T-Mobile update

[ttuguy09]

Forgive me if I am naive, but I don't have to upgrade to iOS 6.1.3 to apply this update, correct?

I live in Austin, where I should receive T-Mobile 3G, but I only seem to get EDGE and I do have the LTE toggle in my settings. Does this mean that my unlocked AT&T won't get 3G/4G? Or is there something else I need to do?

 

[sparrky]

Forgive me if I am naive, but I don't have to upgrade to iOS 6.1.3 to apply this update, correct?

I live in Austin, where I should receive T-Mobile 3G, but I only seem to get EDGE and I do have the LTE toggle in my settings. Does this mean that my unlocked AT&T won't get 3G/4G? Or is there something else I need to do?

I still get a little confused by it all so anyone can feel free to correct me, but the update won't give you 3G/4G where there wasn't any before. You'd just have to wait until T-mobile refarms your area to make it iphone-friendly 3G. If you have a GSM iphone 5 and are in one of the very, very few cities that has tmobile LTE, then the update would have enabled that. Otherwise you're stuck with Edge until you eventually get 3G with the refarm.

 

[Xenomorph]

Edit: Well, now I am scratching my head. While I was going through the settings menus trying to figure this thing out, the darn settings changed right in front of my eyes and I now have the option to turn the hotspot on and off. I can use wifi, bluetooth, and usb. WTH? T-Mobile must have sent out another update to fix the problem because I was not the only one to lose my hotspot settings. I swear to god that the settings just changed right in front of my eyes. I was getting ready to take a screen shot to post here, and BOOM!....the settings were back and the problem fixed.

Stock iOS has APN settings built into the Carrier profile.

With AT&T, they went with a "carrier-controlled" Tethering setting. Basically iOS "phones home" to see if you are allowed to tether. AT&T was allowed to grant/deny users access to tethering that way.

With the official T-Mobile carrier update, T-Mobile removed the "local" APN settings, and changed it to use the "AT&T-style" remote, carrier-controlled profile. It has to phone-home to T-Mobile to verify you are eligible.

Other users reported success (after calling T-Mobile to verify they have access) by simply rebooting their device.

 

[ttuguy09]

I still get a little confused by it all so anyone can feel free to correct me, but the update won't give you 3G/4G where there wasn't any before. You'd just have to wait until T-mobile refarms your area to make it iphone-friendly 3G. If you have a GSM iphone 5 and are in one of the very, very few cities that has tmobile LTE, then the update would have enabled that. Otherwise you're stuck with Edge until you eventually get 3G with the refarm.

You see, that's the thing. T-Mobile customer service says my area has been refarmed and I should be getting great 3G/4G coverage. I know there are two different kinds of HSPA bands, but an unlocked AT&T iPhone 5 should receive one of those bands, correct?

 

[SoLongAndroid]

I did the "hack" where you download and change carrier settings profiles or something, it was posted like 2 weeks ago. I get the 4G stuff but didn't lose my hotspot.

 

[andyx3x]

You see, that's the thing. T-Mobile customer service says my area has been refarmed and I should be getting great 3G/4G coverage. I know there are two different kinds of HSPA bands, but an unlocked AT&T iPhone 5 should receive one of those bands, correct?

Yes, but areas that have been refarmed do have hit or miss coverage though.

 

[hexonxonx]

Yes, I know that. After I got the update yesterday, I called T-Mobile and upgraded to the $60.00 2.5gb unlimited plan that includes the Personal Hotspot. The trouble is that when I touch the enable personal hotspot button in settings, it tells me I have to contact t-mobile to set it up. When I call t-mobile to do that, there is no place in the settings menu to put the APN info that enables the hotspot, For some reason the update changed the settings menu on my iPhone and there is no longer a place to put the APN info that enables the Personal Hotspot.

Edit: Well, now I am scratching my head. While I was going through the settings menus trying to figure this thing out, the darn settings changed right in front of my eyes and I now have the option to turn the hotspot on and off. I can use wifi, bluetooth, and usb. WTH? T-Mobile must have sent out another update to fix the problem because I was not the only one to lose my hotspot settings. I swear to god that the settings just changed right in front of my eyes. I was getting ready to take a screen shot to post here, and BOOM!....the settings were back and the problem fixed.

It just took a while before their settings took affect. Their system can be a bit slow when making changes.

 

[BruiserB]

I was afraid this would happen....I have the $30 5GB 100min plan. I haven't updated my phone yet. Will this update ever become mandatory or happen without me specifically approving it? I don't tether often, but really like the possibility to do so.

Does anyone know how the $15 add on tethering works? If I turn it on part way through my service month am I prorated or billed $15 immediately? If billed immediately, does it just last until the next service bill date or does the tethering go on its own 30 day billing cycle. If I turn it off part way through the month does that cut off tethering immediately or does it stay functional until the plan renews? I was really hoping T-mobile had become the un-carrier, but continuing to charge separately for hotspot on prepaid accounts isn't consistent with this image.

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Has anyone tried this on an iPad with cellular and a T-mobile SIM card? Does the iPad also get the carrier update? Mine's a Verizon model so the LTE wouldn't work, but wondering if ATT iPad users are getting the LTE to work?

 

[BruiserB]

For those who got the carrier update and want to get the hotspot option back, you can simply restore the phone. After the restore, you can restore a backup BUT only if the backup was before the carrier update. You will then get the prompt to update the carrier settings if you go to settings/about. The carrier update is only software so it changes nothing hardware wise.

Also, if you are on 6.1.2 or below, you will have no choice but to install 6.1.3 losing your JB.

Do you know if I could buy a Tmobile iPhone 5 (presumably it would come preloaded with the new carrier settings) on Friday and restore it from my unupdated iPhone 4 backup and get the ability to enable hotspot back?

 

[Akack]

You see, that's the thing. T-Mobile customer service says my area has been refarmed and I should be getting great 3G/4G coverage. I know there are two different kinds of HSPA bands, but an unlocked AT&T iPhone 5 should receive one of those bands, correct?

In Austin as well. The reframed 1900 ( faux 4g ) is very spotty and inconsistent here.

You are better off selling the "old" iPhone 5 and buying the IPhone releasing this Friday so you can be compatible with the AWS 1700/2100 faux 4g which is much more widespread and reliable.

 

[gtgrad95]

Stock iOS has APN settings built into the Carrier profile.

With AT&T, they went with a "carrier-controlled" Tethering setting. Basically iOS "phones home" to see if you are allowed to tether. AT&T was allowed to grant/deny users access to tethering that way.

With the official T-Mobile carrier update, T-Mobile removed the "local" APN settings, and changed it to use the "AT&T-style" remote, carrier-controlled profile. It has to phone-home to T-Mobile to verify you are eligible.

Other users reported success (after calling T-Mobile to verify they have access) by simply rebooting their device.

I got the carrier update the other day and while I am thrilled to get Visual VM, I am really bumbed about losing my hotspot capability. I have an iPad that I frequently tether and with the refarmed 3G (and not EDGE) it has worked pretty well. Anybody know how I can scp a custom config file to the phone? I've done that before when I had the 3G when you had to jump through all sorts of hoops to unlock the phone for T-Mobile.

Restoring from a backup is probably not an option since my backups are fairly old.

If this is not possible, I even hesitate to ask, what does T-Mobile charge for hotspot capability? I don't want to lose my T-zones plan

 

[hexonxonx]

I got the carrier update the other day and while I am thrilled to get Visual VM, I am really bumbed about losing my hotspot capability. I have an iPad that I frequently tether and with the refarmed 3G (and not EDGE) it has worked pretty well. Anybody know how I can scp a custom config file to the phone? I've done that before when I had the 3G when you had to jump through all sorts of hoops to unlock the phone for T-Mobile.

Restoring from a backup is probably not an option since my backups are fairly old.

If this is not possible, I even hesitate to ask, what does T-Mobile charge for hotspot capability? I don't want to lose my T-zones plan

If you are jailbroken, you can get it back by installing tether me or another add on that simply modifies the carrier file in Cydia.

A few days ago, hotpsot was $9.99 in my T-Mobile account page, now it's $15. I don't need to pay for it because it's enabled straight from Google on my Nexus 4.

 

[bondr006]

I got the carrier update the other day and while I am thrilled to get Visual VM, I am really bumbed about losing my hotspot capability. I have an iPad that I frequently tether and with the refarmed 3G (and not EDGE) it has worked pretty well. Anybody know how I can scp a custom config file to the phone? I've done that before when I had the 3G when you had to jump through all sorts of hoops to unlock the phone for T-Mobile.

Restoring from a backup is probably not an option since my backups are fairly old.

If this is not possible, I even hesitate to ask, what does T-Mobile charge for hotspot capability? I don't want to lose my T-zones plan

What plan are you on? I have the $60.00 2.5gb unlimited plan which the personal hotspot comes free with. I lost my hotspot settings for about a day after the update also, but as Xenomorph explained....they came back yesterday because my phone called the mother ship and got the ok. Depending on the plan you have, this will likely happen to you also.

 

[yfnew]

Forgive me if I am naive, but I don't have to upgrade to iOS 6.1.3 to apply this update, correct?

I live in Austin, where I should receive T-Mobile 3G, but I only seem to get EDGE and I do have the LTE toggle in my settings. Does this mean that my unlocked AT&T won't get 3G/4G? Or is there something else I need to do?

Your iOS has to be 6.1.X (x can be any number) to apply this update.

I live in Austin, too. I live in a boarding school, and the funny thing is that I can get 4G in the classrooms but I can only get EDGE in my dorm. I think T-Mobile has not finished upgrading there signal towers in Austin area yet, so there are still some places that you can only get EDGE.