According to a new report from OpenSignal, T-Mobile USA is testing its LTE network in a handful of cities across the country, and the carrier's download speeds are hitting around 25 Mbps.
T-Mobile has not yet commercially launched its LTE network. The carrier has scheduled a press event for March 26 where it will likely announce its LTE rollout plans and new service and device pricing. T-Mobile has previously promised to cover 100 million POPs with LTE on its 1700 MHz AWS spectrum by mid-2013 and 200 million by year-end.
In its report, OpenSignal said its software has detected T-Mobile's LTE network in Denver, Kansas City, Las Vegas, New Orleans, New York City, San Diego, San Jose (and Bay Area cities) and Seattle. Those markets generally align with other rumors about T-Mobile's initial LTE launch cities. Further, according to OpenSignal's findings, T-Mobile's network is showing download speeds of around 25 Mbps, upload speeds of around 8 Mbps and latency speeds of around 40 milliseconds.
The firm said it detected T-Mobile's LTE connections running on the Samsung Galaxy Note II, the Samsung Galaxy S III and the Samsung Galaxy S4. T-Mobile previously has said it would offer LTE on the Galaxy Note II and Galaxy S III, and has promised to begin selling the S4 in the coming weeks.
To be clear, OpenSignal pointed out that its findings--obtained through its Android app--are preliminary and are derived from a relatively small sample size. Further, the company pointed out that T-Mobile's network transmission speeds likely will decrease over time as the carrier adds subscribers to its LTE network.
T-Mobile is in the midst of a number of major corporate initiatives. The carrier is preparing to both switch on its LTE network and overhaul is pricing for services and devices. According to a TMoNews report, at third-party retailers T-Mobile will continue offer individual "UNcarrier" Classic plans with device subsidies starting at $60 per month for unlimited voice, texting and 500 MB of data, and prices will range up to $90 per month for unlimited voice, text and data. The carrier has also promised to sell phones through an unsubsidized model via its Value plans.
Separately, T-Mobile has also said it will soon begin selling Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) products. And T-Mobile is working to finalize its acquisition of prepaid carrier MetroPCS (NYSE:PCS). All federal regulators have approved the deal and MetroPCS shareholders will vote on the transaction April 12. T-Mobile plans to supplement its LTE network with MetroPCS' spectrum, and also plans to target the prepaid sector by taking MetroPCS' brand nationwide.
For more:
- see this OpenSignal post
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