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T-Mobile Confirms 3G iPhone in Austria?
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That's good for the iPhone, because I understand that when in Austria, you get a tuning note when you dial '440.' !
Maybe Austria is a test market for T-Mobile's network, to see if its compatible with the 3G supported by the iPhone. From what I understand 3G covers many different bands between the US and other countries, I'm sure it's more of a network compatibility test vs a test for the iPhone itself. 
There would likely be a run on airline tickets between the US and Austria. Either that or some Austrian entrepreneur would set up shop as a proxy for folks in the US, buying phones there and reselling them to folks in the US.
Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4A102 Safari/419.3)
More rumors about a 3G iPhone means a little more confirmation that it will happen. This is good to hear.
More rumors about a 3G iPhone means a little more confirmation that it will happen. This is good to hear.
That's exactly what would happen of course. Once the 3g iphone is available somewhere it's only a matter of time before it's available everywhere, whether apple like it or not.
It's easier in europe with the single market.. no duties, so it just needs someone with a couple of lorries and enough smarts to source a warehouse full of them.
What will happen first?
A woman is elected president of the US for the first time ever, or the 3G iPhone is released?
A woman is elected president of the US for the first time ever, or the 3G iPhone is released?
The technology is by far not brand new. I live in Austria and i'm using a 3G-phone since about 4 years. In Austria we have a good coverage with UMTS. You can see a map of the provider "Drei" (Hutchson, also known as Three in the UK) here (The white spots are mainly the Alps
)so, according to another article, this idea of austria being a test market for the 3G iphone is a misunderstanding; it was only said that austria is a test market for 3G devices in general.
http://translate.google.com/transla...8-000-iPhones-in-Oesterreich--/meldung/107420
http://translate.google.com/transla...8-000-iPhones-in-Oesterreich--/meldung/107420
Scandinavia also has great 3G coverage and 7.2mbit speeds available.
It's not as if that is new
Yeah, this definitely wasn't the case where I live. When we moved we could barely get a T-Mobile signal on our phones, and changed over to the same model phones with AT&T and immediately had the signal we were expecting.
T-Mobile didn't have any stores or kiosks where we live, so we couldn't even go in to a physical location to show them that we didn't have a signal, and their customer support kept insisting that we should have a signal because the "map says so." After enough yelling we got them to cancel our contract without termination fees.
IMHO when you're talking metro and suburban areas, it isn't such a big deal. But when you get to the rural parts of the country, things become a lot different.
Being from Austria I think I can chime in and add a little bit to the confusion...
Austria indeed is a very popular test market for 3G UMTS devices. Every major cell provider in Austria has a full-featured UMTS network, the demographics of the country are also pretty 'average' - Phone manufacturers often drop their brand new handsets onto the austrian market to see how people react to the new phones and most important... how they use it (i.e. how many minutes are they talking, how much data usage and how much roaming is going on)
Network providers do the same thing. Phone plans change very frequently over here to adapt to the new market situation, or new handset features. Having 5 full-service UMTS providers for only 8 million austrians is quite a nice little test bed.
Sadly, also the 'bad' features get tested here first. Back in the nineties, we were one of the first markets in europe to get subsidized phones, with sim-locks and 6-12 months contracts (which has now grown up to 24 months)
to summarize: Austria may well be one of the first countries to get the 3G iPhone, but not for technical prototype testing or so, they'll rather test new rate plans specifically for the european market here.
Austria indeed is a very popular test market for 3G UMTS devices. Every major cell provider in Austria has a full-featured UMTS network, the demographics of the country are also pretty 'average' - Phone manufacturers often drop their brand new handsets onto the austrian market to see how people react to the new phones and most important... how they use it (i.e. how many minutes are they talking, how much data usage and how much roaming is going on)
Network providers do the same thing. Phone plans change very frequently over here to adapt to the new market situation, or new handset features. Having 5 full-service UMTS providers for only 8 million austrians is quite a nice little test bed.
Sadly, also the 'bad' features get tested here first. Back in the nineties, we were one of the first markets in europe to get subsidized phones, with sim-locks and 6-12 months contracts (which has now grown up to 24 months)
to summarize: Austria may well be one of the first countries to get the 3G iPhone, but not for technical prototype testing or so, they'll rather test new rate plans specifically for the european market here.
Come for the iPhone, stay for the EU FIFA Cup.
I find this somewhat hard to believe. Unless "test market" means "a couple of weeks before other EU countries get it." Not sure if the US will be among the first though. Sorry guys, your cell phone networks suck.
German native speaker here: yup, sorry guys, the translation was bad. Ignore the thing about the test market.
Original statement:
"Österreich ist ein Testmarkt für 3G-Geräte", sagte Hendrik Kasteels, Marketingchef von T-Mobile Austria, bei einer Pressekonferenz am heutigen Montag.
Translation:
"Austria is a test-market for 3G devices" said Hendrik Kasteels, head of Marketing of T-Mobile Austria, at a press conference on (todays) Monday.
3G devices in general. Not just the iPhone.
Come for the iPhone, stay for the EU FIFA Cup.
Not sure if the US will be among the first though. Sorry guys, your cell phone networks suck.
Even if that were true, that would have nothing to do with the release of the next-gen iPhone. Trust me, if the rollout is staggered, the U.S. will be first/in the first group.
The technology is by far not brand new. I live in Austria and i'm using a 3G-phone since about 4 years. In Austria we have a good coverage with UMTS. You can see a map of the provider "Drei" (Hutchson, also known as Three in the UK) here (The white spots are mainly the Alps
You are right,
I didn't mean it that way, I was just not that clear on what I meant. And I LOVE Austria... If I could wake up every morning in a different country than what I am in right now, I'd wake up in Austria. I love their cold cuts and breakfasts! THE BEST!
What I meant though was that, I didn't expect Apple to introduce a new technology such as 3G in any Apple product without going through their usual so called loyal customer demographics. So, in a sense what I am saying is that being that it's the first time Apple is introducing 3G in an Apple Product, I doubt it would be introduced in EU first. The people in the US wouldn't be too happy.
I'm hungry now...
Deal with it, allot of us do live in areas where 3g coverage is good so we do actually care.
There's no way that i'd ever buy an imac as they just don't suit my needs but I wouldn't bitch and whine about all imac rumours.
Some have challenged that statement, but I believe there is a lot of truth to it, with some qualification.
Two years ago I had both T-Mobile and AT&T phones, and AT&T worked from at home, while T-Mobile didn't. That changed a year or so ago. In fact, when I used the T-Mobile phone, the screen said "welcome to at@t." I asked T-Mobile retailers about this and was told that the two companies were entering into a lot of contractual tower sharing agreements. However, my experience suggests that not only are the physical towers being shared, but that same transmitter (or whatever its called) may be used in many areas (i.e., su signal es mi signal). AT@T would own and maintain in some locations, and T-Mobile in others, allowing each company to greatly increase coverage without increasing expense. This also suggests that the two GSM networks could become (or have become) completely integrated, which gives each an advantage when competing with Verizon. It also suggests at least the possibility that other arrangements might be coming--such as T-Mobile iPhones (though I wouldn't hold my breath). BTW, I have had no problems w/ AT@T, and I think much of the bad rep is left over from the cingular days.