Sprint users worried about losing their plans now that T-Mobile has officially completed its merger can rest easy. In talking with CNET Wednesday morning, new T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert confirmed that Sprint users will still be able to keep their existing plans while taking advantage of the combined carriers’ improved network.
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“No one’s plan will change,” Sievert said. “Today we completed our merger and everybody has the same plan today they had yesterday.
“A long-standing policy at T-Mobile is that people get to keep what they have,” he said, adding that the company will rollout new offers in the “coming weeks” under the new, unified T-Mobile brand that are “highly attractive in the marketplace.”
“We know what kind of offers our customers are looking for.”
Sprint users will be able to tap into T-Mobile’s 4G LTE network today without having to do anything on their phone, with Sievert noting that the company is using roaming for LTE to “immediately add both coverage and capacity” for Sprint customers.
For Sprint’s 5G devices, a software update is coming to enable them to connect to T-Mobile’s 5G networks.
T-Mobile is also already deploying the newly acquired Sprint 5G spectrum (known as midband), which provides faster speeds than T-Mobile’s low-band 5G network while still working indoors.
Neville Ray, T-Mobile’s president of technology, says that Philadelphia is the first city to go live, with others set to be turned on “rapidly” in the coming weeks. Every T-Mobile 5G device that the carrier has launched will be able to tap into the midband 5G once it’s deployed.
Google’s device line could end up having a particularly important moment in 2023. The company usually announces new Pixel products throughout the year. Google is expected to release its first foldable phone this year, however, which would directly compete with Samsung’s proven line of Galaxy Z Fold devices. Google also introduced its own ChatGPT rival, …
“If you think of the new T-Mobile coming together, we have to migrate customers off legacy CDMA and get them onto handsets that are compatible with the new T-Mobile,” Mark McDiarmid, T-Mobile’s senior vice president of radio network engineering and development, said in an interview. “And the best way to do that is to give them 5G handsets. Or to encourage them to upgrade them.”
T-Mobile has reason to get people to switch over as quick as possible. While Sprint owns a valuable swath of spectrum — the radio signals that are the life blood of wireless service — it utilizes a different technology for its voice network called CDMA that’s incompatible with T-Mobile’s GSM-based network. By getting people off the network, T-Mobile can quickly shut down the CDMA parts and move it over to be used for 5G.
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That’s why T-Mobile has been so eager to get the Sprint deal done. Beyond inheriting a base of tens of millions of customers, the nation’s third-largest carrier would also get Sprint’s valuable spectrum, which would greatly enhance its ability to roll out a comprehensive 5G network. T-Mobile has promised price locks, free service to first responders, home connectivity to low-income families and a new $15 phone plan if its deal goes through.
The new T-Mobile will offer an incentive program to ease the transition, McDiarmid said, though there are no formalized plans yet. He noted that the move would be similar to T-Mobile’s transition of MetroPCS customers when the carrier bought the network in 2012. Like Sprint, MetroPCS also used CDMA technology.
“The essence of it is that to migrate the customers to compatible handsets, the obvious place to go is to 5G because it’s future-proof,” McDiarmid said.
Sprint customers wouldn’t have to relinquish their phones immediately. It would take three years to migrate Sprint and T-Mobile’s existing networks, pending approval. During that time, many Sprint customers would already trade up their older phones for a new model.
The vast majority of midrange and high-end devices are expected to support 5G networks by then, leaving few holdouts of budget 4G handsets and “dumb” phones to move over.
What 5G can do for you besides fast phone downloads
Don’t expect a lot of big strategic changes to come to T-Mobile USA with new CEO John Legere taking the reins.
The wireless carrier, which is a distant fourth-place player in an industry dominated by Verizon Wireless and AT&T, has the right plan in place to return to growth — it just needs to execute, Legere told CNET in an interview today.
“There are no real missing components in the arsenal,” he said of the turnaround strategy.
T-Mobile continues to face challenges in catching up to its rivals and slowing down the loss of its most lucrative contract customers. A few months ago, the carrier set out a new roadmap to upgrade its network, move to 4G LTE, and introduce more aggressive mobile device plans as it works to curb its losses. Legere doesn’t intend to mess with the plan, saying that he wants, rather, to simply add a “maniacal focus” on execution.
That includes bringing back the “coolness” factor to T-Mobile, which he believes the company still embodies and which has allowed it to stand out from its larger competitors.
“We’re a West Coast tech company,” he said. “I spent 18 years in giant companies with buildings with high-shag carpeting. This is different.”
T-Mobile has already changed up its marketing and messaging, going with a more aggressive stance as illustrated by its spokeswoman, Carly, who has traded in her cute pink dress for leather and a motorcycle.
Over the past few weeks, the company has launched a no-strings unlimited data plan and has started a campaign to get consumers to come over with their iPhone — just the first couple of examples, Legere said, of some of the things T-Mobile plans to do to show that it’s back in the game.
“There will be a drumbeat of action as the business returns to growth,” he said.
Neither Legere nor Deutsche Telekom CEO Rene Obermann would talk about T-Mobile USA possibly carrying the iPhone itself. It’s among the few carriers not offering the new iPhone 5.
Legere has plenty of experience in shepherding ailing businesses back to health. He took over Global Crossing — a telecom darling in the 1990s that turned into one of the largest bankruptcies in U.S. history — after it emerged out of Chapter 11, turning it into a player in the Internet and communications services business.
Legere is expected to take some of his enterprise know-how and bring it to T-Mobile. He talked about the opportunity that comes from serving the business sector, and noted that there are many companies out there that feel neglected by the larger carriers and “relegated to secondary status.” T-Mobile has said it plans to hire 1,000 employees to bulk up its business-sales staff.
“The higher touch and direct sales approach can help,” he said.
On both the consumer and business sides, T-Mobile wants to increase its market share. Given its current small position, even a minor increase could have a dramatically positive effect on the company, Legere said. At the same time, the larger carriers don’t see T-Mobile as much of a threat, and are less likely to respond.
While critics have questioned T-Mobile’s spectrum position and Deutsche Telekom’s commitment to the business, Legere believes both are much stronger than perceived. Between the spectrum it got from AT&T from their failed merger deal, to the airwaves it plans to purchase from Verizon Wireless following its cable deal, T-Mobile has a swath of spectrum “that rivals anybody,” he said.
Likewise, Obermann took the time to reiterate his faith in T-Mobile.
“I truly believe in the opportunity in the U.S. market,” he said, adding that the industry has only scratched the surface in providing wireless connectivity to people and devices.
The T-Mobile MyTouch 4G Slide claims to have the most advanced camera of any smartphone.
Bonnie Cha/CNET
Today, T-Mobile finally put the rumors to rest and officially unveiled the T-Mobile MyTouch 4G Slide. Expected in July for $199.99 with contract, it’s the latest addition to the carrier’s line of consumer-friendly Android smartphones, and it’s more than just the next-gen version of the MyTouch 3G Slide; T-Mobile is touting the MyTouch 4G Slide as having the most advanced camera of any smartphone out there.
Designed in collaboration with HTC, the smartphone has an 8-megapixel camera with dual-LED flash and 1080p HD video capture, which isn’t out of the ordinary. What is special, however, are some of the new premium features. This includes a wide aperture lens and a backside-illuminated sensor (BSI). The latter technology is also present on the iPhone 4, and as CNET digital imaging editor Josh Goldman explains here, BSI improves speed and dynamic range and enables better picture quality in low-light conditions. Low-light performance has always been a trouble spot for most camera phones, so we appreciate any kind of help in this area.
T-Mobile also boasts that the MyTouch 4G Slide has zero shutter lag and comes with a dedicated camera button that can activate the camera even when the phone is locked. The camera’s software offers an array of editing options and shooting modes, including SweepShot for panoramic pictures, BurstShot for capturing a sequence of photos, and ClearShot HDR.
HDR, which stands for high dynamic range, is a tool that helps capture a more detailed and accurate picture in challenging lighting conditions. With HDR, the camera takes multiple shots of a scene–one overexposed, one underexposed, and one with normal exposure–and combines them into a single image to bring out details that would otherwise be lost in the dark shadows or bright light. Though HDR isn’t new and there are multiple third-party apps and post-production software programs available to achieve the same effect, the beauty of it on the MyTouch 4G Slide is that HDR is integrated into the camera app.
Of course, the camera is just one aspect of the smartphone, and it has plenty more to offer. The MyTouch 4G Slide will ship running Android 2.3 Gingerbread with the new HTC Sense 3.0 user experience, though we’re told some aspects of Sense will be toned down. It will come preloaded with a few extra apps and services, including the Netflix Android app and the Qik client, so you can make video calls using the front-facing VGA camera.
In terms of design, the smartphone has a 3.7-inch, WVGA Super LCD and is similar in size and feel to the MyTouch 4G, which is pretty amazing considering it packs in a full QWERTY keyboard. Like previous MyTouch models, it has a Genius button on the bottom right to activate its voice-to-text capabilities.
Underneath the hood, the smartphone packs in Qualcomm’s new 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor and full wireless options, including “4G” (14.4Mbps) and support for Wi-Fi calling. Unfortunately, like the HTC Sensation 4G, only 1GB of the 4GB of internal memory is available to the user, and it only comes with an 8GB microSD card preinstalled, though you can expand up to 32GB.
First impressions
T-Mobile stopped by our offices last week to give us a quick preview of the MyTouch 4G Slide. The hardware is impressive. As I mentioned above, it feels much like the T-Mobile MyTouch 4G. It has high-quality construction, with a soft-touch finish on the back, and is relatively compact and slim, which, as we said, is a feat considering the full slide-out QWERTY keyboard. The keyboard is pretty easy to use. The buttons are a little flat but are a good size with decent spacing. The 3.7-inch WVGA Super LCD looked sharp, and the smartphone felt quite responsive as we navigated through the various screens and menus.
Now, whether the MyTouch 4G Slide lives up to its claims of having the most advanced camera on a smartphone remains to be seen. It was hard to really test out the features in a 30-minute briefing. The shutter speed felt fast, and the different shooting modes seemed to deliver the goods. Still, we’ll reserve final judgment for when we get a unit in for review and can test out the camera in various lighting conditions and different situations.
That said, it’s nice to see that T-Mobile and HTC are addressing the camera issue. More and more people are using their phones to snap pictures, which makes sense because you always carry around your phone but probably not your digital camera. The problem is, of course, the picture quality and performance are never as good as what you get from a standalone camera, so though the convenience of your phone has allowed you to capture that perfect moment, the photo often comes out blurry and grainy.
Smartphones are still a long way from replacing digital cameras, but it definitely doesn’t hurt to have a phone that takes awesome-looking photos in your arsenal. Time will tell if the MyTouch 4G Slide is that device.
T-Mobile’s Android family is expanding once again, as the carrier announced a new MyTouch model that will arrive just in time for the holidays.
Like the other MyTouch models, the handset, which is currently known simply as the T-Mobile MyTouch, is made by HTC but is billed as more of a premium device compared with the current lineup. The smartphone will ship running Android 2.2 and includes some higher-end features like HSPA+ support, a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, and a front-facing VGA camera for video chat.
Though T-Mobile would not disclose information about its video chat client, the carrier did say that customers will be able to make mobile-to-mobile and mobile-to-PC video calls over its cellular network or Wi-Fi. In addition, it has added a feature to the address book, where you’ll be able to see which contacts are available for video calls.
The MyTouch will also have a 5-megapixel camera capable of 720p HD video capture and DLNA support, so you can share content from your phone to a DLNA-compliant device, such as an HDTV.
As far as on-device entertainment, you won’t find Android’s stock media player on the MyTouch. Instead, you’ll get something called the Media Room, which serves as a hub for all the multimedia features, including your music library, YouTube videos, Slacker, FM radio, and T-Mobile TV/MobiTV. A universal search-type feature will allow to easily search for content within the Media Room.
In terms of design, the MyTouch measures 4.8 inches tall by 2.4 inches wide by 0.4 inch thick and weighs 5 ounces. It’s an all-touch-screen device with a 3.8-inch WVGA capacitive touch screen and comes with a Swype keyboard.
Similar to the MyTouch 3G Slide, the smartphone will run T-Mobile’s customized user interface, which is built on top of HTC Sense, and offers some enhancements to the Faves Gallery and the Genius Button voice-command feature. Some of specs of note: Adobe Flash Player 10.1, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n), a preinstalled 8GB microSD card, and three preloaded games (Rock Band, Asphalt 5, and Monopoly).
The T-Mobile MyTouch will be available in four different colors–white, black, plum, or red–but pricing information and a specific release date were not revealed at this time. In addition to the MyTouch, T-Mobile also announced that it expanded its HSPA+ network to additional cities today, including the San Francisco Bay Area, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Omaha, Neb., West Palm Beach, Fla., and Denver.
Robert Dotson, president and CEO of T-Mobile USA, plans to leave the wireless company in May of next year, after a new chief executive takes up the reins in February.
Dotson’s posts will be filled by Philipp Humm, an executive with T-Mobile USA’s parent company, Deutsche Telekom, and former CEO of T-Mobile Deutschland. Humm is currently in charge of DT’s sales and service in Europe as chief regional officer.
Philipp Humm
T-Mobile USA
On July 1 of this year, Humm will join T-Mobile USA as president and CEO designate.
Dotson, who will stay on as a non-executive member of T-Mobile USA’s board until May, is leaving to pursue other opportunities.
“It has long been my intent to step away from the business at this stage in my life in order to devote more time to family and to take on entirely new and unique challenges,” Dotson said in a statement Wednesday announcing the shift in leadership. “That change can only be made possible if a suitable successor is in place. Over the next year, it will be my relentless focus and responsibility to work closely with Philipp to ensure marketplace success, and to enable a seamless leadership transition.”
Named chief operating officer of T-Mobile USA in 2001, Dotson was appointed president the following year and CEO in 2003. At the time, then T-Mobile USA Chairman John Stanton said that Dotson’s promotion to CEO stemmed from the company’s quick growth under his presidency.
But lately parent Deutsche Telekom has been less than pleased with T-Mobile USA’s performance in the face of competition from Verizon and AT&T, leading to speculation that DT may spin off the unit on the open market. Technical difficulties have posed a challenge since T-Mobile uses GSM technology, while the most likely merger candidates are CDMA carriers, and merging the two different networks would be an expensive undertaking.
Humm, through his current position as European regional chief, brings to the table strong experience in international sales and customer service, according to Deutsche Telekom. He’s led DT’s five national mobile companies in Austria, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, the U.K., and Poland, and played a key role in the recent U.K. joint venture between T-Mobile UK and Orange UK of France Telekom.
Serving as T-Mobile Deutschland CEO from 2005 until 2008, Humm took the reins of the company during a sluggish market period and revived it into one of Germany’s top mobile operators in terms of customers and sales, according to DT. Humm also has experience in the U.S. under his belt. Prior to joining DT, he spent 10 years working in senior positions for U.S. entities including McKinsey, Procter & Gamble, and Amazon.
“With Philipp, we have an excellent leader with an outstanding track record in the mobile industry,” DT CEO Rene Obermann said in a statement. “During his five years at Deutsche Telekom, Philipp has proven bold leadership and intense determination to succeed.”
