T-Mobile USA's 3G: Better late than never?

Interesting question whether they have benefited or not. Up until recently, I would say yes because I don’t think the bulk of mainstream users saw the benefit of 3G data services. Mobile video and high speed data was a niche audience. However, mobile video is not seen that way anymore (or least very soon it will not be). With the increased penetration of broadband in homes, consumers are growing used to always having high-speed access to the Internet. Also, the influence of the Internet is our daily lives is continuing to grow. Combine this with the fact that one of T-Mobile’s key demographics – young people – are going to be prime users of these types of services, not having a compelling 3G option could soon begin to hurt T-Mobile. They do benefit from greater industry know-how and experience with 3G; also, the vendors should be coming down the cost curve by now which is key for to them since they do not have the same economies of scale that AT&T or Verizon enjoy. Thus, overall, I do not think they have been critically hurt yet, but pretty soon 3G is going to be expected from a broad cross-section of users and not having it could be a definite disadvantage.

I find their lack of 3G really disheartening, as I've been a T-Mobile user since the first day Voicestream hit the Chicago area. For 3G, I use AT&T, but having two phones is really a waste of space.

One thing that seems consistent is that some of the bandwidth that T-Mobile purchased hasn't been relinquished by the government agencies that used to use them. I'm not sure if this is rumor or fact, though, but knowing how these financially-bankrupt agencies run other things, it wouldn't surprise me if T-Mobile got the short end of the stick in terms of bandwidth they now "own" but can't use.

3G is probably not a huge profit-maker for any company, so I guess T-Mobile really was in no rush to administer the bandwidth, but it's getting to the point that if T-Mobile doesn't "turn on" 3G this year, I'll move my corporate contracts to AT&T. All my users need faster-than-EDGE connections wirelessly, and it's a waste to maintain two contracts -- one for phone, one for wireless broadband.

Great analysis - I have been a Voicestream customer since 2000, then kept with T-Mobile to present. I bought the Danger Sidekick in 2002, the Sidekick II in 2004, and last month upgraded to the Sidekick Slide. I use the phone more for web browsing, but it is very slow (as is always pointed out in all the cell phone reviews).

I think this analysis is great and could also be applied to other areas such as Yankee Group always making these 4 year outlooks. It would be interesting to go back to 2000 and see how over/under/right on they were with the many wireless predictions they made.

Has TMobile benefited by from their late start to 3G? Absolutely not, and I am positive it has been to their detriment. Just like AB above, I have 3G with Verizon due to TMobile's lack of 3G. I do use TMobile's voice services. So, TMobile is clearly losing out on revenue that is going to other carriers. What's more, when (or I wonder if) TMobile ever rolls out 3G it will be their first iteration while the other players are on their 3rd or 4th rollout...which means the other carriers are able to offer more services with fewer problems (they have been able to work out the kinks).

What upsets me the most about TMobile is their complete lack of communication about what is happening with their 3G rollout. If I don't hear details soon I will be dumping TMobile completely and going with a different carrier. I am hardly alone in this frustration.

They're two other factors worth considering. Some of the handsets deployed by existing carriers, such as AT&T's Samsung Blackjack I, were premature, resulting in consumer dissatisfaction with fast battery drain. (AT&T/Samsung has since fixed that problem with the Blackjack II, containing a larger battery.) 3G chipsets supporting 3G handsets are also important (witness Apple's iPhone, heavily criticized for the handset's EDGE-only data capability. T-Mobile is working closely with a few manufacturers--Nokia and Samsung--to ensure better 3G chipsets and high performance. This strategy will not only deliver better performance once T-Mobile rolls out its 3G network in the U.S.; its technical team will better support T-Mobile's customer base, which has come to expect high-quality customer and technical support.

To date they have not been hurt, but I expect they will be in 2008 if they fail to have 3G offerings in the major US markets. From a personal standpoint, I have been happy with TMO but will absolutely be switching carriers when my contract ends this summer if they are still not offering 3G in major markets like Houston, LA, San Fran, etc, areas where I live and frequently travel. The EDGE network is the equivalent of dial-up internet service. With the increase in availability of 3G capable handsets, the expectation of iPhone and Blackberry 3G units this year, the expectation in the market will be for 3G support. TMO in my opinion has a very short window of opportunity to maintain their current level of US marketshare.

I called t-mobile today, and asked if my n95 and their data plan will provide me with 3g speeds. Unfortunately they don't have it. So it makes me wonder, why a person like me will stay with them. So all they give me is unlimited dataplan over an EDGE network, which is slow.
On the over hand there is AT&T, which for the same $20 a month let you use either edge or 3g based on what phone supports.

Here they have it because they are slow to implement their 3g network up and running, they are going to lose another customer.

Way to go t-mobile.

I can't find any AT&T data plan for $20 a month. There's really nothing that competes with the price of T-Mobile. If I could find one, I'd switch (or add) for the advantage of the 3g.

T-mobile will not lose customers over the lack of high speed data. T-mobile USA simply will not gain any new data subscribers. The business users would go to Sprint, Verizon and At&t for a data card. How badly is that going to hurt them? I don't know. But as I am writing this on my blackberry I know that there are no 3G RIM devices out there yet, At&t does not sell the videophones any longer and verizon is hardly making any money with vcast. Sprint... Just look at the stock price.
And my edge blackberry is way faster in emailing compared to the 3G PDAs with outlook. Opera and google maps load just fast enough to save me when I need their help.
T-mobile might be behind on the 3g rollout but why do we think that 3g is so much better? Are you not enjoying the cheap voice and super cheap data tmo provides? 3G comes with a broader pricetag than one might think... And the revenue has proven to be ignorably small.
T-mobile wimax for mobile and home broadband interenet: now that might be a cash cow and a good move for Deutsche Telecom.

Lack of 3G service is going to kill T-Mobile. I have been waiting for a while. I will switch in the summer if it is not available, period. No more waiting, no more unanswered emails, no more head in the sand.

You can not be last in the market and be competitive. Customers are only loyal to the end of their contract period. And I am not sure you will see them again if you are at the bottom of the technology curve.

AT&T here I come!

I think that the lack of 3G will definitely hurt T-Mobile--particularly when it comes to holding on to their $100+/month average revenue business users (like myself). I would love to be able to use my Blackberry in "tethered" mode with my laptop, but EDGE is just too darn slow to be of any use whatsoever. When my co-workers, most of whom have either AT&T or Verizon, tether their Blackberries, I am incredibly envious of the speed. True, T-Mobile definitely offers the best pricing out there--but for a business user like myself, it's all about speed and not so much about price (since my company pays for the line anyway).

At this rate, when my T-Mobile contract comes up for renewal, I'm definitely headed elsewhere. When enough people like myself make the same decision, T-Mobile will be in a world of hurt as they gradually see their churn rates increase and their ARPUs decrease even lower than they already are.

Well this is a good subject. T Mobile should launch their 3G network in late summer and with the a new release from the HTC family to back it up. T Mobile has prolonged its launch , but they did drain there edge network for several reason. Look how much they grew w/o 3G. T Mobile is probably thinking of ways to put down the Iphone monster and what better way than to have this hit before holiday season. I say everything will work out for the best. Thanks Dekon @ omynerds.com

I've been with T-Mobile/VoiceStream/Powertel since December of 2005, and have patiently been waiting for data services. GPRS and EDGE are jokes.

I agree that mobile video might not have a big demand. However, 3G is essential for high speed data transfer. I keep two phones too - one AT&T and one T-mobile, both data plans. T-mobile EDGE is too slow when compared to At&T 3G. Coming back from Hong Kong where the majority wireless users have 3G data plans, I see the need and growth potential for a 3G network.

I hope T-mobile can roll out their 3G service by June 2008, otherwise, I can live without their nice customer service. I also hope that there will be some good smartphones out the same time.

I have been a Tmobile customer for about 6 years and the delayed 3G roll out is not good for business. Edge data connections are too slow to be believed. It reminds me of my 1200bps modem 'back in the day'. I am strongly considering leaving for at&t and their faster service but I am trying to remain loyal. Yeah the customer service is the best and prices are good but I want performance!

I have been with TMo for about 5 years now and I think I might be changing if this doesn't change. I have been wanting a great phone with fast service and still to no avail has TMo given that. The phone in Europe (even with TMo UK) are a whole lot better than the ones here and 3g at that. I thought about buying a phone from the UK but it would be a hassle and the 3g wouldn't work here. I might leave by the end of the summer. TMo start doing something for your US customers. It is funny to see 3,4 and 5 MP cameras in UK and the highest that TMo US has is 2 or 3.

bull at@t among the other phone companies that offer 3g is charging 50 plus for it. t-mobile is one of the cheapest right now. besides boost mobile or cricket. So where ever you got 20 from they lied to you.

and i also spoke to t-mobile myself and there people are saying late august t-mobile will have 3g up and running.
i have been a customer with t-mobile for four years now i say good for them.

Also the 3g problem is not t-mobile it is the equipment they bought for it was goverment owned and home land security what a joke is not releasing the equipment.
So before commenting read up on it

While most people equate 3G = Fast Data, I don't think TMO is going to offer fast data.

Has anyone tested the network speed of the UMTS/HSPA network in NYC? Is is meaningfully faster than EDGE? I bet it's significantly slower than AT&T/VZW/Sprint's data speeds.

Run a test. See what it is.

If you want to live long and prosper then you only need iPhone. Nothing else will work!

For any concerned about T-mobile's 3G service, it is rolled out 2 days ago starting in New York. Anyone can buy a Nokia N series phone that provides you up to the 5mp camera, and use it on the T-mobile network, along with satellite radio. A 3mp will provide a picture up to a 5x7. Do you really need to be able to print a poster size picture from your phone, if so where did you get your printer? Keep in mind that AT&T and T-mobile share towers. T-mobile is #1 in customer service. They have won the JD Powers award seven years in a row! Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, also can not support all the phones in europe. They are not available for sale here, so why keep up with another countries product?

For my money, the 3g data solutions available today are fast but not fast enough to be my only internet connection, yet too expensive to be seen as a backup or "just for travel" solution.

My EDGE handset has moved about a gig of data over the past 18 months in my usage. The cost is low enough that I can easily justify it as a secondary service.

I suspect that T-mobile has been wise in delaying their rollout. Let the market establish itself, give users of competing services have a chance to get mad at their carriers for any reason and then hope they churn into the new T-mobile offering when it eventually goes live with latest-generation equipment. Seems like a great strategy to me. They'll have fewer premiums to pay on the rollout because the engineers have done it before, and lower marketing costs to tell people about it because they already know. That sets the stage for a same-speed, lower price service offering to better compete against AT&T and Verizon.

Not offering a major high speed data connection that is available by all major carriers worldwide is not good. TMobile didn't want it this way but has off set the loss with great customer service, cheaper cost to sign up with them, etc.... My main concern is the 3G they will make available will be on different bandwith than AT&T in the US and other carriers worldwide so I won't be able to unlock a possibly nicer, less expensive phone and be at the mercy of TMobile's product. Not that they've ever burned me, but I hate being at a company's mercy.

tmobile is getting 3g pretti quick alreadi. starting in New York alreadi in use.... T-mobile is #1 in customer service. They have won the JD Powers award seven years in a row! Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, also can not support all the phones in europe. They are not available for sale here, so why keep up with another countries product?

I love T-Mobile's customer service, and price plans, but unfortunately, their slow deployment of 3G and more advanced PDA phones, left me frustrtated. It's disappointing to see their competitors offer more phones and more 3G network related features like, GPS and mobile TV.

Deutsche Telecom is far too advanced to allow their american subsidiary fall by the wasteside in order to wait on a better 3G offering. They should just deploy it in all cities, not just the "most loved" top 25, and improve any roll-out shortcoming with customer feedback; (Hence as Microsoft relabeled Win 98 SP8 as Win XP).

T-mobile should hurry!!!!! They cant keep subscribers on their "Win98" equivalent network forever.......
Frustrated T-Mobile Fan

Has T-Mobile benefited? Well they saved money for a while. But originally when everyone else hastily jumped on the 3G bandwagon, T-Mobile said they were going to wait and leapfrog into 3.5G or 4G while the others were still paying down their 3G debts. Unfortunately, like every other part of cell phone history, the US continues to drag behind Europe, and T-Mobile failed to adopt the technologies on the cutting edge in Europe. I'm curious what happened, because now it just seems like they will always be a step behind.

AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon illegally wiretapped Americans. T-Mobile and Qwest did not. Be patient with the law abiding and Constitutional companies, and ignore the criminal ones.

I too love the customer service and TMO by far has the best pricing when i go overseas to countries that do not sell sim cards by the minute. I hope it comes soon as that iphone 3g looks awfully pretty

T-Mobile (german owned) 150 million customers worldwide. it was said that this is tmobiles first roll out and that the other companies are on 3 or 4. lets just say this t-mobile is rolling out what is out in europe australia where 3 g speeds are 7 gb down 1.5 gb or higher up. tmobile is rolling out that system where you get a phone here and you will be able to use that same fone in those other countries. i know that a great deal of us do not travel but its gonna be nice that if i ever go over seas my phone will be fully compatible with the 3g service there.

I've been a very loyal Tmobile customer since they were voice stream. I've been with every cell company you can name off and can tell you all the issues, pros and cons of all of them. I would have to use Nextel to take advantage of the direct connect with a landscaping company I had run, I had to switch to another company because I couldn't get a clear signal in my house while on a two year contract out of state. After I moved back I picked Tmobile right back up. Lets be honest, the customer care is gReAt. Unfortunately, though I have been understanding of the game that they got stuck with by the department of deffence and standing as firm as possible, honestly its drug on too long. Our family has carried between two to five lines as business has needed and picking up multiple phones is not going to cut it. The prices are all shifting across the board with other companies competing with Tmobile now. True they don't have the customer service Tmobile does, but we're in a new time where high speed IS a must for more than imagined. People buy computers that are of a standard that will gaurentee they will work, work well & if they don't they have a warranty. All the phone companies are picking up on this and taking the customer care to the levels as computer companies. We may rather have great customer Service... but its costing me profit losses with a network as slow as edge. I ve held on as long as possible and now with kids being required to have high speed for there online school classes tHiS weeK,(not 4th quarter) and us traveling so frequently... Well, I believe they didn't give the effort to get sOmething for the loyalty their customers have shown, until they could get their great amazing 3G at top notch. Now we even have the lowliest of cell companies offer 3G. Its sad. By the time they roll out across the U.S. fully (not just in a few markets here and there) it may be too late to convince every customer that they are this great company. I've been using their data phone as a modem and to its fullest potential. That puts me in a position that if they roll out and dOn't pick up the fastest best quality phone immediately with their roll out... well... it will be the strike out. We're at a level that the tech world moves so fast you have to keep up with it. They can claim great service, but there is nothing that says great strategy as I'm seeing this new HTC touch Pro toggling into every other companies hands over the next 60 days & hearing TMobile (whos already got a name and a need for it) toggling on testing it and as they are now saying, "maybe waiting til next year to realease this device."

With the promises that didn't come to pass because of hanging onto a sinking ship, or the downhill battle with the band it has put the image of little faith. I have to keep churning business forward and if they can't push through to our Denver market and show the phone that has been labeled the I Phone Killer quickly, well...

At this point, I wouldn't feel I've lost anything to pay to cancel any of our lines that may have picked up a new contract in order to keep up with the phones that will qUickly propell our companies & increase our profits. Because honestly, this Is the time and 4G is already coming to other companies.

Sorry they can't see this IS hurting people and like to make believe that its an edge on the market,when in reality its edge is just a network that we walk out into the real world and see everyday get walked all over by even Kricket now.

Sincerely,
Once a Loyal Customer, About Gone For Life

I just got off the phone with a T-Mobile rep and I complained to her that they haven't changed their phone line much in the US over the last 2 years and she told me that it was definately in the plans for T-Mobile to have 3G phones in by the end of the year (of course she didn't say anything about where or where not you could get that service by then....)

I think that T-Mobile can benefit from being one of the last companies to roll out its 3g networks because now it can offered it to its customer for less. which has always been T-mobile best marketing tools to get customer. Is true that by being one of the last to roll out the 3g network they are behind and are not attractive for bussiness acounts, but bussiness acount are always at discounted prices and any way there is more money on being attrative to the average people in this days that having cell phone service has become a necessery and not a luxury. One of the problem with being the last is that all of the other companies a way ahead in the technology and people are more likelly to get in to a two year contract without thiking how much is going to cost them just because of all of the things the faster network can do. what I think T-mobile should do its just built their 3g network as a platform for something better like the 4g network, but not put too much money and time into it and also to keep the intrest of the young people with phones like the sidekick who have their parent buy the phone for them even if the parents have another service provider to conduct their bussiness and also keep being attrative to the aging customer that think alot about prices before they get into anything.

In the state of connecticut we do not have any 3g networks are 3g phones out here tmobile rep said we should be getting the 3g network service in the 3rd quarter of next year I think that is wrong that we have to wait that long there are so many ppl in conn who wants to buy the 3g phones but cant because tmobile officials said if there isnt know 3g networks out here then they cant sell the phones and you will half to go to another state and buy it. I think this situation is really sad they are putting networks up in all other cities and states WHY NOT CONNECTICUT? I ask the customer rep these questions they cant even answer it all they say is We dont know when it will be out here in conn

I use to purchasing cell phone from Asia, like the HTC TytnII & Samsung I900 to use it on TMobile network, but either now TMobile have the 3G service, I cannot get any bennfit from it, because they use different frequency 1700, than the other service provider, like AT&T frequency 2100. therefore I believe no matter what TMobile is loss one more coustomer, since their stupid setup.
I have no choices, Edge is so slow in this days, I want it fast, why Asia area always have the new stuff, and the US cell phone service provider always behind?

Answer to Anonymous from Connecticut: I would think that there is no 3G in your state because the residents were stupid enough to reelect Lieberman, that Israeli double agent to the Senate. Enjoy the disasterous economy that Bush butt licker helped cause!

I've been a Voice Stream customer since the Nokia 8190 came out around 1999. I'm still with T-Mobile, however I don't like the lack of 3G. I usually purchase out of network phones like the Nokia N95. I was told by T-Mobile techs that T-Mobile 3G will only work on 1700 MHZ since AT&T and Sprint have the 2100MGZ required for 3G. I hope this is not true since T-Mobile doesn't have a good selection of advanced mobile devices

Keep in mind that T-Mobile's European sister companies have been offering 3G service (and applications) for a number of years now, and I am certain that they have learned their lessons long before the first 3G networks existed in the U.S.