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Should I get an iPhone 4 for T-Mobile?

S

scott523

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 8, 2006
875
129
Saint Charles, MO
I currently have T-Mobile and I'm tired of carrying my old Motorola phone and my iPod touch everywhere I go. I have no reason to leave T-Mobile besides the fact that it doesn't officially support the iPhone.

So I'm thinking if I should just drop $850 and get a 32GB factory unlocked iPhone 4 on eBay so I can be rest assured there won't be any issues in the future. Or should I just keep waiting?
 
T-Mobile uses full size sim cards and not the micro size that's found on the iphone4. There are ways to cut a sim card down to size, but that's a risk you'll have to take.

You also won't get 3G speeds because T-Mobile 3G works on a different frequency than AT&T. The fastest mobile internet (other than WiFi) you'll pick up is EDGE.

So basically you'll have an $850 slow ass iphone, IF you don't screw up your sim card.

It's probably more cost effective to switch to verizon or at&t, or i hear the Galaxy S2 and G2 quite the capable phones on T-Mobile.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8H7 Safari/6533.18.5)

The micro-sim shouldn't be a problem. I had my old lost phone ported over. EDGE speeds is something I'll have to deal with at the moment.

What I was really thinking about is the fact that if AT&T eat up T-Mobile, it shouldn't be a problem for me to switch. Also if I were to go overseas with it, it should be easy to pop in a foreign micro-sim. Switching to AT&T won't give that benefit.
 
Eclipse278 said:
T-Mobile uses full size sim cards and not the micro size that's found on the iphone4. There are ways to cut a sim card down to size, but that's a risk you'll have to take.

You also won't get 3G speeds because T-Mobile 3G works on a different frequency than AT&T. The fastest mobile internet (other than WiFi) you'll pick up is EDGE.

So basically you'll have an $850 slow ass iphone, IF you don't screw up your sim card.

It's probably more cost effective to switch to verizon or at&t, or i hear the Galaxy S2 and G2 quite the capable phones on T-Mobile.
Click to expand...

I heard apple things the galaxy is very iphone like as well.
 
iPhone replacement

I'm a huge fan of my iPhone 3GS, just waiting for the 5, although when I'm going to be away from a charger for more than a 24 hr period I switch over to edge. Edge is really really slow, granted I use wifi the majority of the time. Do not buy a iPhone 4 to use for t-mobile maybe a iPhone 3g or something along those lines if you need an apple product.

I know this may sound taboo but before you do anything go to your local BestBuy or T-Mobile store and play with a Nexus S, one of the best iPhone competitors I have ever used and it is made for T-Mobile.

Just my thoughts.
 
I know several people who have iPhones on T-Mobile, and while they like their iPhones, the issues (slow internet, buggy voicemail implementation, etc) are enough that I personally wouldn't want to put up with it. I think if I was in your shoes I'd buy an Android or just a simple phone, maybe stick with a one-year contract and pay the extra cost, and then when AT&T finally swallows them up, get the iPhone at that point.

jW
 
Mal said:
AT&T finally swallows them up, get the iPhone at that point.
Click to expand...

Just wanted to throw what I know about it which I might be incorrect in my thinking. AT&T is buying T-Mobile for the towers primarily. T-Mobile is still going to be it's own network. This can be likened to Spring owning Virgin Mobile. If you have Virgin Mobile you cannot use Sprint phones. Also the acquisition is going to take a year so the year contract now is a smart idea.
 
AWallen90 said:
Just wanted to throw what I know about it which I might be incorrect in my thinking. AT&T is buying T-Mobile for the towers primarily. T-Mobile is still going to be it's own network. This can be likened to Spring owning Virgin Mobile. If you have Virgin Mobile you cannot use Sprint phones. Also the acquisition is going to take a year so the year contract now is a smart idea.
Click to expand...

In the future if this all goes through, all Tmobile phones that will NOT work with ATT will be NOT USABLE. A lot of people don't know this and quite frankly this is a big problem. People are buying these phones with 2 year contracts and expecting to use them longer; they won't be able to if it isn't quad band.

I'd personally tell you to wait until the Sensation that was recently announced; the new HTC phone. If you're getting something now, get something dual core unless you don't think you'll need it. The Nexus S is a great phone if you want pure gingerbread.
 
scott523 said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8H7 Safari/6533.18.5)

The micro-sim shouldn't be a problem. I had my old lost phone ported over. EDGE speeds is something I'll have to deal with at the moment.

What I was really thinking about is the fact that if AT&T eat up T-Mobile, it shouldn't be a problem for me to switch. Also if I were to go overseas with it, it should be easy to pop in a foreign micro-sim. Switching to AT&T won't give that benefit.
Click to expand...

If the Justice Department and SEC allow the merge. It might be a couple years before such a merge is entirely completed. I don't think it's worth your time. Get a smartphone on T-Mobile and by then iPhone XXX will have come out on the combined network.
 
scott523 said:
I currently have T-Mobile and I'm tired of carrying my old Motorola phone and my iPod touch everywhere I go. I have no reason to leave T-Mobile besides the fact that it doesn't officially support the iPhone.

So I'm thinking if I should just drop $850 and get a 32GB factory unlocked iPhone 4 on eBay so I can be rest assured there won't be any issues in the future. Or should I just keep waiting?
Click to expand...

I don't think its worth having an iPhone on T-Mobile and being stuck on Edge speeds. If I were you, I probably buy the next best phone. The nexus S is really nice
 
wordoflife said:
I don't think its worth having an iPhone on T-Mobile and being stuck on Edge speeds. If I were you, I probably buy the next best phone. The nexus S is really nice
Click to expand...

With all of the new dual core phones coming out now? Of course the Nexus S is a great phone and having the most recent operating system is a great feature, however there are higher spec'd phones out there that would be better to the average consumer.
 
T-mobile has some awesome android phones that are coming out. I would check out the G2x its a great smartphone made by LG which by the way is faster then the Current iPhone 4 in both connection processor. If you are daring try the Side kick its about as fast as an iPhone 4 with a great slide out keyboard. It has a cloud texting app and is made for the text centric person.

At some point your sacrificing a lot just to have iOS. Speeds, reliability, voiceman, money and Carrier support.
 
Young Spade said:
With all of the new dual core phones coming out now? Of course the Nexus S is a great phone and having the most recent operating system is a great feature, however there are higher spec'd phones out there that would be better to the average consumer.
Click to expand...

A lot of Android (and apps) isn't really optimized for dual core yet. Plus with the nexus s, you get stock android and fast updates. You can't beat that.
 
wordoflife said:
A lot of Android (and apps) isn't really optimized for dual core yet. Plus with the nexus s, you get stock android and fast updates. You can't beat that.
Click to expand...

I completely agree; just for the record I'm not saying you're wrong or anything, I actually have a N1 and am running a stock 2.3.3 ROM with root, deodex, etc. because I don't really need dual cores.

However to get a new contract NOW with a single core phone doesn't really seem to be the best option since dual core phones are coming out for the remainder of the year and will be "worth" having for two years opposed to a single core that he might want upgraded around christmas.

I mean in the end it depends on what the guy wants to do with the phone; I don't watch movies or play games on mine so having a 3.7 inch, single ghz core phone is fine with me; browsing the web and opening apps on the N1 is at the MOST 2 seconds slower than the Atrix (stock) [I had that, the Galaxy S, and the N1 at one time and compared them on the same wifi network].
 
G-Mo said:
Pick up an unlocked Original iPhone for cheap ($150) from eBay, they only use EDGE anyway.
Click to expand...

The specs are going to vary "drastically" to what he could get now and that's going to negatively affect his overall experience. You are right in the sense that they're going to have the same data speeds, however the processor and RAm in the original iPhone don't compare to wwhat you're getting in the iPhone 4.
 
Young Spade said:
The specs are going to vary "drastically" to what he could get now and that's going to negatively affect his overall experience. You are right in the sense that they're going to have the same data speeds, however the processor and RAm in the original iPhone don't compare to wwhat you're getting in the iPhone 4.
Click to expand...

It will do for phone calls, listening to music, email and EDGE web browsing for a year while waiting to see what shakes out of the AT&T / T-Mobile purchase. If you are going to be predominantly on WiFi and want to make use of functions that optimize the higher RAM and processing of the 4, then sure, get the iPhone 4. (Better yet, the 3GS can be had used at a significant discount, and besides the forward facing camera, has lots if legs left in it.)
 
G-Mo said:
It will do for phone calls, listening to music, email and EDGE web browsing for a year while waiting to see what shakes out of the AT&T / T-Mobile purchase. If you are going to be predominantly on WiFi and want to make use of functions that optimize the higher RAM and processing of the 4, then sure, get the iPhone 4. (Better yet, the 3GS can be had used at a significant discount, and besides the forward facing camera, has lots if legs left in it.)
Click to expand...

iPhone 3GS then? *offers handshake* But I agree with you though, I'm somewhat of a tech nerd so buying something worse than last Gen just doesn't seem logical to me ;)
 
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