No one can accuse T-Mobile of resting on their laurels. Ever since CEO John Legere kicked things into high gear after a failed merger with AT&T, the carrier has made consistent improvements to its service and services. The latest development: T-Mobile’s LTE network now reaches 250 million Americans, a milestone that comes “months ahead of schedule.”
The expanded network, on track to sail past the 280 million mark by mid-2015 and top 300 million by 2016, is part of T-Mobile’s accelerated rollout of 700 MHz and 1900 MHz PCS and AWS spectrum. The carrier also plans to broaden Wideband LTE, aiming for 26 markets by the end of this year.
It is no wonder that T-Mobile recently had the biggest quarter growth in its history – the network is looking more and more attractive every day.
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If this was TWC or FiOS they would miss the deadline and claim they didn’t.
I’ve got two phones, one on verizon, the other on tmo. I had to buy a $300 cell booster to get tmo service inside my exterior office. Verizon on the other hand pushes a strong signal even into the central elevator shaft. Tmo isn’t doing it right.
I really want to get off verizon to save money and not have to deal with their douchebaggery anymore but I just cant do it. coverage is killing me. I moved to southeastern PA and travel from time to time outside the region. I drive back to my parents house on Long Island, NY a lot too. I take the NJ turnpike so there are no coverage issues going that way but once I try to head south into delaware which I like to do or even go west im screwed.
edit: not sure why the attachment isnt showing up but its a scary coverage map
Am I missing something? Vermont is still 100% 2G
Still has a long way to go in my area to even think about competing with Verizon or ATT.
But sucks everywhere else.
For the most part I have good coverage and fast speeds with T-Mobile, but it’s by no means perfect. It is a lot cheaper though.
Too bad Fort Smith, AR is still 2G as well as the I-40 and I-35 corridors in Oklahoma. Otherwise I’d be glad to switch. Can’t have a happy life if I don’t have a happy wife with 4G on car trips.
What I found was that 98% of their LTE upgrades were done in 4G areas, where they already had decent speeds, and they have made VERY little movement in upgrading 2G to LTE.
I think the Ballistic Nylon in 64 GB would be the ultimate phone if the capacitive buttons were reflecting Android 5.0 nav logos.
VZW bloatware will be “removed” / Frozen as soon as root is gained so no worries there.
Regardless, I think I’m still buying this phone.
250 million huh? What about the other 25% of the US they ignore?
I will say going from GA to TN was a nightmare, I didn’t even have service but I don’t have to make the trip that much so I deal with it. In my house in Cumming, GA I now get 25 down, about 10 up. Very happy with it.
Exactly and your wallet thanks you.
Still doesn’t cover my dad’s house in SW Oklahoma. :/ Hell, he doesn’t even get 2G, according to the maps.
How old are the maps?
Dunno, you have a good point there. But I do know last time I was there with T-Mobile, I had consistently dropped calls in his house, as well as no internet service in town at all. Driving up I-35 between the border and Norman it was all Extended Network, aka zero data. I’ve been on AT&T ever since…I want T-Mobile, but not at the cost of having lackluster coverage.
That is why they have the free test drive to check for yourself.
True, but I can only do that once. And I pretty much check back every 6 months or so and zero progress is ever made on getting better coverage there. So doing that the one time and finding out “oh, nothing changed” feels like a waste. But thanks for bringing up that point, I’d forgotten they had that.
FYI: I’m on prepaid plans with a Nexus 5, so swapping carriers is easy. Too bad it also means I can’t do wifi calling directly through T-Mobile. :/
Having T-mobile LTE in Des Moines, Iowa would be great. But at this point I’d settle for any signal at all when driving 20 minutes out of town. Or at work. Or at home.
I had one of those awesome unlimited plans on Verizon for many many years. As time went by I clung to it because nobody was offering unlimited anymore and Verizon had the best coverage. Earlier this year I switched to TMo because even with the maxed out unlimited plan, insurance, and a phone subsidy built into the monthly price I was paying less than at Verizon. TMo is the best option right now, without a doubt. Their coverage is amazing, speed is great, customer service is 10X better than Verizon. They’re great all around. If you haven’t switched yet, then you should seriously consider it!
This comment as been brought to you by Tmobile.
Thanks, I thought it was Verizon.
I stopped reading after “coverage is amazing, speed is great.” All that comes to mind is “Service Partner.”
Still waiting for expansion in the Midwest…Give me a reason to leave Big Red and I would gladly join T-MO.
money.
Saving money and unlimited data doesn’t mean squat if you can’t even get a signal.
I moved to T-Mobile at the beginning of the year, and it has been great. LTE speeds are consistently over 30Mbps down. and around 15Mbps up.
Not a particular great feat with the small footprint they have compared to the big 2.
That’s how Verizon is for me. Funny. More and more often I am seeing AT&T having better coverage than Verizon and T-Mobile catching up fast.
Where’s the Droid Life Droid Turbo coverage? Event is already over
droidlife pls
From what I’m reading so far you’re better off looking up the all the leaks. Nothing new to see here. No one even has video.
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Yeah, I’m a Tmobile subscriber and I rarely travel outside of my excellent coverage area (DC) but travelling thru the Carolinas this weekend was frustrating to say the least. Service was slightly better than last year whereas I could make calls, but data was next to zilch.
My wife has Verizon and their service was spotty as well and since I have zero issues inside or outside my house, I’m sticking with Tmobile for now. Just need some data in the Sticks.
To say Verizon is spotty in those areas is an absolute lie…as much as I hate to say it because Verizon kills my pockets. My phone works everywhere…I get data…almost everywhere…when it’s spotty in your terms…its in 3G…Verizon 3G sucks but it works. This includes the Carolinas, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana all of which I’ve traveled extensively in. But their 3G is very painful after you’ve been on 4G LTE for so long…but I can always make a call.
Sorry to offend you? Maybe her service was having a bad day? Just telling my experience this weekend.
Its likely not a lie, there are many areas in MA where I don’t have signal from Verizon, or spotty signal. What WOULD have been a lie is if he said “….but consistently I was getting better signal with X than Verizon” (where X = any other carrier). Verizon has many places where it doesn’t have signal. However, the other providers consistently have worse signal in those areas.
And this is coming from a non-verizon user. Their service is downright superior in the sticks. However, it is more than evenly matched by At&t and coming up t-mobile in suburban/urban areas…so why pay more if 90% of your travels are in those areas?
You’re very ignorant and arrogant. I have Verizon and live in PA, and the coverage is very spotty. I can’t even rely on the network to stream music on my way to work because of how spotty it is.
Same. VZW is even spotty in some parts of NYC .
Why on Earth would you have travelled through every part of the Carolinas, checking your service on Verizon in every single spot? Which is, of course, what you must have done to make the statement you just did.
Sorry T-Mobile is never going to be in the sticks. They don’t want rural people’s money. The 25% that don’t have access to T_Mobile won’t ever get it and that’s why Verizon and At&T never have to be fully competitive.
Aren’t they supposed to be re-farming Edge to LTE or something? There’s a cell tower like a 1/4 mile from my house that blasts LTE on Verizon and AT&T, but only Edge on T-mo. If they switch that to LTE, then they would cover my town instantly.
Just bumped over to Cricket from GoPhone (Same coverage, better pricing deal with data). Thought for a split second to check out Tmob… since they were across the screen, but I still don’t trust their coverage.
Depends where you live, as always. Suburban/urban areas? Its fabulous – equals my previous verizon coverage in the midwest. Out in the sticks? yeah, stick with at least AT&T.
Still doesnt reach me….and probably wont for a very long time.
Too bad I can’t get coverage in my home. Walk a block away in any direction, and get excellent LTE coverage. But nothing in my own home, not even 3G.
This is where that awesome wifi router comes in handy, provided you have wifi calling.
Nexus 5 does not have Wi-Fi calling.
I hear homes have this special invention called WiFi
Calls and texts still rely on cell service. WiFi calling was implemented to address their lack of coverage, not as a perk.
Not if you use Google Voice. I make and receive calls using it on every device I own.
I was referring to using the Wi-Fi router calling using the t mobile network, the nexus 5 only one that can’t so I got the femotel
I use a normal wifi router with my Nexus 5 and can make calls and receive calls at my cell phone number over wifi only. So I would think the free wifi router from Tmo would work also.
actually most Tmobile devices come with Wifi Calling/Texting preinstalled, but the problem is that Tmobile is happy with gaps in coverage, especially in suburbia.
Not pre-paid
If you’re in T-Mobile prepaid with options like cricket under att, you’re doing yourself a disservice.
You really can’t beat their $30 plan with 5GB of high speed data
I’ll sell you 5GB for $5/month…No service available but can’t best the price.
I have a T-Mobile HTC One (M7) and I’m on the 5GB/100min prepaid plan and Wi-Fi calling works fine.
If you are like me and have a Nexus 5 – you can’t use WiFi calling.
Strange it works fine on my Nexus 5. I use hangouts and google voice.
I was told that the wifi router will work but not for the wifi calling using the normal phone (not hanouts or google voice) but just the normal T Mobile because Google won’t let them install the software on it. I was happy to see that the Nexus 6 support will be coming but it’s just so darn expensive and huuuuuge. Let me know if there are work arounds if anyone knows.
I have been trying to tell you to use hangouts and google voice, that is the work around for the Nexus 5 or any phone for that matter.
Sorry I wasn’t clear, I just haven’t been happy with the Hangouts calling, who ever I speak to says my voice keeps dropping out or their voice goes robotic but that was before I had the nextivity booster, I have ATT Uverse at my house and it’s a terrible connection.
Well if your wifi sucks then the wifi calling will suck. I have comcast cable and it actually works better than the normal voice calling of the phone. (hifi calling) You were asking about wifi calling. DSL from AT&T is pretty sad. Sorry. My parents live in a cell hole no reception from any carrier and my phone works as normal at there house over wifi (comcast cable there too).
Fiber to the house – 24 megs down – 3 terrible megs up on fiber. Just terrible.
if you have a simple choice plan you can get a cell signal booster, as long as you get at least 1 bar of service. I picked on up last month and get full bars of 4g lte on my nexus 5
No, you can’t. They stopped giving those out some time ago. I called for a month trying to get a signal booster, went through a lot of nonsense only for them to tell me they didn’t have any in stock and had no idea when they would get any more. I had enough of their schtick and switched.
I physically went to my local tmoble on September 24th and picked it up and brought it home.
Good for your physical self. If only we were all so physically blessed.
Doesn’t matter to me anyway. I’m getting service in my home now without extra equipment.
I know you were being sarcastic there but one small perk of owning a “mobile” phone is being able to use it when the power goes out. This is an often overlooked downfall for users that need network extenders and the like. When the power is out, you are screwed and literlly, “in the dark.”
There is also a thing known as land line telephone (pots) works sometimes when power is off. Several people have them. /s
I was explaining what one of those was to my 6yo and Grandpa’s house. She had never seen on and was curious why the plug in the wall was so small. Had to explain it wasn’t a power plug.
Actually, phone lines provide power.
“Sorry, Wi-Fi calling is not available on your Nexus 5.”
google voice + hangouts + WiFi = your solution
That’s how Verizon is for me. Funny. More and more often I am seeing AT&T having better coverage than Verizon and T-Mobile catching up fast. It may be time to switch because of network.
If you have any reception right outside your house you can get one of their Cel-Fi signal boosters for free (or maybe $25 deposit or something). Works great for me, don’t need a wifi-calling phone or to rely on your own internet.
No, you can’t. I called for a month trying to get one, they didn’t have any in stock and had no idea when they would get any more.
Was it before the whole new router/new cel-fi roll out? I called in early September and they gave me that exact line. Then I called again in late Sept (maybe around the 20th) after they had their public announcement about the router/cel-fi and they shipped me one for free.
It was in August.
Based on your other comment below it looks like it doesn’t matter to you anymore, but they should be in a better place if you ever want to go back to T-mobile. I think they depleted all their old signal booster stocks before they rolled out the new technology and that probably caused a few problems. I know I was frustrated the first time when they just said “call back in a month,” though the guy was pretty nice about it.
It doesn’t matter right now. I did have T-Mobile service for almost a year and loved it, until I moved and they decided they didn’t want to offer quality customer service anymore. I couldn’t live with no call coverage in my own home. I’m pretty happy with Cricket’s coverage and speeds right now. But the great thing about being off-contract is the ability to shop around.
They seem to have improved in this area. I went into my local store the other day and paid $25 for a CellSpot device. If you do go to the store though and want to use the device to replace your router, be sure that you get the “router” version and not the “signal booster” version. The external boxes look almost identical.
So I called them and complained about only getting one bar of service at my window, and really laid it on with how upset I was and how I want to stay with them, So after 10 minutes they sent me “Nextivity T-Mobile 4G LTE Signal Booster A” and now I get great service in my house. They kinda fight you on it for a little bit because the two boxes are literally over 500 bucks but they will send it to you for free.
Same here
I mentioned to someone else, problem with those is when you are stuck at your house during a power outage, one of the few times you might really need a mobile phone, and it won’t work.
That’s where AC/DC Converters come in real handy! 🙂
I made the same call… six times over a month span. They went around and around with me about how I didn’t qualify for a booster on the Simple Choice plan, but didn’t find it relevant to tell me all I needed to do to qualify was switch to an installment plan. Finally, after two visits to the store and several hours later, and losing the $10 discount on unlimited, they told me they didn’t have any signal boosters in stock.
I walked out of the store and drove straight to the Cricket store and switched over in 15 minutes.
I wasn’t able to get it on prepaid so I had to switch to a post paid account which I was annoyed about because they had to run a credit check even though I owned my phone outright.
That’s the same story they told me, only they didn’t bother mentioning they didn’t have any available until AFTER I waited for an hour in the store for them to play switcheroo.
Oh and they made the point to me that prepaid uses different towers and the wifi calling and Booster don’t use those towers, not sure if that was all b.s.. Anyone verify that?
BS, I’m on TMo prepaid and I use wi-fi calling on my TMo M7
The Call center had verified that for me, I made a big to do about it, lucky you for getting away with it.
Wait are you using the WIFI router they are giving away for 25 bucks or just hangouts over wifi?
Neither. I have used the hangouts dialer on the weird months during which I exceed my 100 minutes. But that’s not what I meant by WiFi calling.
On my M7, I go into settings -> under wireless and networks I select “more” -> then the bottom option on the next screen is “WiFi Calling” which I can turn on/off. I can also select the following connection preferences: WiFi preferred (if WiFi and cell coverage are both available, use WiFi), Cell Network Preferred (if WiFi and cell coverage are both available, use cell), or Never Use Cell Network (Do not use Cell Network, even if available).
Once WiFi calling is enabled and I’m on a WiFi network, I see the WiFi calling symbol appear in my notification bar and the signal type icon disappears from my signal bars (3G/4G/LTE goes away, leaving only the bars)
Keep in mind this is an M7 bought from T-Mobile its not an unlocked/international/GPE/etc. Also in order to use WiFi calling you need an address tied to your SIM for 911 purposes. When I first got the phone and tried to use the feature I was getting an error related to my SIM so I went to the store and handed them my phone and they fixed it for me.
Oh Ok gotcha. Seeing that my n5 is pretty much stock, that’s not available for me, I guess I just need to figure out how much longer I will keep the five, and then figure out which one I want from there, I just really enjoy pure android and I’m not savvy enough to flash new roms.
Gotcha, I wasn’t aware you have a N5, WiFi calling isn’t available on the N5. But I was just trying to point out then whomever told you post-paid and pre-paid data travel over different towers and the pre-paid towers don’t support WiFi calling was probably not fully informed.
Oh that’s good to hear, I still have my wife’s non work Iphone on the Walmart plan, I was on it but was using too many minutes, I keep wanting to go back to it but my work gives me 100 bucks a month now so I have the 80 dollar Unlimited plan but if that changes, I need to try hangouts calling, in the past I tried but it kept breaking up on me. I know it worked pretty well when my wife tried it on her Samsung Tablet just last week, so I will have try it again. Thanks.
I find that my experience with the Hangouts dialer is highly dependent on the wifi signal/router/ISP. My FiOS router is crap and I’ll constantly see my wifi bars go from full to almost nothing repeatedly. This doesn’t really matter while browsing but while trying to talk it makes the person cut out periodically. Other routers have worked perfectly fine.
I was in fact informed that the Simple Choice plan users are kicked off the towers if there’s congestion. Post-paid users are prioritized. The store rep switched out my sim card to a post-paid card to see if it would improve signal, but it didn’t. I don’t think prepaid uses different towers, they’re just the first ones to get kicked off the towers if there’s congestion. I believe that’s true for all prepaid services associated with post-paid carriers.
T-Mobile gives you a Microcell for free or 25 bucks which also doubles as a Dualband AC router. You’re missing out. They’ve honestly addressed any critiques and possible concerns.
No, they don’t.
I don’t like using the “T” word so here’s a link instead: http://www.t-mobile.com/offer/wifi-calling-wifi-extenders.html
I was in the EXACT same situation as you and I left them for AT&T Straight Talk, came back on T-Mobile and they had improved my signal and get HSPA (not even +) but at least now I can send texts while at home.
I hope they improve the signal in your house soon!
Have you not called to get a signal booster for your home? If you get any signal at all I suggest you do it. There is no monthly fee, just pay to ship it to your house and return it if you leave. I got one for my house but since the signal has improved I use it at work because I would only get one bar and that is if I was lucky. Now full HSPA+.
I do not qualify to get a free signal booster for my home as I am on the $30 T-Mobile plan. They only offer that service to their post paid services.
I have that issue in my home. I get nothing not even E I get service but no data. Walk a block away I get 4GLTE. Their map says I get 4GLTE at my house. Nope. It’s nice to know they are being untruthful on their map.