Posted 11/20/09 at 06:36:43 PM by Ryan Whitwam

In the wake of a major service outage a few weeks ago, fourth place US carrier T-Mobile may be shopping around for investment money from another US cell provider. Compared to the other US carriers, T-Mobile has a very small 3G footprint. Recognizing a need to expand, rumors indicate that parent company Deutsche Telekom is courting the likes of MetroPCS, Clearwire, and even AT&T.

Any of these investors would receive a small stake in T-Mobile in exchange for investment to expand their network. MetroPCS is of particular interest as the smaller carrier uses the same odd 1700Mhz 3G frequency that T-Mobile does. Collaboration with AT&T would be risky due to possible anti-trust allegations. AT&T is the only other GSM carrier in the US.

Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile UK was recently forced to merge with Orange UK. Could their US arm be headed in the same direction?

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Posted 11/03/09 at 07:51:49 PM by Ryan Whitwam

This certainly isn’t the kind of publicity the fourth place cell carrier in the US wants. As of now, the entire nationwide T-Mobile network is down. Complaints began flooding twitter and forums this afternoon from all over the country. Users are reporting that their phones show the expected signal, but no calls or data are available. Curiously, calls routed through Google Voice are working as expected.

When the complaints reached a fever pitch shortly ago, T-Mobile released a statement. “T-Mobile customers may be experiencing service disruptions impacting voice and data. Our rapid response teams have been mobilized to restore service as quickly as possible. We will provide updates as more information is available,” said a T-Mobile representative.

We at MaximumPC have confirmed for ourselves by ringing a few associates on T-Mobile. Sure enough, the angelic voices of our friends and neighbors were replaced by a busy signal every time. This matches reports from elsewhere. Hopefully details will emerge later on the exact cause. If you’re a T-Mobile user, can you confirm you have no service?

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Posted 10/27/09 at 08:43:11 PM by Jason Barry

T-Mobile, alongside Chinese telecoms manufacturer Huawei, has completed the first tests of a long-term evolution (LTE) self-organizing network (SON).

Huawei brought the SON technology to the table and integrated it with T-Mobiles already existing Enodebs to create a new type of network functionality, automatic neighbor relation. This essentially implements a network “buddy system” where base stations work together to modify the network topology in real-time for the best network-wide performance.

"As a pioneer in the development of next-generation mobile network, T-Mobile marked the next step in testing future technology with our test network in Innsbruck (Austria),” said Rüdiger Köster, technology director of T-Mobile Austria.

Mobile data networks have been slammed with criticism as they have failed to keep up with the epic demand of smart and cell phone growth. This technology is important to create scalable mobile networks that meet the demands of future devices and services.

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Posted 10/27/09 at 03:33:16 PM by Bart Salisbury

There’s a lot of wisdom in 60s rock ballads. Take The Lovin’ Spoonful, for example: “Did you ever have to make up your mind? Pick up on one and leave the other behind?” So it goes with cell phone contracts. It’s not just the agony of being locked into a one- or two-year deal, it’s also having giving up on what might have been. T-Mobile hopes to lessen the pain a bit with a contract-free unlimited plan.

In most cases if you are uncommitted cell phone providers won’t do you any favors. Its either pay-as-you-go, or a restricted prepaid monthly allotment of minutes with big penalties for going over. T-Mobile, however, will give you unlimited voice, text messaging, and web surfing for $79.99 a month. This is a 20 percent discount over the standard unlimited monthly fee. But, and there’s always a catch, you have to bring your own phone to the party. T-Mobile will also offer a $50 per month unlimited option for those who only want voice.

Reuters reports that neither Verizon or Vodafone weren’t impressed by T-Mobile’s move, and have no plans to follow suit.

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Posted 09/17/09 at 10:00:00 AM by Paul Lilly

Remember when T-Mobile's G1 was being billed as a potential iPhone killer? Powered by Google's Android platform, the open-source mobile OS was supposed to usher in the end of the iPhone OS era, and who knows, maybe someday it still will. But it won't be on the G1 (otherwise known as the HTC Dream), the chunky alternative that misses the mark of mobile greatness. But while the G1 might leave a lot to be desired out of the box, power users who aren't afraid to take matters into their own hands have the ability to significantly enhance the handset's capabilities.

On the following pages, we're going to show you how to hack your G1 the easy way so you can do things with your phone that other G1 owners only wish they could, like install apps to an SD card. And for you old school traditionalists who like to get your hands dirty, we'll also show how you to root your G1 the old fashioned way and wade through all the necessary code step-by-painstaking-step. After it's all said and done, we'll cover some of the most popular third-party ROMs and tell you which one we're rolling with.

Are you ready to hack? Grab your G1 and hit the jump to get started!

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Posted 09/11/09 at 03:59:23 PM by Paul Lilly

OMG! Have u herd da newz? T-Mobile subscribers spend more time mashing their thumbs on tiny keys ferociously text messaging their contacts and updating their Facebook profiles than any other mobile customers, T-Mobile boasts.

"Our users are sending 600 messages per user per month on average. And, a lot of the users on our higher-end smartphones update their status on social networks a couple times a week," said Cole Brodman, T-Mobile USA's CTO.

Brodman said much of the activity can be attributed to Android users, who now have both the G1 and newer myTouch 3G to play with, as well as access to around 10,000 applications through the Android Market. In order to support these high-tech phones, a growing list of apps, and an active userbase, T-Mobile said it plans to update its 3G network to HSPA 7.2 by the end of the year, followed by another upgrade to HSPA 21 by next year.

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Posted 06/22/09 at 09:30:20 AM by Paul Lilly

Just over two weeks from now, T-Mobile will begin taking pre-orders for its second Android-based smartphone, the myTouch 3G. Like the G1, the myTouch 3G is being built by HTC, but there are a few key differences between it and the G1.

For starters, the myTouch 3G waves goodbye to the physical keyboard found on the G1, which helps the new phone sport a slimmer profile. It will, however, come with a virtual keyboard that will automatically switch from portrait to landscape mode in "most applications."

The myTouch also doubles up on internal memory with 512MB compared to 256MB - a good thing considering the G1's frustrating inability to install applications directly to SD storage without rooting the phone. And speaking of storage, the myTouch will also ship with a 4GB microSD card.

T-Mobile will first make the myTouch 3G available for pre-order to existing subscribers starting on July 8 for $200 with a two-year contract. Shipments will be begin in late July, with full national availability expected in early August.

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Posted 06/08/09 at 02:50:28 PM by Paul Lilly

Potentially bad news for G1 owners and anyone else signed up with T-Mobile (we're looking at you Dwayne Wade and Charles Barkley). According to ChannelInsider, hackers have dug their way into the wireless telcom's network and stolen everything they could get their greedy little hands on, including proprietary operating data, customer databases, and financial records.

T-Mobile initially said it was unaware of the reported incident, but has since released a statement to ChannelInsider.

"The protection of our customers' information, and the safety and security of our systems, is absolutely paramount at T-Mobile. Regarding the recent claim, we are fully investigating the matter. As is our standard practice, if there is any evidence that customer information has been compromised, we would inform those affected as soon as possible."

As proof of the alleged breach, hackers fired off an email to insecure.org providing an extensive list of T-Mobile servers. According to ChannelInsider, several former T-Mobile network admins came forward saying the list and server names look authentic.

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