“By the end of the year, T-Mobile customers will be able to run their iPhones on its networks. But not by way of any formal deal with Apple. Instead, T-Mobile plans on making its network compatible with the iPhone,” Chris Spera reports for BYTE. “How exactly? It is refarming its spectrum, which means that the service that’s currently using that frequency will be moved to another frequency.”
“Because T-Mobile is on a 1700 MHz AWS spectrum frequency, the network is incompatible with the iPhone. Effectively, they are moving their 3G support 1700 MHz AWS to 1900 MHz. This should happen by October, but the phone must be jail broken, AT&T must unlock it, or the customer has to buy the phone unlocked,” Spera reports. “This is significant because no other cell carrier in the world except T-Mobile USA uses 1700 MHz AWS for 3G/4G/HSPA+. The move to 1900 MHz means that their network is now potentially compatible with every other GSM handset available.”
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Spera reports, “You’re still going to have to remove/jailbreak any carrier lock that may exist on any smartphone in question, or purchase it factory unlocked to use it on T-Mobile USA; but this means that phones like the iPhone 4/4S or the HTC One X, currently locked to AT&T, can be used on T-Mobile’s 4G/HSPA+ network once they are unlocked. The iPhone will never, ever officially be offered by T-Mobile. Period. Well, not unless they decide to write the $15.8 billion check to cover the subsidy that Apple is currently requiring from them.”
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