carriers trying to improve their networks)

 

[Solomani]

Looks like it won't impact me because I live near civilization.

Phew!

Not true. I use T-Mo…. and reception sometimes gets really sucky indoors. Especially when indoors means working in a basement office of a large building built in the 1950s. I know it's not T-Mos fault that I work in an office that resembles a Cold War Era bunker…. but my co-workers who have AT&T do get some reception in the basement. I do not. My T-Mo wireless is zero bars. I only have WiFi as a backup.

 

[kstotlani]

That's great... save me from upgrading. IMO, I dont find the 8 or the X appealing feature-wise. Either I'm getting old or iPhone are behind on their features vs other competitors. face detecting emojis are cool on demos, but I probably wont use it often in real life. This feels like the MBP's touchbar all over again.

The only issue will be your phone slowing down with iOS updates. In case you bought the 7 maybe iOS 11 would be fine but iOS 12 might work too slow. Faster CPU is the only reason I would choose the latest model.

 

[ryanwarsaw]

except its the iPhone "ten" not the iPhone "x" and saying the iPhone 10 2 sounds horrid.

10-4 good buddy.

 

[gim]

If I remember correctly, this isn't the first time that T-mobile has incompatible/unsupported network.

T-Mobile doesn't have an "incompatible" network. It's one single LTE band that won't work because Apple is a company that sells crippled $1,000 phones.m

But hey, they didn't even mange integrating Touch ID in the iPhone X display, so including the newest LTE bands surely wasn't a priority.

 

[pat500000]

T-Mobile doesn't have an "incompatible" network. It's one single LTE band that won't work because Apple is a company that sells crippled $1,000 phones.m

But hey, they didn't even mange integrating Touch ID in the iPhone X display, so including the newest LTE bands surely wasn't a priority.

Samething. Band doesn't work=incompatible

 

[dampfnudel]

I can't even get 2G where I live yet...

If only carrier pigeons still existed.

 

[PickUrPoison]

If I had ordered a new phone, this would be cause for me to immediately cancel the order.

This is very short-sighted by Apple. I understand that TMo didn't win the spectrum until earlier this year but the fact was that SOMEONE was going to win the auctions and it was going to be rolled out. It should have been built in.

I suspect we're going to get a slight revision to the 8/8+/X early next year that adds that band.

The chances of Apple making a mid-model year update merely to support a band that almost no one can use at the moment is zero. Much expense for almost no benefit.

Eventually the band will be more widely deployed, and at some point Apple will support it. But not for another year or two.

 

[usarioclave]

Eventually the band will be more widely deployed, and at some point Apple will support it. But not for another year or two.

I'd guess it'll come next year in the 'tock' release. Apple won't switch out modems on the fly, and unless the radio is SDN they'll need a new modem.

 

[jamesrick80]

Hence, no one has to worry about this network until maybe the end of next year. LTE on other bands work well in many cities. One feature that iPhone users should really be pissed about is the lack of 4 * 4 MIMO support and Gigabyte LTE.

 

[apolloa]

Don't be upset about this everyone. The key to a better network is NOT faster bands or "5G"...

We need MORE cell towers with BETTER antennas in those towers.

Once the infrastructure is in place (like in T-Mobile's case), THEN we can talk about 5G.

But seriously people, we don't even have true 4G support in most places. (LTE is not 4G).

This this this this this a million times over! I'm sick of getting poor signals in areas and I really don't see what I need gigabit speeds on my phone for???
I think 50mbps up and down is waaayyy more then enough, it's enough to stream 4K!!

Just give me better signal coverage. Forget this useless obsession with pointless speeds.

It's 2017, mobiles have existed for years and years and years now, it really is about time we get 100% full coverage.

 

[pika2000]

If I had ordered a new phone, this would be cause for me to immediately cancel the order.

This is very short-sighted by Apple. I understand that TMo didn't win the spectrum until earlier this year but the fact was that SOMEONE was going to win the auctions and it was going to be rolled out. It should have been built in.

I suspect we're going to get a slight revision to the 8/8+/X early next year that adds that band.

Really? Short sighted? How many phones support that band? One? T-Mobile won't even roll out the band everywhere overnight. It will take years. By then, we will see new devices supporting it.
[doublepost=1505801880][/doublepost]

T-Mobile doesn't have an "incompatible" network. It's one single LTE band that won't work because Apple is a company that sells crippled $1,000 phones.m

But hey, they didn't even mange integrating Touch ID in the iPhone X display, so including the newest LTE bands surely wasn't a priority.

Sure, because other OEMs were jumping on board already.... Oh wait. That $1k Samsung Note 8 doesn't have it either.

 

[sniffies]

Does that mean that iPhone X will be limited to EDGE on T-mobile??

 

[PickUrPoison]

Does that mean that iPhone X will be limited to EDGE on T-mobile??

No, luckily when a carrier starts to roll out an additional band to their network, it doesn't turn off all the currently supported bands. Otherwise T Mobile would have just put themselves out of business.

Like all other cell phones currently shipping, iPhones don't yet support T- Mobile's newly purchased frequency spectrum--but then again, neither does T-Mobile, for almost all of their towers. The tower upgrades will take years, and Apple will support them beginning with next year's models, or maybe the year after that (just guessing).

 

[SeaFox]

except its the iPhone "ten" not the iPhone "x" and saying the iPhone 10 2 sounds horrid.

You've put up with it for many years of OS X didn't you? Remember when it first came out, they said the same thing: "It's pronounced 'ten' not 'x'." I can't remember when they gave up on that one.

 

[cyanite]

My understanding is that it's because Qualcomm is the supplier for the CDMA chip. For every phone they sell with that CDMA chip, they have to give money to Qualcomm. If there's no CDMA chip, then there's no money given to Qualcomm. That's why they produce a GSM-only version.

Where by "GSM" you mean UMTS. GSM is 2G.

 

[symphara]

Corect me if I am wrong, but I don't think apple builds the modems. I don't think anyone supports it yet.

I think the V30 supports it, and probably the Mate 10 will support it too.

 

[jezbd1997]

But no one is really buying that it's the future. They've already read enough to know it's a COMPROMISE and engineering failure of Touch ID under the glass. There will always be situations, like in the car, where Face ID is simply not good. Nothing is going to change with that until no one is driving their own cars!

Texting and driving is not safe.... haha.. no issue with face ID not working in that situation
p.s. moving off topic

 

[dannys1]

If only carrier pigeons still existed.

They're delivering my internet...

 

[star_nerdy]

T-Mobile doesn't have LTE coverage at my family's home in Colorado. My parent's live 15 minutes from the state capital building and they don't have coverage.

T-Mobile can go ahead and launch their network at record speed, but that doesn't mean it'll be any good once it launches. Their customer service and price point is spectacular, but their coverage is subpar.

 

[RangerRickMN]

Apple's iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X are not compatible with LTE Band 71, aka T-Mobile's new 600 MHz spectrum the company plans on rolling out in the United States as soon as this year.

All new iPhone models in the United States support FDD-LTE Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, and 66, and TD-LTE bands 4, 38, 39, 40, and 41, according to the Tech Specs page for the devices.

Support for additional bands can't be added retroactively, so Apple's devices will not work with LTE Band 71 until support is added to future iPhones.

T-Mobile purchased the 600 MHz spectrum in an FCC auction in April of 2017. Shortly after, T-Mobile announced plans to use the spectrum to deliver 5G coverage starting in 2019, but later said it would use the spectrum to improve its network in rural America starting this year.

Unfortunately, by the time T-Mobile purchased the spectrum and announced plans for rapid implementation, the LTE chips and the hardware for the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X were likely already secured, giving Apple no time to build in support for a newly announced LTE band.

T-Mobile in August activated the first 600 MHz LTE site in Cheyenne, Wyoming and has said it will deploy the spectrum at a "record-shattering pace" with plans to roll out 600 MHz sites in Wyoming, Northwest Oregon, West Texas, Southwest Kansas, the Oklahoma panhandle, Western North Dakota, Maine, Coastal North Carolina, Central Pennsylvania, Central Virginia, and Eastern Washington, but whether T-Mobile will hit that goal and get 600 MHz support in those locations by the end of 2017 remains to be seen.

As Peter Cohen points out, deploying the 600 MHz network is a complicated, time-consuming process that will span several years, so most iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and X users won't be heavily affected by the lack of support for the new LTE band at this time.T-Mobile says Band 71 adds increased building penetration and covers greater distances. When used in metro areas, it improves in-building coverage, and in rural areas, it improves the company's LTE footprint.

There are no existing devices that support T-Mobile's new spectrum at this time. Like Apple's newest devices, for example, Samsung's Galaxy S8 and new Galaxy Note 8 do not offer support. T-Mobile has said that LG and Samsung will launch devices compatible with the spectrum by the end of the year, and LG's upcoming LG V30 will be one of the first devices to support it.

Article Link: iPhone 8 and iPhone X Don't Support T-Mobile's Upcoming 600 MHz LTE Network

[doublepost=1505824887][/doublepost]Frustrating. LG V30 is integrating this technology.
[doublepost=1505824977][/doublepost]

No, because they don't have the network yet.
They just have a piece of paper saying they are allowed to run such a network, if they want to.

(I add that last part because that was something some other carriers did once. They outbid others for certain blocks of spectrum, and then sat on them and did nothing. It was just an anti-competitive move to hamper other carriers trying to improve their networks)

Check out the LG V30.

 

[M.PaulCezanne]

Not true. I use T-Mo…. and reception sometimes gets really sucky indoors. Especially when indoors means working in a basement office of a large building built in the 1950s. I know it's not T-Mos fault that I work in an office that resembles a Cold War Era bunker…. but my co-workers who have AT&T do get some reception in the basement. I do not. My T-Mo wireless is zero bars. I only have WiFi as a backup.

Yeah, I was kinda joking. I'm in the DC Metro area, where mobile service is a matter of national security and our T-Mo service dumps on the other side of a window much less a bunker basement.

Otherwise, it's fantastic though.

 

[BuffaloTF]

My understanding is that it's because Qualcomm is the supplier for the CDMA chip. For every phone they sell with that CDMA chip, they have to give money to Qualcomm. If there's no CDMA chip, then there's no money given to Qualcomm. That's why they produce a GSM-only version.

Not true any longer... Intel bought VIA which had all necessary CDMA patents and licenses to make radios. And the Intel XMM7560 supports CDMA. So.... in other words, until someone tears this thing down, we don't know for certain what is in what... it may be Intel on both sides of the coin this year. One with CDMA disabled, one enabled.

 

[Gasu E.]

Anyone working in mobile phone development facepalms heavily whenever that kind of conspiracy nonsense is spread by people who think that you just need to wave a magic wand to implement a major feature in a new product and that the lack of such a feature implies that it is being purposefully withheld.

I don't see a problem with that. Look, my own job is very, very hard, and getting things done takes time and planning. But that's not true for anyone else in the world-- all jobs except mine take no time at all, and are so easy they could be done by barely-trained monkeys. In fact, that's a great idea-- let's fire everyone except me, and replace them with barely-trained monkeys. We can start right at the top.

 

[Auprah97]

They have to make a reason for you to upgrade in 2018.

Shut. The. ****. Up.