T-Mobile spent $304 million to scoop up thousands of additional spectrum licenses in the latest FCC auction of frequencies to expand its 5G service to cover more people in rural and underserved areas.
While T-Mobile was far and away the biggest winner in the FCC Auction 108, this wasn’t a surprise, as the frequencies covered the 2.5 GHz spectrum that the carrier has been using for its midband 5G network. Neither Verizon nor AT&T secured spectrum in the auction, according to FCC filings.
The 7,000 county-based licenses that T-Mobile acquired in the auction plug holes in its overall 5G network, providing service for 81 million people “primarily in rural areas,” according to a T-Mobile press release. The carrier has been building out its 5G network for years, but its latest efforts seek to shore up service in more remote areas without much coverage. Last month, T-Mobile announced a partnership with SpaceX to use Starlink satellites to cover signal dead zones.
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, …
T-Mobile confirmed on Wednesday another round of layoffs, part of a broader restructuring program resulting from its 2020 acquisition of Sprint.
The recent round of layoffs, which according to The Wall Street Journal affects network operations and engineering groups, follows a major round that left 5,000 workers out of a job last year. T-Mobile also let go of workers in July.
“These shifts are the outcome of opportunities we have identified to evolve our structure so we can best focus our resources in the places where customers need and want us to be,” a T-Mobile representative said.
T-Mobile said it has more than 3,000 positions posted and is working on helping employees affected by layoffs. The company didn’t confirm how many workers were cut loose in this round.
Employee layoffs in telecommunications aren’t limited to T-Mobile. Verizon said it laid off workers last month after it lost 215,000 consumer accounts. Unlike Verizon, however, T-Mobile has been adding customers, gaining 1.7 million postpaid accounts, as disclosed in its second-quarter earnings report. Post-paid customers are those that are signed up to automatically pay their bill at the end of the month, and they’re seen as a key metric for success in telecom.
In the lead-up to the T-Mobile and Sprint merger, T-Mobile said combining forces would lead to job creation.
The Sprint merger has resulted in upsides for T-Mobile, leading to $200 million in savings, according to the Journal.
Switching from an old carrier to a new one is a royal pain. To convince you that it’s worth the trouble, T-Mobile has a new plan: Give you three months of free data and an app that compares how its network stacks up to the one you’re currently signed up for.
The new offer, dubbed Network Pass, launched for iPhones and is now available for Android devices after a short delay. It’s a successor to the carrier’s Test Drive trial that gave you the ability to use T-Mobile’s network on an unlocked device for 30GB or 30 days, whichever came first.
With Network Pass, T-Mobile is upping the time period to 90 days and is no longer capping the data — though like its Essentials plan, if you go over 50GB of data, your download speeds could be drastically reduced, especially in busy areas. You get full access to T-Mobile’s 5G network while on the Network Pass, though some features like international data or mobile hotspot are not available (the plan users are on is equivalent to the carrier’s Essentials offering).
The goal for the company is to have you live with its service and compare it in real-time with your current provider on your existing phone to convince you that switching to T-Mobile is the better choice. Both providers will live side-by-side in your phone’s status bar, allowing you to compare T-Mobile’s coverage and network with, say, Verizon or AT&T.
T-Mobile’s Network Pass shows the carrier’s coverage compared to your current network.
Eli Blumenthal/CNET
Like the most recent form of Test Drive, the new option uses virtual eSIM cards so you can have T-Mobile’s service running alongside your current carrier. You still won’t need to enter any credit card details or go through a credit check.
All iPhones dating back to 2018’s iPhone XS and XR support eSIMs, while Samsung has supported the feature on its main Galaxy phones dating back to the Galaxy S20 series in 2020. Other manufacturers like Google have enabled the feature on its handsets like its Pixel line, though older Pixels before the Pixel 4 may not have the feature, depending on where you bought it.
To get started, users simply need to download the updated T-Mobile app, which will then walk you through the process of setting up the account and installing the eSIM. Once installed, the app will guide you on how to enable the T-Mobile eSIM for data while leaving your current provider’s SIM card active for calls and text messages.
If you’re happy with T-Mobile’s network, the company will walk you through how to switch carriers from inside the T-Mobile app. If you still are fine with your current provider, you can delete the eSIM and go back to using your phone as it was.
T-Mobile says that it will allow people to try out Network Pass 12 months after their latest three-month trial period ends. If you’ve recently left T-Mobile, however, you can sign up for Network Pass just three months after you severed your service. The gaps keep people from chaining free trials together, but the carrier wants to leave the door open for people to try its network again and see how it has grown after months and years.
“Networks are ever-evolving,” said Kevin McLaughlin, chief marketing officer for T-Mobile’s consumer group. “A lot of people switched a long time ago, and it’s super-hard for them to try another network. Now we’re giving them an opportunity to do that on our end.”
Making a case, but convincing people won’t be easy
Carriers have spent billions of dollars improving their networks over the last several years. T-Mobile got a head start over its rivals when it acquired Sprint and its midband spectrum in 2020, while Verizon and AT&T bought huge tranches of C-band and 3.45GHz of midband spectrum to expand their own, respective 5G networks over the past few years.
Consumers have had mixed experiences with these nascent 5G networks. While they’ve provided high speeds in urban areas far beyond what 4G LTE could support, coverage has been spotty, especially in suburban and rural areas. Even though T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert believes the carrier’s midband 5G network remains two years ahead of competitor networks, as he told CNET in April, it’s hard to shake the older public perception that T-Mobile still lags behind its rivals.
“Customers give us credit for being the best value. They give us credit for providing the best service. But it’s also hard to convince people that we’re the best network when they have long-established ideas,” Sievert said.
Network Pass lowers the barrier for consumers to plainly compare carrier networks, which is tough to do otherwise. Even if you’re convinced to switch, leaving your current carrier is difficult. Many consumers are signed up for device installment programs that lock them into pay-by-month plans that can last up to 36 months.
Carriers can obstruct you even after you leave. In addition to requiring eSIM, Network Pass only works with phones that are unlocked. While Verizon automatically unlocks phones 60 days after you buy them, AT&T keeps your phone locked by default and won’t unlock it until you’ve paid off your installment plan. Should you choose to switch to T-Mobile, the carrier’s app can walk you through the process to get your AT&T phone unlocked.
As T-Mobile requires an unlocked device for Network Pass, AT&T users looking to try out the program will need to make sure their device is fully paid off.
Switching carriers may also incur other fees and penalties — you’re on your own for those. But T-Mobile will help pay off the balance of your previous installment plan with its “Keep and Switch” program, which has been expanded to a $1,000 maximum the carrier will pay, up from $800.
“We want to be the carrier that you stay with, not that you’re stuck with,” McLaughlin said.
T-Mobile is upping the video perks on its priciest Magenta Max plan, announcing on Monday that it’s adding Apple TV Plus to its stable of bundled perks and services. The new addition, which goes into effect on Wednesday, will be available to both new and existing users so long as they have Magenta Max.
The carrier previously offered a free year of Apple TV Plus to those on Magenta or Magenta Max. Those with T-Mobile’s Magenta plan will be able to sign up for a six-month free trial of Apple TV Plus, though that option is only available to people who didn’t already take advantage of the free year promotion.
As of Monday morning, the T-Mobile offer for a free year of Apple TV Plus for those with Magenta (and a number of older T-Mobile and Sprint plans) was still available. The carrier says the one-year offer will remain until Aug. 31.
With the more formal addition of Apple TV Plus, T-Mobile now offers four streaming services for its priciest cellular plan. The carrier has long bundled Netflix with its Magenta and Magenta Max plans (the “Basic” version with the former and the HD-capable Standard on the latter), and a free year of Apple TV Plus and Paramount Plus Essentials to its mobile users.
The carrier also has recently added a free year of Vix Plus, the Spanish-language streaming service created by TelevisaUnivision, to those on a number of its plans including Magenta and Magenta Max.
Wireless carriers have increasingly bundled streaming services to attract users to upgrade to pricier cellphone plans. Verizon has long offered the Disney bundle (which consists of Disney Plus, ESPN Plus and Hulu) as well as the option of a free subscription to Apple Arcade or Google Play Pass with some of its pricier unlimited plans. Rival AT&T previously offered HBO Max with its top unlimited plan, though it pulled the option in June.
T-Mobile is looking to SpaceX’s satellites in the skies to help flesh out its network coverage. On Thursday, the two companies announced that they will be working together to “bring cellphone connectivity everywhere,” including offering “complete coverage in most places in the US.”
The partnership aims to use SpaceX’s constellation of low Earth orbit satellites to beam down connectivity that T-Mobile users can tap into. While SpaceX already offers home internet service around the globe through its Starlink program, with this program T-Mobile users should be able to connect to the SpaceX satellites through a “new network, broadcast from Starlink’s satellites using T-Mobile’s midband spectrum nationwide.”
Although the company hasn’t yet offered specifics on where the network will appear, T-Mobile says it should deliver “nearly complete coverage almost anywhere a customer can see the sky,” with the companies envisioning this service as a replacement for using satellite phones in remote areas like a national park or in the mountains.
The carrier will start offering service through SpaceX in a beta that will take place in “select areas by the end of next year” as SpaceX launches its Starlink V2 satellites. Once operational, the network should cover the continental US as well as Hawaii, “parts” of Alaska, Puerto Rico and “territorial waters.”
The beta will initially be limited just to text messaging (via SMS, MMS and “participating messaging apps”) though T-Mobile and SpaceX are open to adding voice and data support in the future (albeit with no timeline given beyond “the coming years”).
It’s not immediately clear if this network will have a special designation on users’ devices. The carrier told CNET that the initial launch won’t broadcast a 5G signal and that it will share more details “in the future.”
Because the new network is broadcasting over T-Mobile’s midband spectrum, the wireless carrier said that the “vast majority of smartphones” already on its network will be compatible with the new service and that users won’t necessarily need to buy a new phone to tap into the signal.
The cellular network will be exclusive to T-Mobile customers and will exist alongside SpaceX’s Starlink broadband program on future satellites that SpaceX launches.
“We’ve always thought differently about what it means to keep customers connected, and that’s why we’re working with the best to deliver coverage above and beyond anything customers have ever seen before,” T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert said in a statement.
In a tweet, Musk acknowledged that the plan is to add the feature to Tesla cars in the future for emergency texts and calls. Tesla’s vehicles have for years relied on AT&T for cellular connectivity, though it remains to be seen if the automaker will switch to T-Mobile in the future.
Yes
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 26, 2022
T-Mobile and SpaceX aren’t partnering on home broadband with this announcement, despite the two offering similar but competing services, particularly for those looking for connectivity in rural areas. For its part, the wireless carrier said it’s “always open to ways to further our mission to give more homes reliable broadband” and Sievert noted during the event that he is open to using SpaceX to help provide backhaul for T-Mobile’s ground-based cell towers in the future.
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The two companies are touting the program as a global initiative and are extending an “open invitation” to carriers around the world, with T-Mobile promising that it will offer “reciprocal roaming” to other wireless providers who join in. It’s unclear if T-Mobile would welcome AT&T or Verizon into this program or if it has an exclusive in the US on its partnership with SpaceX.
As for pricing, Sievert said the company plans to include it on the carrier’s “most popular plans,” though older or cheaper plans may need to pay a monthly fee for the feature.
T-Mobile’s SpaceX partnership is the latest tie-up between a traditional cellphone carrier and a satellite provider to boost coverage. Last year, Verizon announced it would be working with Amazon’s Project Kuiper, a rival to SpaceX and its Starlink program, to augment its 4G LTE and 5G coverage.
Verizon told CNET that the goal of that partnership — which isn’t exclusive — was to “make the entire map of the US red,” referring to Verizon’s brand color and its coverage maps where red indicates areas where you can find its wireless services. However, neither company provided a timeline for when the service would be available, with the Verizon spokesman telling CNET last year that the project was a “few years away.”
AT&T has also been looking at satellites to boost its coverage, including striking a deal last year with satellite company OneWeb to offer connections to the wireless carrier’s business users, though it hasn’t announced plans for a consumer offering.
T-Mobile and SpaceX are doing something on Thursday, though what exactly remains to be seen. The companies announced that they will be hosting a joint event from SpaceX’s Starbase by Brownsville, Texas, tomorrow night.
The event, which will be livestreamed on SpaceX’s website and YouTube page at 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. CT, 5 p.m. PT), is being billed by T-Mobile as a “chat” between T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert and SpaceX head Elon Musk about “their joint mission and how they’re working together to make it a reality.”
In a tweet, SpaceX says the announcement will be about “plans to increase connectivity.”
Tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. CT, Elon and @TMobile’s Mike Sievert will announce plans to increase connectivity. Tune in to watch live → https://t.co/pxgvgTWzrx
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 24, 2022
What exactly is that mission remains a bit murky, though one potential partnership could be around home internet. Both companies have been working to grow their respective presences in that space, with T-Mobile touting its 5G-based Home Internet offering and SpaceX pushing its Starlink satellite-based service.
A partnership in this arena could potentially give T-Mobile the ability to offer better service to rural areas further away from its cell towers, with backend connectivity provided by SpaceX.
But given the unpredictability of both companies — Musk in particular — the news could span a number of different areas.
Whatever it is, we won’t have to wait too much longer to find out.
T-Mobile continued adding mobile and internet customers in the second quarter and raised its expectations for the full year, an uncharacteristically confident sign in the middle of so much economic uncertainty.
Still, the higher guidance stands in contrast to a shakier economy amid rising prices. T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert admitted that the company’s “bad debt” of uncollectible payments had risen, though that was in line with expected trends. AT&T noted that some of its subscribers were taking longer to pay their bills, while Verizon continued to suffer subscriber losses.
T-Mobile, notably, did not raise its plan tier prices in the period, part of a promise it made to the US government to secure its acquisition of Sprint. But it did raise the cost of several small fees, including a slight upcharge in late fees and pricier one-time support fees for adding phone lines when calling T-Mobile’s help lines (there’s no increase for doing it online, however).
T-Mobile said in its second-quarter report Wednesday that it added 1.7 million postpaid net customers, of which 723,000 were postpaid mobile subscribers. These customers who pay their accounts at the end of the month are considered a key metric of success in the industry, as those customers are sources of dependable revenue.
This extends a streak of relatively good quarters for the carrier, which followed growth in postpaid, prepaid and home 5G internet users in the April quarter. T-Mobile said it expects full-year net customer additions to fall to between 6 million and 6.3 million, an increase from its prior guidance of 5.3 million to 5.8 million.
T-Mobile also noted that it had extended its coverage lead. Its low-band 5G network now reaches 320 million Americans, while its faster and wider midband Ultra Capacity 5G now covers 235 million, and the company said it expects to cover 300 million by the end of 2023. By comparison, AT&T plans to cover 100 million people and Verizon plans to reach 175 million people by the end of the year.
“We’re ahead on our coverage rollout on 5G, we’re ahead on our spectrum transition, we’re ahead on our integration goals that we established when we put that plan together,” Neville Ray, T-Mobile president of technology, said during the company’s earnings call Wednesday.
The second quarter results for T-Mobile were more positive than those for AT&T, which reported last week it had added 813,000 net postpaid subscribers but offered a more commentary on the economic environment. Verizon had the least favorable second quarter as it lost mobile customers.
T-Mobile has a lead on 5G network coverage over its competitors, but that could shrink as Verizon and AT&T are expected to turn on more of their midband 5G by the end of the year. Those networks will expand even farther by December 2023 as those carriers secure licenses to more spectrum, though Verizon just turned on more of its midband 5G service over a year ahead of schedule. AT&T also reported that it’s ahead of schedule in building out midband 5G.
T-Mobile is still growing its 5G coverage, reallocating spectrum from Sprint’s legacy network and spending $3 billion on 3.45GHz midband spectrum in an FCC auction in January, where AT&T spent $9 billion for a larger chunk of 3.45GHz spectrum. That’s on top of the combined $81 billion bid in the C-band auction that ended in February 2021, in which Verizon bid $45 billion, AT&T bid $23 billion, and T-Mobile bid $9 billion.
The FCC will start a new auction this Friday, July 29, for sections of 2.5GHz spectrum, which is the range of 5G that the carrier already uses for its network. T-Mobile would use the new spectrum to fill geographic holes in its network, and the FCC has reportedly set auction conditions to be favorable to T-Mobile over protests from other carriers, according to Fierce Wireless.
T-Mobile has shuttered two-thirds of Sprint’s legacy network, which carries 1% of the company’s mobile traffic, and is on track to shut it down completely by the end of the third quarter. Legacy Sprint customers are being converted to T-Mobile plans and devices, and billing migration should last into the middle of next year.
T-Mobile added 560,000 high-speed internet customers, more than five times the 95,000 subscribers it added a year ago, as its 5G Home service takes off. This is a growth area for Verizon as well, which added 256,000 more net subscribers to its home 5G in the second quarter, a 50% increase on the first quarter.
In the second quarter, T-Mobile posted $19.7 billion in revenue, and with expenditures taken into account, resulted in a net loss of $108 million overall. This is down from the $19.9 billion in revenue and $978 million in net income during the same period last year.
The carrier’s $108 million in lost net income amounts to a loss of 9 cents in earnings per share, which was below expectations of 28 cents in earnings per share on Yahoo, and far below the 78 cents in earnings per share from the same period in 2021.
Shares of T-Mobile stock were up 4% in early trading Wednesday.
Correction, July 28: T-Mobile added 1.7 million accounts that were specifically postpaid accounts. The carrier expects to cover 300 million Americans by 2023.
T-Mobile continued adding mobile and internet customers in the second quarter and raised its expectations for the full year, an uncharacteristically confident sign in the middle of so much economic uncertainty.
Still, the higher guidance stands in contrast to a shakier economy amid rising prices. T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert admitted that the company’s “bad debt” of uncollectible payments had risen, though that was in line with expected trends. AT&T noted that some of its subscribers were taking longer to pay their bills, while Verizon continued to suffer subscriber losses.
T-Mobile, notably, did not raise its plan tier prices in the period, part of a promise it made to the US government to secure its acquisition of Sprint. But it did raise the cost of several small fees, including a slight upcharge in late fees and pricier one-time support fees for adding phone lines when calling T-Mobile’s help lines (there’s no increase for doing it online, however).
T-Mobile said in its second-quarter report Wednesday that it added 1.7 million postpaid net customers, of which 723,000 were postpaid mobile subscribers. These customers who pay their accounts at the end of the month are considered a key metric of success in the industry, as those customers are sources of dependable revenue.
This extends a streak of relatively good quarters for the carrier, which followed growth in postpaid, prepaid and home 5G internet users in the April quarter. T-Mobile said it expects full-year net customer additions to fall to between 6 million and 6.3 million, an increase from its prior guidance of 5.3 million to 5.8 million.
T-Mobile also noted that it had extended its coverage lead. Its low-band 5G network now reaches 320 million Americans, while its faster and wider midband Ultra Capacity 5G now covers 235 million, and the company said it expects to cover 300 million by the end of 2023. By comparison, AT&T plans to cover 100 million people and Verizon plans to reach 175 million people by the end of the year.
“We’re ahead on our coverage rollout on 5G, we’re ahead on our spectrum transition, we’re ahead on our integration goals that we established when we put that plan together,” Neville Ray, T-Mobile president of technology, said during the company’s earnings call Wednesday.
The second quarter results for T-Mobile were more positive than those for AT&T, which reported last week it had added 813,000 net postpaid subscribers but offered a more commentary on the economic environment. Verizon had the least favorable second quarter as it lost mobile customers.
T-Mobile has a lead on 5G network coverage over its competitors, but that could shrink as Verizon and AT&T are expected to turn on more of their midband 5G by the end of the year. Those networks will expand even farther by December 2023 as those carriers secure licenses to more spectrum, though Verizon just turned on more of its midband 5G service over a year ahead of schedule. AT&T also reported that it’s ahead of schedule in building out midband 5G.
T-Mobile is still growing its 5G coverage, reallocating spectrum from Sprint’s legacy network and spending $3 billion on 3.45GHz midband spectrum in an FCC auction in January, where AT&T spent $9 billion for a larger chunk of 3.45GHz spectrum. That’s on top of the combined $81 billion bid in the C-band auction that ended in February 2021, in which Verizon bid $45 billion, AT&T bid $23 billion, and T-Mobile bid $9 billion.
The FCC will start a new auction this Friday, July 29, for sections of 2.5GHz spectrum, which is the range of 5G that the carrier already uses for its network. T-Mobile would use the new spectrum to fill geographic holes in its network, and the FCC has reportedly set auction conditions to be favorable to T-Mobile over protests from other carriers, according to Fierce Wireless.
T-Mobile has shuttered two-thirds of Sprint’s legacy network, which carries 1% of the company’s mobile traffic, and is on track to shut it down completely by the end of the third quarter. Legacy Sprint customers are being converted to T-Mobile plans and devices, and billing migration should last into the middle of next year.
T-Mobile added 560,000 high-speed internet customers, more than five times the 95,000 subscribers it added a year ago, as its 5G Home service takes off. This is a growth area for Verizon as well, which added 256,000 more net subscribers to its home 5G in the second quarter, a 50% increase on the first quarter.
In the second quarter, T-Mobile posted $19.7 billion in revenue, and with expenditures taken into account, resulted in a net loss of $108 million overall. This is down from the $19.9 billion in revenue and $978 million in net income during the same period last year.
The carrier’s $108 million in lost net income amounts to a loss of 9 cents in earnings per share, which was below expectations of 28 cents in earnings per share on Yahoo, and far below the 78 cents in earnings per share from the same period in 2021.
Shares of T-Mobile stock were up 4% in early trading Wednesday.
Correction, July 28: T-Mobile added 1.7 million accounts that were specifically postpaid accounts. The carrier expects to cover 300 million Americans by 2023.
T-Mobile has agreed to settle a class action lawsuit filed by customers over a data breach revealed last year that exposed highly sensitive personal information belonging to an estimated 76.6 million people.
The wireless carrier said in a court filing Friday it will pay $350 million to settle the customers’ claims and an additional $150 million to upgrade its data protection. The breach, disclosed in August, exposed information such as customer names, Social Security numbers, phone numbers, addresses and dates of birth.
The settlement proposal, which was filed in federal court in Kansas City, Missouri, still requires a judge’s approval. In the filing, T-Mobile said the proposal wasn’t an acknowledgement of wrongdoing.
The breach is one of at least four to hit the wireless carrier since 2015. It came to light after a user on an underground forum claimed to be selling the personal data of more than 100 million people swiped from T-Mobile’s servers.
“As we continue to invest time, energy and resources in addressing this challenge, we are pleased to have resolved this consumer class-action filing,” T-Mobile said in a statement posted to its website.
Ever been to a concert where the sound mix or acoustics were just wrong enough to ruin a good show? That could be a thing of the past. Mixhalo, a company that broadcasts musician audio going into soundboards straight to smartphones via an app, has used T-Mobile’s 5G network to send that audio to phones faster than it takes the sound to reach audience ears from the speakers.
Yes, T-Mobile’s 5G network is enabling Mixhalo to send audio faster than the speed of sound. And yes, it’s definitely a stunt for the carrier to flex its telecom muscles. But it’s a novel way to use 5G to make the concert experience better for audience members. There haven’t been many interesting ways that next-gen mobile networks have improved live events, aside from boosting signal speed in sports stadiums.
Mixhalo is one of a dozen startups in the latest class of T-Mobile’s 5G Open Innovation Lab, which cultivates new ways to harness 5G networks. Mixhalo’s tech can send audio over Wi-Fi and cellular networks, which could be better and more reliable over 5G networks. Of course, the best way to test this out is at a concert, so Mixhalo held one Thursday for T-Mobile employees.
Around 500 T-Mobile staff members gathered in the outdoor plaza at the carrier’s headquarters in Bellevue, Washington, downloaded the Mixhalo app, and heard the show coming through both their headphones and from the stage’s speakers at the same time. Performers included Mixhalo co-founder Ann Marie Simpson-Einziger, a classical violinist who’s toured with bands like Jethro Tull and collaborated with Hans Zimmer on film soundtracks, along with singer Jordyn Simone (current competitor on this season of The Voice) and TikTok musician Liza Kaye.
Shout out to Ann-Marie Simpson-Einziger & her ensemble for the special concert at @TMobile yesterday! Thanks to @Mixhalo, #TeamMagenta was able to experience an entirely new way to listen to concerts with the power of 5G. pic.twitter.com/raQvbaTXGX
— John Saw (@JohnSaw) July 15, 2022
But the performers’ audio didn’t instantly go from the soundboard to the audience’s ears. The sound broadcast over 5G had to be delayed by about one microsecond per foot each listener was from the stage so it could sync up with the audio coming out of the speakers. Mixhalo’s tech sends audio at the right time, whether the audience is in the pit below the stage or way up in the cheap seats. 5G makes that possible, said Grant Castle, T-Mobile vice president of engineering.
“We thought this was a cool idea for many years but we could never do it. We couldn’t deliver the data fast enough. Now we’re at this stage where these things start to become possible,” Castle said.
T-Mobile declined to comment on whether Mixhalo will use its 5G network going forward for its concerts. To be clear, the staff members at the concert were all using off-the-shelf 5G phones connected to T-Mobile’s network, so only the carrier’s customers would benefit from 5G speeds should Mixhalo use the network in the future.
But the successful concert is promising for ways to get a front-row audio experience to audiences at other events. Have you ever been to a baseball game and seen someone listening to a radio announcer who’s describing events that happened five or 10 seconds ago? Why not put that in real time?
“It’s that kind of innovation that just seems kind of obvious, but is also really hard. Those are the sorts of things we’re really excited about,” Castle said.
New travel benefits for its pricier tiers include 5GB of data per month while roaming internationally, Wi-Fi on more flights, a free AAA membership and discounts at the gas pump.
Why it matters
It’s always good to see better international roaming benefits.
T-Mobile is upping its travel perks. On Thursday, the carrier announced new programs including slightly faster free international data, free Wi-Fi on more flights and discounts on gas at Shell stations.
The self-described “Un-Carrier” has long offered free international data and texting in over 210 countries with a number of its plans, but data speeds were capped at a painful 128 kilobits per second. Starting June 21, the carrier is bumping up that speed to 256Kbps, an improvement that should allow for better handling of tasks like email or basic web browsing, even if it still doesn’t allow for video calls or video streaming.
A speed of 256Kbps is “great for basic navigation and basic web browsing, and a lot of things that people do when they internationally travel,” said Mike Katz, chief marketing officer at T-Mobile.
For reference, Zoom recommends connections of at least 600Kbps for one-to-one video calls in non-HD, or “high quality,” while Netflix recommends 1Mbps connections to view content in standard definition (or at 3Mbps for 720p HD).
Those on T-Mobile’s priciest Magenta Max unlimited plans will get 5 gigabytes of free high-speed data each month at “up to 5G speeds” in the over 210 countries it already offers free international roaming. Enterprise clients on the Business Unlimited Ultimate tier also get this benefit.
Those with Magenta plans will also get 5 gigabytes of data at up to 5G speeds in 11 European countries where Deutsche Telecom operates. (Deutsche Telecom is a majority shareholder in T-Mobile.) This includes Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.
After the 5GB are used up, your 5G speed will drop down to 256Kbps, though T-Mobile will continue to offer faster data starting at $5 per day for 512MB of high-speed data and unlimited calling for 24 hours. T-Mobile still doesn’t include calls with its international benefits, leaving its 25 cents-per-minute rates intact, though calls over Wi-Fi are free. Travelers are mostly consuming data, Katz said, and when they make calls, they’re usually around Wi-Fi.
While still not a massive upgrade, the improvements continue to put T-Mobile ahead of AT&T and Verizon for basic connectivity, each of which charges $10 per day for those on its unlimited plans to be able to use your regular talk, text and high-speed data in over 210 countries.
AT&T’s Day Pass program includes the same data speeds as your regular domestic plan, and the carrier says it will only cap charges at 10 days per billing month. Verizon’s Travel Pass program only includes high-speed data for the first half-gigabyte you use. After that, it slows down significantly to “2G speeds” unless you buy more high-speed data at half-gigabyte increments ($5 per half-gigabyte in Canada and Mexico, $10 per elsewhere).
Depending on your plan, AT&T and Verizon also require you to opt into their respective travel pass programs or risk being charged significantly higher pay-as-you-go rates.
More Wi-Fi in the sky, discounts on gas
Beyond the incremental data jump, T-Mobile is also expanding its Wi-Fi on planes partnership to include American, Alaska Airlines and Delta flights from June 21, with free Wi-Fi on United Airlines coming in the future. T-Mobile has offered Wi-Fi on planes through GoGo since 2014 and the company said that option will remain as well.
Those with the company’s highest-priced Magenta Max or Business Unlimited Ultimate plans get free Wi-Fi for the entirety of their flights. Those with Magenta, Business Unlimited Advanced or similar Sprint plans can get free Wi-Fi for up to four flights per year plus one hour of free Wi-Fi for “every flight after that.”
Beyond traveling abroad and in the air, T-Mobile is also adding a couple of new perks for those moving around domestically including a free year of AAA’s $60 annual Classic plan and 25 cents off of a gallon on gas at Shell through Labor Day weekend via the company’s T-Mobile Tuesdays app and Shell Rewards. T-Mobile said the offer allows for a discount for up to 20 gallons per week, which makes out to $5 saved if you buy up to the cap.
T-Mobile’s new perks arrive shortly after rival AT&T removed HBO Max from its priciest wireless subscription tier. T-Mobile’s Katz declined to comment on whether any of the carrier’s plans would bundle in HBO’s streaming service now that the entertainment company is no longer owned by AT&T.
“If there are opportunities for us to build more value into our proposition for customers, we’re certainly open to looking at it,” Katz said.
Correction, June 16: One of the plans listed for free Wi-Fi on planes was incorrect. Customers with the Magenta Max and Business Unlimited Ultimate plans get free Wi-Fi for the entirety of their flights.
Some T-Mobile customers in Oregon and Utah will be the first to make phone calls over 5G as the carrier begins switching voice calls over to 5G from its older 4G LTE network, one city at a time.
5G for voice calls will start to roll out for T-Mobile customers in two Western states first.
T-Mobile
Those customers likely won’t notice any difference in phone call quality, but it’s an important move for T-Mobile. Switching these technologies will free up resources to allow better and faster wireless connections in the future, which are especially important for upcoming tech like self-driving cars and virtual reality.
“We’re trying to create this big, broad, capable network and figure out what people want to do with it. What are the use cases? Where’s the demand?” said Grant Castle, vice president of device engineering and technology labs at T-Mobile.
T-Mobile’s moves toward 5G voice are the latest in the years-long rollout of the technology. While companies have been selling 5G-capable phones for three years since the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G launched in early 2019, the wireless technology itself has been coming online in stages. As carriers have built out their networks, consumers with 5G phones have been seeing better speeds and coverage. But not every part of the process to switch wireless networks from 4G LTE to 5G will mean noticeable improvements for consumers.
Everyday phone users won’t see these benefits when they start making 5G calls this year, as current apps aren’t that data-hungry. So if you’re calling someone over 5G and want to look up a restaurant on Yelp, for instance, you won’t see it necessarily load faster than you did on 4G LTE. At most, you’ll see a shorter delay between when you dial a number and when it starts ringing on the other end, according to a T-Mobile press release.
T-Mobile tested its new 5G calling in Portland, Oregon, and in Salt Lake City, Utah, for months, using the time to fix bugs and ensure the system worked well before activating 5G calling for customers. It’ll take the rest of the year to make the technology more broadly available across the country as T-Mobile slowly expands 5G calls to more cities.
Customers won’t have to pay more to get 5G calls, but they’ll need newer phones to make them. At launch, only the Samsung Galaxy S21 5G series can make VoNR calls on T-Mobile’s network, but the carrier plans to expand compatibility to more devices later on, including this year’s Samsung Galaxy S22. While Castle wouldn’t specify any other phones, he did say that some older devices won’t be able to make calls over 5G, including some currently being sold in its stores.
The shift toward 5G phone calls is a milestone in T-Mobile’s journey to a standalone 5G network. T-Mobile was the first carrier to turn on a 5G-only network that didn’t lean on 4G LTE, back in August 2020, and has kept its lead over the other carriers. Verizon was expected to launch its so-called standalone 5G core in 2021, but that slipped to 2022, per SDXCentral, while AT&T is waiting for more 5G devices to get in users’ hands before activating their standalone 5G, according to Fierce Wireless.
T-Mobile’s first quarter of 2022 proved to be a good one, as the wireless carrier revealed it had increases in postpaid, prepaid and home internet subscribers.
In earnings announced Wednesday morning, T-Mobile revealed that it had added over 1.3 million postpaid customers in the period, of which 589,000 were postpaid phone users. Postpaid users, who pay their bills at the end of the month, are a subscriber category eyed by industry watchers as a barometer for long-term revenue and overall success.
Beyond the postpaid growth, T-Mobile said it had added 62,000 prepaid users and 338,000 subscribers to its home internet service during the quarter. Last week the carrier announced that it has now reached 1 million users for its $50 per month home internet service and that it has expanded availability to another 10 million people.
All told, T-Mobile says it now has 109.5 million customers. The carrier’s low-band 5G network now reaches 315 million people, while its faster midband 5G network (what the carrier calls “Ultra Capacity”) is now available to 225 million people.
The carrier says it remains on track to hit its goal of reaching 260 million people with midband 5G this year, expanding to 300 million by the end of 2023. T-Mobile says that roughly 45% of its postpaid customers have a 5G phone and that 5G devices make up “more than half of total network traffic.”
In addition to the network upgrades, the carrier says it is “on track” to complete the migration of Sprint customers to T-Mobile’s network by “mid-year” and that it will upgrade or decommission “substantially all” of the remaining Sprint network cell sites by the end of the year. It says that it has already decommissioned “roughly one-third of the 35,000 targeted sites,” with the goal of “ramping” up that work in the second half of 2022.
In financials, the company posted revenues of $20.12 billion with a diluted earnings-per-share of 57 cents. Analysts polled by Yahoo Finance expected revenues of $20.11 billion and an EPS of 32 cents.
T-Mobile has a new unlimited plan that’s cheaper than its other offerings. Just be prepared to give up some perks.
The new plan, called Base Essentials, went live on April 21 and runs $45 per month for a single line, a $15 savings compared with its current cheapest Essentials unlimited plan, which is $60 per month. The new option is also $25 cheaper than the Magenta option and $40 less than a single line on its priciest Magenta Max offering.
With this plan, you’ll get 20GB of high-speed data and access to T-Mobile’s 5G network, but you will lose out on high-speed data after that allotment has been used up. Instead, your download speeds will slow to 1.5Mbps for the remainder of your billing cycle.
Those on this Base Essentials plan will also be limited to “3G speeds” when using your phone as a hotspot, according to Reddit user a9uirre and The T-Mo Report, which first spotted the details of the new plans.
Unlike other T-Mobile plans, people on Base Essentials will not be able to take advantage of device upgrade offers or have taxes and fees included in the sticker price. There is no discount for automatic payments and the carrier is not bundling subscriptions to Netflix or a free year of Apple TV Plus as it does with its Magenta and Magenta Max plans. You still, however, will be able to get a free year of Paramount Plus Essentials.
Two lines will run $80 on the Base Essentials plan — a savings of $10 per month compared with regular Essentials (which runs $90 per month with AutoPay). You can have a max of four lines with Base Essentials, with three lines running $100 and four lines costing $120.
With T-Mobile’s current promotions on its other plans, this Base Essentials option only makes sense for those with one or two lines. Three lines of regular Essentials — which has 50GB of high-speed data per month — will run $90 per month ($10 less than Base Essentials), while four lines of regular Essentials is $105 per month (a $15 savings versus Base Essentials).
The new Base Essentials offering can be found by clicking on the “See other plans” option on T-Mobile’s listing of wireless plans.
“Starting April 21, 2022, new and existing customers can get Base Essentials for $45 per month plus taxes and fees for 1 line, with 20GB of high-speed smartphone data, with 5G access included,” the company said in a statement Monday provided to CNET.
“We know there’s a group of customers who are looking for a low-cost option, have limited data needs, aren’t looking for device offers or extras and don’t need more than four lines — but who want a T-Mobile branded service. And Base Essentials enables us to reach and serve that group of customers uniquely.”
T-Mobile isn’t the only carrier creating new, stripped-down unlimited plans for single users. AT&T recently added a new unlimited plan option to its portfolio called Value Plus. The $50 per month option is limited to just a single line and lacks any hotspot functionality or perks like HBO Max but does include unlimited talk, text and data with access to AT&T’s 5G network.
Unlimited Google Photos storage is back, as long as you’re a T-Mobile customer willing to spend $15 a month for the honor. The opportunity is “coming soon” exclusively to T-Mobile, as reported earlier Tuesday by The Verge.
Customers will be able to store unlimited photos and videos in full resolution, as well as getting 2TB of storage for Gmail and Drive. T-Mobile’s other Google storage plans cost $5 a month for 500GB of storage, and $10 a month for 2TB of storage.
Google Photos started limiting free storage at 15GB in June of last year, and phased out its unlimited option. Now you can sign up for Google One, a subscription service that starts at $2 a month in the US for 100GB of storage.
The past two years have been a whirlwind for everyone. For T-Mobile, adjusting to the pandemic came on top of wrangling with a new company identity and new CEO. As a company used to playing disrupter in the wireless industry, it faced a few big disruptions of its own.
“Somehow [we] managed to merge two very large companies to create a new better company amidst the global pandemic and all of that uncertainty,” Sievert said in an interview last week, noting that this flurry of activity happened just three weeks after sending staff home at the start of the lockdowns in 2020.
T-Mobile under Sievert has been more reserved in its rhetoric and less prone to going off on competitors. The company had missteps, including the heavily hyped streaming TV service TVision, which shut down after just five months. But it also launched a 5G-based home internet service and added 5.5 million subscribers last year. Having gone nearly a year since its last “Un-carrier” event, one can question whether the company is moving on from that mantra now that it’s no longer an underdog.
Jakub Porzycki/Getty Images
“Not even close,” Sievert said, adding that the carrier has focused on the “biggest pain point,” which has been improving its network’s coverage and speed over the past two years.
“It’s just a matter of time before 5G is the network,” Sievert said, noting that around half of its traffic runs on its newest service. “We’re two years ahead of the rest of our competitors on 5G today, and we’re poised to be two years ahead of them two years from now.”
What hasn’t changed for the carrier, however, is completely shaking off its earlier reputation as inferior to Verizon and AT&T. That issue persists even though the company now has a larger and more developed 5G offering compared to its rivals.
“Brands are powerful and stubborn,” he said, acknowledging that it’s tough to convince people with preconceived notions. “Customers give us credit for being the best value, they give us credit for providing the best service. … But it’s also hard to convince people that we’re the best network when they have long-established ideas.”
“To me, the challenge is… how do you bring that to light so that people understand it?”
Evolution of the “un-carrier”
Sarah Tew/CNET
T-Mobile’s transformation from the bottom of the US carrier battle to the No. 2 provider took years, with Sievert playing several major roles since joining T-Mobile in 2012 as its chief marketing officer. He was involved in crafting the provider’s “Un-carrier” marketing strategy, which painted it as a disruptor and liberator of the wireless industry constantly solving “pain points.”
T-Mobile’s website features many of the announcements ranging from the bundling of services like Netflix with family plans, the return of unlimited data and the ability to use your phone internationally without roaming charges.
These moves helped spur T-Mobile’s comeback story and under Legere, the provider often used these “un-carrier” events to take shots at its rivals.
Over the past two years, however, the pace of “un-carrier” events and the attacks have slowed considerably.
“T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert has been less bombastic than John Legere’s bad-boy persona, but that is due to T-Mobile’s improved competitive position and strong execution,” said Avi Greengart, an analyst for research firm Techsponential, noting that the “change in tone is deliberate” and that Sievert was T-Mobile’s head of marketing under Legere.
“When T-Mobile’s network and spectrum position was behind rivals, its marketing had to make up for it,” Greengart said. “Today, T-Mobile’s improved network economics allows it to compete not just on price but also go after enterprise and automotive accounts, and the CEO doesn’t need to drop F-bombs in every press conference.”
The impact of that disruptive streak is still causing ripples in the industry, with AT&T and Verizon still upping their game to combat a stronger T-Mobile.
“Others have picked up that pace because they were tired of being beaten by T-Mobile,” said Roger Entner, an analyst at Recon Analytics.
“T-Mobile has become less hell-bent on un-carrier moves, but the other two guys have picked up the slack,” Entner said. “Overall the consumer is still benefiting, it’s just that the center of innovation has spread out.”
Sievert, for his part, isn’t about to let anyone forget about T-Mobile or its earlier “un-carrier” moves: “Not only am I focused on more (‘un-carrier’ announcements) in the future, but I’m also focused on making sure everybody knows the ones that we’ve already done. Because they are still here and they are still differentiating.”
For the seventh time, T-Mobile wants to take its customers out to the ballgame with the return of its MLB.TV deal. Thanks to its latest offer, you’ll have more money left over for peanuts and Cracker Jack.
Beginning April 5, customers with T-Mobile, Sprint and Metro by T-Mobile can receive a free one-year subscription to MLB.TV, the company announced Tuesday. It’s right in time for Major League Baseball‘s Opening Day on April 7, when the New York Yankees face off against the Boston Red Sox to kick off the 2022 season.
The streaming service, which would otherwise run $130 for the season, provides access to HD streams of live and on-demand out-of-market regular-season games, a host of Spring Training matchups, plus other MLB events and content. This year, the regular season runs through Oct. 5 with the postseason starting on Oct. 7 before rolling into the World Series.
As with prior years, you will not be able to stream live games broadcast in your local market with MLB TV. This includes games on your local regional sports network or those airing on national platforms like ESPN, TBS, Fox or Apple TV Plus. (You can access in-market radio feeds in the app.) Postseason games are similarly not included, as they traditionally air on ESPN, TBS or Fox.
To take advantage of the deal, you need to see the T-Mobile Tuesdays app for details on how to redeem the offer. The deal will only be available from April 5 at 2 a.m. PT (5 a.m. ET) through April 12 at 1:59 a.m. PT (4:59 a.m. ET), so be sure to hop on it before the first pitch is thrown.
On Saturday the carrier revealed the new spot, which features actors Donald Faison and Zach Braff doing a riff on Leonard Bernstein’s I Feel Pretty from West Side Story. Faison and Braff are best known for their roles on the early 2000s NBC hit comedy Scrubs.
“Dolly and Miley are focused on 5G for the phones and you have Zach and Donald are focused on 5G for home broadband… we felt like it would be good to have (a) different message for both,” Dow Draper, executive vice president of emerging businesses, tells CNET.
“Why we picked those guys is it’s just a great, humorous way to highlight these pain points that customers have which is paying too much for what you get, being stuck in contracts, price hikes, all that. It was fun for us to bring that out in a humorous way because we think it’ll resonate and people will at least remember it more.”
T-Mobile began expanding into home internet over its 5G service last year and now offers the option to over 30 million people. The carrier charges $50 per month for service (assuming you have automatic payments enabled, otherwise it’s $55 per month) with taxes, fees and a modem/router included in the price. There are no data caps or annual contracts, with the carrier saying that “typical” download speeds should be between 35-115 Mbps.
The carrier announced during its recent earnings call that it had added 224,000 home internet subscribers during the fourth quarter of 2021 and ended the year with 646,000 users.
T-Mobile previously stated it was targeting having 7-8 million home internet customers by 2025.
It isn’t the only wireless provider looking to use 5G to rival cable and fiber options, however. Verizon has recently begun ramping up advertising for its rival 5G home internet product and similarly plans to advertise during the Super Bowl. Its ad features actor Jim Carrey reprising his role from The Cable Guy.
Something big is almost here!Your internet will never be the same.🚨2.13.22 🚨 #5GUltraWideband pic.twitter.com/qpBvL2pZUC
— Verizon (@Verizon) February 7, 2022
Draper, for his part, sees the competition as a good thing noting the adage a “rising tide lifts all boats.”
“I actually love that we’re both doing it because I think it builds category awareness and it’s important for consumers to know that there is an alternative to the traditional cable. I think that the more awareness of the category, the better.”
T-Mobile added 2.9 million phone subscribers in 2021, the carrier said during its fourth-quarter earnings call Wednesday and forecast its midband 5G network would reach 300 million people by 2023.
In three months ending Dec. 31, T-Mobile added 844,000 postpaid customers, a subscriber category prized by carriers for long-term revenue and overall success. It also added 224,000 net customers of its high-speed internet service.
The country’s third largest carrier also repeated some achievements it had previously announced in a pre-earnings investor report. Its Ultra Capacity 5G network, made up largely of the 2.5GHz midband spectrum acquired from the Sprint merger, reached 210 million people by the end of 2021, exceeding its goal by 10 million. In a swipe at other carriers, T-Mobile claimed that it will take its competitors years to reach that number.
That seems to be supported by the rivals’ own estimates, with AT&T expecting to reach 200 million people by the end of 2023. In that time, T-Mobile said it will grow its Ultra Capacity 5G network to reach 260 million people by the end of this year and 300 million people by the end of 2023.
This expansion includes more midband service as T-Mobile integrates the small amount of C-band spectrum the carrier bought in 2021 and the portion of 3.45GHz spectrum acquired in an FCC auction last year. It’s unclear how the the carrier’s Ultra Capacity 5G network will expand with both spectrum tranches, though customers should expect C-band service and 3.45GHz midband integrated in 2023.
Expanding 5G
In addition to the 210 million people covered by midband 5G, the company reported that its low-band 5G (or what it calls Extended Range) now reaches 310 million people, or 94% of the US population. T-Mobile says the average speeds on this network are twice as fast as 4G LTE.
While T-Mobile didn’t announce how many home wireless internet customers were added in the fourth quarter, the company expects it to become a bigger focus in 2022, especially with small businesses. It has built enough 5G infrastructure to start loaning it out to third parties like Ultra Mobile and EarthLink, according to Light Reading. But they may end up competing with T-Mobile, as the carrier will likely offer home wireless internet in the same areas, T-Mobile CFO Peter Osvaldik told CNET in a phone interview.
“It’s probably fair [to assume], although we could be looking at different cohorts of customers,” Osvaldik said. T-Mobile still has a goal of reaching 7 million to 8 million home wireless internet customers by 2025.
T-Mobile generated $15 billion in revenues in the fourth quarter, with a diluted earnings of 34 cents per share that was lower than in the same period last year. Part of this decline was due to costs resulting from the merger with Sprint, with transition expenses including shifting customers over to T-Mobile and decommissioning some of the outdated parts of the latter’s cell network. But the reported earnings per share still beat expectations, with analysts predicting an average EPS of 18 cents, according to Yahoo Finance.
T-Mobile has suffered another data breach, just a few months after a huge breach in August, the carrier confirmed Wednesday. “We informed a very small number of customers that the SIM card assigned to a mobile number on their account may have been illegally reassigned or limited account information was viewed,” the company said in an email.
The new breach affected a smaller group of customers than the more than 50 million people hit in August, and the latest victims received notifications from T-Mobile of “unauthorized activity” including hackers viewing customer proprietary network information, according to a Tuesday post by blog The T-Mo Report.
“Customer proprietary network information,” or CPNI, includes all the data T-Mobile has about your phone calls, which, according to the carrier, means “features of your voice calling service (e.g., international calling), usage information (like call logs — including date, time, phone numbers called, and duration of calls), and quantitative data like minutes used.” CPNI doesn’t contain any billing-related information, like names or addresses.
An unapproved physical SIM swap enables someone else to take over your phone number, and if that person has your password, to potentially gain access to accounts linked to it — such as if you use texts for multifactor authentication. (If that’s happened to you, here’s what to do next.) T-Mobile said it’s addressed the problem.
“Unauthorized SIM swaps are unfortunately a common industry-wide occurrence. However, this issue was quickly corrected by our team, using our in-place safeguards, and we proactively took additional protective measures,” the carrier said. “Our people and processes worked as designed to protect our customers.”
T-Mobile has reached a $19.5 million settlement with the US Federal Communications Commission over an investigation into the carrier’s 911 outage in June 2020. T-Mobile is also set to implement a compliance plan, including improving its 911 outage notices, the FCC said on Tuesday.
The FCC investigation kicked off in December last year, after a 12-hour outage on June 15, 2020, led to congestion across the carrier’s 4G, 3G and 2G networks, causing what the FCC said was “the complete failure of more than 23,000 911 calls.” Over 23,000 911 calls were also recorded without location information, and more than 20,000 911 calls without callback information.
The FCC said it “cannot identify the total number of impacted calls.” According to the investigation, the outage was caused by the failure of a leased fiber link on the network, a routing flaw in one location, and two flaws in third-party software.
“We understand how critical reliable connectivity is to ensure public safety and we take that responsibility very seriously,” T-Mobile said in an emailed statement. “We have built resiliency into our emergency systems to ensure that our 911 elements are available when they’re needed. Following this outage, we immediately took additional steps to further enhance our network to prevent this type of event from happening in the future.”
T-Mobile’s lead in midband 5G has increased. On Monday, the carrier announced that it has reached its 2021 goal of getting 200 million people covered with this faster cellular network, coming in six weeks ahead of its previously stated target of the end of this year.
The milestone lets T-Mobile tout that its faster version of 5G is now available “nationwide” in the US. The Federal Communications Commission describes a nationwide cellular network as one that covers 200 million people.
AT&T and Verizon had planned to start launching these respective services in parts of some US cities in 2021, but the US Federal Aviation Administration objected due to safety concerns about this particular spectrum band in relation to the altimeters found in planes. The concern has led both carriers to delay deployment until Jan. 5.
Prior to the FAA objection, Verizon said that it aimed to cover 100 million people with its midband 5G
by March. AT&T was aiming to cover between 70 million and 75 million people by the end of 2022, expanding to over 100 million in early 2023. T-Mobile has similarly purchased some C-band spectrum, but won’t be able to begin deploying it until the end of 2023.
Neville Ray, T-Mobile’s president of technology, tells CNET that even though his company is “not under the same pressure that AT&T and Verizon” are experiencing when it comes to immediately putting that spectrum to use, it is working with industry group CTIA about addressing the concerns about C-band use.
Ray adds that he believes based on “the physics and the merits” that C-band spectrum should work fine for cellular networks without interfering with airlines, noting that this spectrum is already “being used on a global basis” for 5G in “I think something like 40 countries today” without any issues.
In addition to reaching the nationwide milestone, T-Mobile said on Monday that 80% of its customers are now within the coverage of its expanded midband 5G network, which it calls Ultra Capacity 5G.
The carrier previously said it was targeting average download speeds of 400Mbps on this network, which would be a notable step up from the 4G LTE-like performance of its low-band 5G network (which it calls Extended Range 5G). While slower, that latter low-band network has better coverage and now reaches 308 million people.
On Thursday the wireless provider announced that it will soon offer new and existing customers — including ones with older T-Mobile or Sprint plans — a free year of Paramount Plus Essentials on the carrier. Normally $5 per month (or $50 if paid annually), this version of the streaming service includes access to live games from the NFL and Champions League as well as “tens of thousands of episodes and movies.”
Notable franchises on the streaming service include Star Trek, Paw Patrol and NCIS. The Essentials plan, which has ads, also includes access to Paramount Plus original programming such as Star Trek: Picard, The Good Fight and the iCarly reboot as well as upcoming shows like Mayor of Kingstown and the Yellowstone spinoff Y:1833.
T-Mobile’s offer is only for the Essentials plan and the carrier will not be subsidizing Paramount Plus’ step-up Premium option. That plan runs $10 per month (or a lower $100 if paid annually), is largely ad-free and includes the ability to watch your local CBS station live as well as the option to download shows and movies to watch offline.
T-Mobile is making the Paramount Plus offer open to anyone with a consumer postpaid account, meaning you pay your bill at the end of the month and can’t be using the service on a “T-Mobile for Business” plan provided by an employer. This does, however, include T-Mobile or Sprint customers on older consumer plans that aren’t unlimited, as well as those who only use the wireless provider for its $50-per-month Home Internet service.
As with T-Mobile’s other deals, this is one Paramount Plus subscription per account, not per line. After the year is up you will automatically be billed $5 per month (or whatever the rate Paramount Plus charges for the plan) unless you cancel beforehand. If you already pay for Paramount Plus Premium or some other plan you’ll need to cancel your existing subscription (or wait for the end of your current billing cycle) and then sign up through T-Mobile again to have the carrier foot the bill.
The wider net of eligibility is a bit of a departure for wireless carrier offers. Most deals require users to step up to pricier unlimited plans. T-Mobile only offers free Netflix with its Magenta and Magenta Max plans, while Verizon only offers The Disney Bundle (Hulu, Disney Plus and ESPN Plus) and a year of Discovery Plus with its Play More and Get More options. AT&T only gives out free HBO Max to those with its Unlimited Elite plan.
T-Mobile’s most recent streaming deal, the free year of Apple TV Plus, is limited just to those accounts that have its most recent Magenta and Magenta Max plans.
T-Mobile has continued adding customers to its network, announcing on Tuesday that it brought on 673,000 postpaid phone customers during its third-quarter earnings.
The carrier added a total of 1.3 million postpaid users to its network during the period. Postpaid customers, who pay at the end of the month, are valued more highly by the investment community as a key metric for wireless carrier success.
During the same quarter, AT&T added 928,000 postpaid phone customers while Verizon added 429,000 postpaid phone users.
Beyond the phone users, T-Mobile said that it added 586,000 other postpaid customers, including a “record-high” number of home internet users. The carrier launched a home internet product earlier this year that utilizes its 4G and 5G networks to offer home broadband access in place of a traditional cable provider.
In its earnings, the carrier did not disclose an updated number for how many home internet customers have signed up for its service, which recently dropped back to $50 per month.
All told, the carrier touts that it now has nearly 107 million customers.
T-Mobile says that its low-band 5G network (marketed as “Extended Range”) now covers 308 million people, while its faster midband network (which it calls “Ultra Capacity”) has expanded to 190 million people. It touts that the average download speeds on its midband network is now at 400Mbps.
The carrier has previously said that it plans to reach 200 million people with midband 5G by the end of 2021.
As for the financials, T-Mobile reported revenues of $19.6 billion with a diluted earnings-per-share of 55 cents. Analysts, as polled by Yahoo Finance, expected revenues of $20.18 billion and an EPS of 52 cents.
T-Mobile continues to update its network to 5G, but subsidiary Sprint’s 3G network has a few more months before it’s taken offline. The carrier originally planned to shut down its antiquated network on Jan. 1, but as part of an ongoing dispute and an escalating war of words with rival Dish it has delayed those plans.
The 3G network will stay up until March 31, T-Mobile said in a press release Friday. The company says the three-month extension is due to some of its partners that “haven’t followed through on their responsibility to help their customers through this shift.”
There were no specifics provided on which partner, but in recent months, Dish has taken issue with the Jan. 1 deadline. Dish owns Boost Mobile, which still makes use of Sprint’s 3G network for its customers. The company said Boost customers could lose their service on that date, and Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen said T-Mobile has “become the Grinch.” T-Mobile responded in kind in August by saying Dish has been “dragging their feet” on upgrading customers and calling it a manufactured crisis.
On Monday, Dish returned fire.
“T-Mobile’s announcement is a recognition that its premature shutdown of the CDMA network will harm consumers who rely on this network for critical connectivity, including 911,” Jeff Blum, Dish’s executive vice president of external and legislative affairs, said in a statement.
“While additional time is welcome, three months is not nearly sufficient to protect the well over one million Boost consumers — many of whom are low-income — projected to still need access to this network beyond March 31, 2022.”
Blum says that Dish has “successfully migrated millions of consumers” off of the 3G network but notes that “migrations of this scale are complex and take time.”
“Given T-Mobile’s new admission that continuing the operation of its CDMA network will have ‘no material financial impact’ to its business and 5G buildout, we urge the company to live up to its promises to regulators,” he adds, calling for T-Mobile to keep the CDMA network operational until 2023.
T-Mobile has expanded its partnership with Google, according to an Oct. 4 blog post, giving customers access to a Google One cloud storage plan that isn’t available to most Google users. On Oct. 12, T-Mobile customers will gain access to an exclusive Google One plan — 500 GB for $5 per month after a 30-day free trial.
The new plan offers more storage than Google One’s standard plan, which is 200GB for $3 per month. If you’re looking at cost efficiency, the T-Mobile plan is more cost-effective, netting you 100GB of storage per dollar, versus about 67GB per dollar from the standard plan.
T-Mobile’s blog post also says that customers will also have the option of ta 2TB plan at $10 per month. However, that appears identical to the pricing listed for other Google One customers, so there doesn’t seem to be anything special in that offer.
If you find yourself eating up online storage quickly, the 500GB plan offers good value, but it’s likely excessive for anyone who isn’t drowning in photos and videos.
T-Mobile is gearing up to offer same-day, in-store mobile device repairs, the carrier said Thursday. The in-store service begins Nov. 1 at 500 T-Mobile retail locations across the US, with additional sites expected to follow. Technicians from the mobile insurer Assurant will handle the repairs, T-Mobile said in a blog post.
“Repairs will be completed with some of the most highly credentialed mobile repair technicians in the industry — that use only manufacturer-approved parts and are committed to fast and reliable service,” T-Mobile said.
Additionally, T-Mobile subscribers who pay extra for the carrier’s Protection features each month will be able to make up to five in-store repair claims a year. The $7-a-month add-on already covers devices against theft and accidental damage, and includes live tech support and priority upgrades.
Once the in-store repairs are up and running, customers will be able to schedule an appointment via T-Mobile’s store locator.
T-Mobile executive vice president and chief financial officer Peter Osvaldik reportedly isn’t pleased with Samsung for its mobile supply shortages.
“Samsung has really fallen behind the eight ball relative to other OEMs on the global supply chain issue,” Osvaldik said during a BofA Securities investor event, according to a Wednesday report by Fierce Wireless. “A lot of our customer base are also very significant Samsung lovers.” He lamented that the company’s S Series smartphones are in “very short supply.”
T-Mobile declined to comment. Samsung didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Fierce Wireless noted that T-Mobile’s customers have traditionally been more inclined to opt for Samsung’s midrange and higher-end devices. The publication’s report comes a day after Apple unveiled the iPhone 13, as well as the Apple Watch Series 7 and new iPads.
Your local Walmart may soon have a T-Mobile kiosk inside. T-Mobile and Metro by T-Mobile are expanding to over 2,300 Walmart stores, T-Mobile said Monday. The carrier’s products will also be available through Walmart’s website.
The expansion more than doubles T-Mobile’s current Un-carrier retail presence.
Beginning Oct. 18, Walmart shoppers will be able to purchase phones, including 5G devices, at T-Mobile kiosks inside the store. They’ll also be able to sign up for one of three T-Mobile unlimited monthly rate plans at the kiosk.
Then, starting Nov. 1, Walmart shoppers will be able to shop for Magenta Max, T-Mobile’s Un-carrier plan with benefits like Netflix on Us, unlimited hotspots with 40GB and Scam Shield Premium, in stores.
“Even though online shopping continues to grow, we know that retail stores remain one of the primary places where wireless customers pick up devices and service,” Jon Freier, executive vice president of T-Mobile’s consumer group, said in release. “We’re working to expand our retail footprint across the country to meet more people in more places every day.”
The alleged hacker behind T-Mobile’s latest cyberattack has spoken out about the August hack. The breach includes names, driver’s license numbers, Social Security numbers and device identification (IMEI and IMSI) numbers for subscribers, former customers and even prospective customers. The wireless carrier is reportedly facing three lawsuits that stem from the breach.
John Brinns, the 21-year-old who claims responsibility for the hack, detailed the breach that affected over 54 million people, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. Brinns shared that T-Mobile had unprotected routers and weak spots in the company’s internet addresses that gave him access to over 100 servers. However, he did not share with the Journal whether he sold the data or if he was paid to carry out the breach — which could be a bigger problem for those affected.
If you’re concerned, you can read our guide to checking if your password is on the dark web. We’ll also keep you posted about a possible class-action suit against T-Mobile. Here are some things you can do to help secure your sensitive data against any hack, regardless of whether your information has been included in any number of data breaches.
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Lock your credit
One of the first things you should do is put a freeze on your credit. Doing so will prevent anyone with your information from opening a line of credit, or taking out any loans under your name. Freezing your credit won’t take long: You’ll just need to fill out a form with Equifax, Experian and Transunion (one from each company) to make the request.
The downside to freezing your credit is that when you want to make certain purchases, such as upgrading your iPhone, you’ll need to go through the process of briefly removing your credit freeze — and then refreezing once you’re done.
Yes, it’s inconvenient. But the extra time you take to freeze, unfreeze and then refreeze your credit is worth it and pales in comparison to the time you’d spend trying to reverse the damage done by someone opening a credit card or line of credit in your name.
Lock down everything you can as soon as you can.
Angela Lang/CNET
Use a credit monitoring service
Staying on top of what’s on your credit report is an easy way to make sure someone isn’t using your information nefariously. Some companies offer free credit monitoring to victims of a data breach, but oftentimes that’s only temporary. For example, T-Mobile is offering two years of McAfee’s ID Theft Protection Service for free to those affected by the latest breach. Take advantage of offers like this if your data is included in a breach, but once the limited-time offer expires, be ready to sign up for another service.
There are several credit monitoring services that help you watch your credit report and using one could mean you will receive an alert and hopefully catch false accounts as soon as they happen.
Sign up for identity-theft monitoring
Monitoring your credit report is an important step to take; however, there’s so much more that can be done with your personal information. In addition to keeping an eye on your Social Security number and credit, an identity-monitoring service will monitor the dark web for anyone selling or trading your personal information or arrests under your name. It should give you peace of mind if someone tries to do anything with your personal information.
1Password is one of many password managers that keep your information secure.
1Password
Get a password manager to create and store your logins
Using a unique and strong password for every online account you own is an easy way to make sure a breach of one service doesn’t lead to bad guys accessing more of your online accounts where you used the same password.
Instead of reusing a password — or a series of passwords — rely on a password manager to create, store and autofill your login information. T-Mobile is also sharing best practices to reset PINs and passwords with customers to help protect their data and logins.
Don’t wait to protect your personal information
The most important aspect of taking action after a hack or breach is announced is to not wait for the affected companies to announce how they want you to handle it. Be proactive. At the end of the day, it’s your information and your financial future that’s at stake.
After locking down your credit and starting monitoring services, begin to look at suggestions from the affected companies.
Some breaches lead to settlements, forcing the company to offer free services or settlements, as in the 2017 Equifax case.
T-Mobile is adding a new perk to some of its plans, a free year of Apple TV Plus. On Monday the wireless carrier announced that it will be offering 12 months of Apple TV Plus to new and existing users on its Magenta or Magenta Max plans.
The deal, which will be available starting on Aug. 25, will also give a free subscription to those with older Sprint plans such as Sprint Unlimited Plus or Sprint Premium as well as to “eligible T-Mobile for Business customers.” Those on the carrier’s Magenta 55 Plus, Magenta Military, Magenta First Responders plans will also be eligible. A full list of plans can be found on T-Mobile’s site.
If you’re an eligible T-Mobile user, you’ll find the offer in the T-Mobile app or by heading to my.t-mobile.com. People with the older Sprint plans can go to promotions.t-mobile.com and enter in promo code “2021APPLETVP1” (without the quotes) to claim a free year.
T-Mobile and Apple are making the deal available to both new and existing Apple TV Plus subscribers, as well as those who already tried out Apple’s streaming service in the past. If you already have Apple TV Plus, redeeming T-Mobile’s offer will pause that subscription for the next year, with the carrier’s offer taking over in its place.
If you never had Apple TV Plus and recently bought a new Apple product (like a new iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV, or Mac) you can combine this T-Mobile deal with the free three months Apple gives you for a total of 15 months of Apple TV Plus.
You have until July 31, 2022 to sign up to claim the free year. After the 12 months are up you will once again be charged $5 a month for Apple’s service.
The partnership between Apple and T-Mobile makes sense for both companies as wireless carriers look to bolster the value of their pricier unlimited plans and streaming services look to add subscribers.
T-Mobile already offers a free Netflix subscription with its Magenta and Magenta Max plans while AT&T offers HBO Max to those with its top, Unlimited Elite offering.
Verizon, meanwhile, offers a Disney Bundle to people with its Play More or Get More plans, as well as a free year of Discovery Plus. It also offers free subscriptions to Apple Music, Apple Arcade and Google Play Pass depending on your plan.
Just when you think the massive T-Mobile hack can’t get any worse, on Friday the carrier announced that over 50 million people, including current and former customers as well as prepaid customers, were affected by the breach. Information like Social Security numbers, driver’s licenses and account PINs were exposed. Here are some steps you can take right now to protect your financial information.
Regardless whether you’re a T-Mobile user, the exposure of account PINs is a major danger. That’s the password that you’re asked to give to a T-Mobile employee before any changes can be made to your account. A scammer who knows your account password can call customer care and ask to have the SIM card linked to your phone number changed to a new SIM card and device, effectively taking over your phone number. If you’ve moved on from T-Mobile to another carrier and used the same passcode, you should change it immediately.
Sim swapping is not just an inconvenience. Once someone has taken over your phone number, they can use it to impersonate you or log into your online accounts. They can get instant access to any two-factor authentication codes you receive through text messages, the PIN that an institution texts you to verify your identity.
So if they also have your password or other personal information, they’re just a few clicks away from logging into your email, bank or social media accounts. And if someone gains access to your email account, they can change other passwords and search through your email archive to build a list of your entire online presence. Take the time to move away from SMS 2FA codes and use app-based codes instead. Seriously.
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For example, Matthew Miller, a contributor to CNET sister site ZDNet, fell victim to a SIM-swap scam and he experienced the fallout for months afterward. Whoever took over Miller’s phone number gained access to his Gmail account, and promptly changed his password, then erased every email, deleted every file in his Google Drive account, and eventually deleted his Gmail account altogether.
Miller later discovered he was targeted because he had a Coinbase account and his bank account was linked to it. Miller’s phone received his Coinbase account’s two-factor authentication code, so the hackers were able to log into his cryptocurrency trading account and buy $25,000 worth of Bitcoin. Miller had to call his bank and report the transaction as fraud. That’s on top of the immense vulnerability he felt.
To be clear, this isn’t an issue that’s specific to T-Mobile. All wireless carriers and customers can fall victim to SIM-swap fraud. Below are some tips to secure your wireless account.
It takes just a few minutes to add a critical layer of security to your account.
Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET
How to prevent SIM swapping on your account
You can decrease your chances of someone gaining access to and taking over your phone number by adding a PIN code or password to your wireless account. T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T all offer the ability to add a PIN code.
If you’re unsure if you have a PIN code or need to set one up, here’s what you need to do for each of the major US carriers.
T-Mobile: Set up T-Mobile’s Account Takeover Protection service. You need to add the feature to each individual line on your account. I also suggest changing your account PIN (if you’re not asked to while setting up Account Takeover Protection).
AT&T: Go to your account profile, sign in, then click Sign-in info. Select your wireless account if you have multiple AT&T accounts, then go to Manage extra security under the Wireless passcode section. Make your changes, then enter your password when prompted to save.
Verizon Wireless: Call *611 and ask for a Port Freeze on your account, and visit this webpage to learn more about enabling Enhanced Authentication on your account.
If your phone loses service, contact customer care right away.
Juan Garzon/CNET
If you have service through a different carrier, call their customer service number to ask how you can protect your account. Most likely, you’ll be asked to create a PIN or passcode.
When creating a PIN or passcode, keep in mind that if someone has enough information to fake that they’re actually you, using a birthday, anniversary or address as the PIN code isn’t going to cut it. Instead, create a unique passcode for your carrier and then store it in your password manager. You are using a password manager, right?
How to know if your SIM has been swapped
The easiest way to tell if your SIM card is no longer active is if you completely lose service on your phone. You may receive a text message stating the SIM card for your number has been changed, and to call customer service if you didn’t make the change. But with your SIM card no longer active, you won’t be able to place a call from your phone — not even to customer service (more on this below).
In short, the quickest way to tell if you’ve been affected is if your phone completely loses service and you can’t send or receive text messages or phone calls.
What to do if you’re a victim of SIM-swap fraud
The truth is, if someone wants access to your phone number badly enough, they will do all they can to trick your carrier’s support representative. What we’ve outlined above are best practices, but they’re not foolproof.
Researchers were able to pose as account holders who had forgotten their PIN or passcodes, oftentimes providing recent outgoing calls from the target phone number, called by the actual account holder. How do they know those numbers? They tricked the account holder into calling. Even scarier, sometimes the researchers were able to provide phone numbers for incoming calls to the account they want to take over. Meaning the bad guy simply needed to call the target’s phone number themselves.
Once you realize you’ve lost service on your mobile device, call your carrier immediately and let them know you didn’t make the changes. The carrier will help you recover access to your phone number. I can’t emphasize this enough — do not wait to call. The longer someone has access to your phone number, the more damage they can do.
Here are the customer service numbers for each major carrier. Put your carrier’s number in your phone as a contact:
AT&T: 1-800-331-0500
T-Mobile: 1-800-937-8997
Verizon: 1-800-922-0204
Once someone gains access to your phone number, they’ll have access to most of your online accounts.
James Martin/CNET
With your SIM card deactivated, you won’t be able to call from your phone, but at least you’ll have the number handy to use on someone else’s device.
You’ll also want to reach out to your banks and credit card companies, and double-check all of your online accounts to make sure that the perpetrator hasn’t changed your passwords or made any fraudulent transactions. If you find transactions that aren’t yours, call your bank or visit a branch right away and explain the situation.
Remember, no matter how many PIN codes or passwords we add to our online accounts, there’s still a chance that someone will find a way to break in. But at least by setting a passcode for your account, and knowing what to do if you find yourself a victim of SIM swapping, you’re prepared.
T-Mobile has been moving to integrate Sprint into its operations since completing its merger last April. This week the next step was detailed, with a support page on the carrier’s website revealing that T-Mobile plans to shut down Sprint’s 4G LTE network on June 30, 2022.
The page, spotted by Light Reading, details a bit about why it is doing this. The company says that “retiring older network technologies” allow it “to free up resources and spectrum that will help us strengthen our entire network, move all customers to more advanced technologies and bridge the Digital Divide.” Part of this process, the post continues, “involves moving Sprint’s LTE spectrum to the T-Mobile network.”
T-Mobile says that “most” Sprint LTE and 5G devices can work with its LTE or 5G network. It adds that those devices “will continue to operate on T-Mobile’s LTE and 5G networks,” so long as those Sprint users upgrade from Sprint-issued SIM cards to ones from T-Mobile. You will also need to make sure that Voice over LTE (also known as VoLTE) is enabled for voice calls.
The carrier adds that it will be contacting those who might be impacted by the switch, stating that it already “began sending notifications late last year.”
T-Mobile has been working to move Sprint users and devices onto its network since the merger was finalized, announcing last month that “80% of Sprint customer traffic” is now carried on its network with “one-third” of Sprint customers having already been moved to T-Mobile.
Shuttering Sprint’s 4G LTE network is the latest shutdown for T-Mobile. Last July the carrier turned off Sprint’s 5G network to bolster its own 5G offering while it has more recently announced that plans to shutter Sprint’s older 3G CDMA network on Jan. 1, 2022.
Dish, which purchased the Boost Mobile prepaid brand from T-Mobile as part of a Department of Justice requirement for the Sprint merger, has spoken out against the 3G network shutdown as Boost users still have devices that connect to the former Sprint network. T-Mobile has countered by saying that it notified Dish about these plans in October 2020, well ahead of the six months notice it was required to give by contract.
As part of a DOJ-brokered deal, Dish was granted the ability to use T-Mobile’s network for seven years while it builds out its own 5G network. The satellite TV company recently announced a partnership with AT&T to use its network as its relationship with T-Mobile turned sour.
It is unclear how this latest move might impact Dish or Boost. Stephen Stokols, executive vice president of Boost Mobile, told CNET that his company was “still doing some analysis” on the announcement but did not elaborate further.
T-Mobile is joining the list of companies with deals for back-to-school. It’s introducing a few new offers for new users.
For family plans, the carrier is introducing a new deal that offers “half off” lines three to eight of a family plan. That means that the cheapest Essentials unlimited plan would run $97.50 a month (not including taxes or fees) for three lines, or $105 for four lines (each additional line is $7.50).
T-Mobile’s step-up Magenta plan — which adds Netflix Basic (the non-HD version of Netflix), international data and includes taxes and fees in the price — would be $130 for three lines or $140 for four lines (each additional line is $10 a line). The company’s top plan, Magenta Max — which includes Netflix’s Standard plan, 40GB of high-speed hotspot data, 4K streaming and faster international data — would be $160 for three lines, or $170 for four lines (each additional line is $15 a line).
T-Mobile says this new deal will be available to both new and existing customers, though for the latter you will need to add a new line to your account to get the discount. Only the new added line would be discounted, however, so if you’re on a family plan with four existing lines, just the new fifth line would be cheaper. You would not get a new, lower rate for lines three and four.
The carrier’s previous promotion offered a “third line free” with any of its three unlimited plans. That offer ended on July 23 with this new half-off deal taking its place the same day.
A free iPhone 12… if you go for Magenta Max
In addition to the new half-off plan offer the carrier is also adding a new promotion to get people onto its highest tier Magenta Max plan, dangling the prospect of a free iPhone 12 when trading in an “eligible phone.”
Like the plan deal, this offer will be available to both new and existing customers with up to the $830 price of the iPhone 12 64GB distributed back to you through monthly bill credits. If you want a pricier phone, like an iPhone 12 Pro or Pro Max, it will apply your credits towards the cost of that device.
Eligible phones for the full $830 off include the iPhone X or later, the Samsung Galaxy S20 (or later), Note 10 (or later), Z Flip 5G and Z Fold 2. There’s also the Motorola Razr 5G and the OnePlus 8 5G and 8T 5G.
If you have an iPhone 8 or 8 Plus, or if you have an Android phone such as the Galaxy S9, S10 or Note 9 or Google Pixel 4 and 4A line, you can save $730 on an iPhone 12. You can save $530 if you trade in an iPhone 7, 7 Plus or a 2020 iPhone SE (or if you trade in an LG Velvet). If you have an iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6S or 6S Plus you can save $380.
T-Mobile is also offering $380 in savings if you trade in a variety of Android phones including the Samsung Galaxy S7, S8, Note 5 and Note 8 (or one of their variants); Pixel 2, 3 or 3A (or one of their variants) and OnePlus 5, 5T, 6, 6T and 7 Pro.
In addition to being on the Magenta Max plan, any phones being traded need to be in “good condition.” You can find a full list or check to see how much your phone will get at T-Mobile’s trade-in site.
As with the new plan deal, the iPhone 12 offer will start on Friday. T-Mobile says both promotions will run for a “limited time” though as with most of its deals the carrier has yet to provide an exact end date.
Correction, Aug. 3: T-Mobile has clarified that its half-off family discount will require existing users to add a line to their accounts. The story has been updated.
T-Mobile has updated its coverage map so you can now tell what type of 5G you can get — the kind that’s relatively fast or the kind that just covers a lot of territory. An updated T-Mobile US network coverage map offers a darker color for the faster 5G “ultra capacity” than for the 5G “extended range.”
The colors are useful if you’re trying to decide whether to switch to T-Mobile from Verizon, AT&T or another network — or if you’re trying to figure out why your fancy 5G T-Mobile network seems so poky.
You’ll still have to do a lot of zooming and panning to compare with the AT&T network coverage map and Verizon coverage map, though, especially if you care about getting a signal in more than one or two places. I also recommend checking out my colleague Eli Blumenthal’s helpful decoding of 5G marketing terms.
For T-Mobile, you shouldn’t expect any of the 5G speed hype to apply on map areas with long-range 5G coverage. That uses low frequency radio spectrum that’s better at traveling long distances and penetrating the walls of buildings. But T-Mobile got a lot of midrange spectrum with its acquisition of Sprint, and that’s an important way for T-Mo to stand out. The company this week boasted its midband “ultra capacity” service now reaches 165 million people in the United States.
T-Mobile didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. PCMag spotted the coverage map change this week.
T-Mobile’s rivals should become more competitive as they put new midband radio spectrum to work later this year. AT&T and Verizon bought rights to use it in the Federal Communications Commission auction of C-band airwaves.
Verizon and AT&T have their own terms to differentiate between fast shorter-range service and slower long-range service.
AT&T calls its relatively slow long-range coverage “5G” and its midrange and even higher frequency millimeter wave (mmWave) “5G Plus.” Verizon calls its low-range “5G nationwide” and its midrange and mmWave “ultra wideband.”
T-Mobile has announced another 5G smartphone for a reasonably low price tag. On Wednesday, T-Mobile said it would soon be releasing the Revvl V+ 5G for $199 in store on July 12.
You can also purchase the Revvl V+ 5G for $8.34 per month, plus the cost of your monthly phone plan. The smartphone will be exclusive to T-Mobile and its counterpart, Metro PCS.
“Revvl smartphones have always been about giving people a no-compromises experience: great features at a great price,” Mike Sievert, CEO of T-Mobile, said in a statement.
The smartphone features a 16MP camera, 5,000 mAh battery, Android 11 and a 6.82-inch screen. It will be available in Nebula Black.
In addition to the phone launch, 5G giant T-Mobile also announced a 5G augmented reality game. The game allows the consumer to emit light onto a fictitious 5G map as fast as possible. Through the game, players have a chance to win a free Revvl V+ 5G.
Last August, T-Mobile announced a $400 5G phone, but the Revvl V+ 5G is the cheapest sale price the company has ever announced.
T-Mobile has long offered a “Test Drive” promotion, allowing people on rival wireless providers to get a device to experience its network. As spotted by Light Reading and The T-Mo Report, the company has quietly taken a new step that could make it significantly easier to try out and switch carriers, allowing anyone with an iPhone XS or later on a rival network the ability to download a virtual eSIM profile through a T-Mobile Network Test Drive app for iOS.
By downloading the profile you will be given 30 gigabytes of data for 30 days for free. T-Mobile doesn’t require you to cancel or postpone your current service or swap out your existing SIM card, instead letting you compare the carrier’s coverage to your current provider’s right from the iPhone you’re already using.
One potentially big caveat: Your current iPhone needs to be unlocked from any carrier. If you have an iPhone that’s on a payment plan from Verizon or AT&T, you may not be able to try this out until you pay off the remaining balance, or your phone is unlocked.
Verizon will automatically unlock phones bought on its payment plans after 60 days. AT&T, however, requires that you have paid off your installment plan.
Assuming you have an unlocked device, the setup process is fairly simple — the app guides you through the process of adding the eSIM. T-Mobile doesn’t require you to enter in any credit card or payment details, with the trial automatically ending after your 30GB or 30 days are up (whichever comes first).
You still get to use your regular phone and apps, and because your regular line isn’t being paused you will still be able to receive calls and messages. You can choose to set the T-Mobile line as your main data plan, however, allowing you to see how that service compares to what you already have when doing the normal, everyday tasks that you do on your phone.
The iPhone will show the signal strength of both networks in the upper right corner. Those with an iPhone 12 will also be able to connect to T-Mobile’s 5G service.
By expanding to an app and eSIM, T-Mobile looks to be solving a problem that has long plagued its Test Drive offer. When it first announced the promotion in 2014, T-Mobile company loaned out iPhone 5S handsets with a week of unlimited talk, text and data. More recently it has offered a hotspot with the same 30GB of data for 30 days, though that device is limited to 4G LTE.
The issue with either option, of course, is the requirement to carry around a second device.
Having the new app “should definitely make it easier for people to take T-Mobile up on its long-standing Test Drive offer,” Techsponential analyst Avi Greengart said, adding that now is “a good time for the carrier to pull out all the stops” to get people to try out its service.
T-Mobile announced last week that it now covers 300 million people with its low-band 5G network, with a faster midband offering now reaching 150 million people.
The latter network, which T-Mobile says offers average download speeds of 325Mbps, will start to face increased competition later this year from AT&T and Verizon. Both rival providers have spent billions of dollars acquiring midband spectrum in recent Federal Communications Commission auctions, with their respective new 5G networks expected to be turned on at the end of the year.
T-Mobile on Wednesday announced that is ahead of schedule on its plan to cover 300 million people with its 5G low-band network, so it is… adding gin and ginger beer to the list of wares it sells.
The new beverages, dubbed 5Gin and a non-alcoholic 5Ginger Beer, aren’t actually being manufactured by T-Mobile. Instead, the company has partnered with two companies near its Bellevue, WA headquarters to create the drinks. The gin is being produced by Heritage Distilling Company while the 5Ginger Beer is made by Jones Soda Co.
T-Mobile is selling 5Gin and 5Ginger Beer to mark its latest 5G network expansions.
T-Mobile
The gin will retail for $30 per bottle while a six-pack of the beer will cost $10. Both and can be purchased online at t-mobile5gin.com starting at 3 p.m. ET (12 p.m. PT) on June 24. The carrier would not disclose how many bottles it is commissioning but says in a press release that “limited quantities are available” and that shipping and taxes are not included in the sales price.
While the drinks can make for a fun promotion, the network expansion is notable. At its analyst day in March, T-Mobile said that it planned to reach the marker of 300 million people covered with its low-band network by the end of 2021, putting Wednesday’s news several months ahead of schedule. At the March event the carrier said it covered 287 million people with the network, what it calls “Extended Range 5G.”
The company also revealed that its faster midband 5G network, which it calls “Ultra Capacity 5G,” now reaches 150 million people with average download speeds of 325 Mbps. This up from the 125 million people and average speeds of 300 Mbps it announced in March.
T-Mobile has said that it plans to cover 200 million people with this network by the end of the year, with average download speeds of 400 Mbps.
T-Mobile topped analyst estimates for the first quarter of 2021, as the company continues to add subscribers and build out its 5G network.
On Tuesday the nation’s second-largest carrier reported earnings per share of 74 cents on revenue of nearly $19.8 billion. Analysts, as polled by Yahoo Finance, were expecting earnings per share of 57 cents and revenue of $18.9 billion.
The carrier added 1.4 million customers, with a postpaid net addition of 1.2 million. Of that postpaid group, 773,000 were phone subscribers. Postpaid customers, who pay at the end of the month, are valued more highly by the investment community as a key metric for wireless carrier success.
The first-quarter results come after a strong close to 2020 for T-Mobile, which reported in February that it had added 824,000 phone customers in the fourth quarter. The company now has 103.4 million customers, as it continues to grow following a busy year that also saw the transition to Mike Sievert as CEO and the completion of its merger with Sprint.
T-Mobile has been working to move customers from Sprint’s older network to its own. Last month it introduced new plans to help migrate Sprint users, and the carrier now says that nearly 50 percent of Sprint customer traffic has been moved to T-Mobile’s network, while roughly 20% of Sprint users have moved onto T-Mobile’s network.
The carrier says that it now expects greater “synergies” from the merger, raising 2021 guidance to between $2.8 billion and $3.1 billion. The company previously expected synergies of $2.7 billion to $3 billion. Sievert tells CNET that the company remains “on track” to shut down Sprint’s older 3G CDMA network “around January” of 2022.
The legacy Sprint network has been in the news lately, as Dish uses it to provide some service to Boost Mobile customers. Dish acquired Boost Mobile — and gained the ability to use T-Mobile’s network for seven years while it builds out its own 5G service — as part of the conditions for the government allowing T-Mobile’s merger with Sprint to proceed.
Last week Dish co-founder Charlie Ergen equated T-Mobile’s plan to shut down the CDMA network on Jan. 1 to the Dr. Seuss character The Grinch, noting that by turning off the older network it would be in essence shutting down older Boost phones.
Per Fierce Wireless, T-Mobile says that nothing has changed on its end and that Dish was aware of the shutdown as part of the merger agreement and that it gave notice in October 2020, well ahead of the six months it’s required to do by contract. On Tuesday, Axios reported that Dish was taking its case to Congress.
For his part, Sievert reiterated to CNET that the company is making sure its Sprint customers with older phones will have the proper devices. “It’s our responsibility to upgrade Sprint customers, our branded customers, and we’re taking care of that,” he said, noting the carrier’s recent promotion for free 5G phones. “We want to make sure that not one single Sprint customer is left behind because this technology transition is important.”
In addition to providing the updated financials, T-Mobile says its Extended Range 5G low-band network now covers 295 million people, while its faster midband 5G offering (part of what it calls Ultra Capacity 5G) reaches 140 million people. The carrier has said that it plans to cover 200 million people with midband 5G by the end of 2021.
Following the release of AppleAirTags and Samsung Smart Tags, T-Mobile is getting in on tracker tag tech. The mobile carrier on Wednesday introduced the SyncUp Tracker — a new addition to T-Mobile’s line of SyncUp products. The tag uses T-mobile’s nationwide LTE network and pairs with the SyncUp Tracker app for iOS and Android.
In addition, the SyncUp Tracker gives near real-time tracking and virtual boundary alerts. The tag doesn’t need to be in a specific range or near a smartphone to work, according to the release. The SyncUp Tracker also sports a light sensor and rings to help you find it more easily. The tag is water- and dust-resistant with a rechargeable 900 mAh battery that lasts about a week, depending on your use.
“SyncUp Tracker brings peace of mind to [a] customer’s most prized possessions and valuables, which is why we’re putting the power of our network behind it,” Matt Staneff, chief marketing officer of T-Mobile, said in a release.
SyncUp Trackers go one sale in T-Mobile stores on May 7 for $60 — or $2.50 for 24 months. You can the SyncUp Tracker service for $5 a month.
T-Mobile now has the fastest average 5G download speeds in the US, a report by speed test service Ookla said Thursday. The Ookla study also found that T-Mobile customers with 5G devices spent more time connected to a 5G network than those on rival carriers during the first three months of 2021.
According to the study, T-Mobile clocked in at 82.35Mbps download speeds on its 5G network for the first quarter of the year, followed by AT&T at 76.6Mbps and Verizon with 67.24Mbps.
Ookla’s study of how much time 5G customers spent on their carrier’s 5G network showed T-Mobile subscribers were connected 65% of the time, followed by Verizon customers at 36% and AT&T customers at 31%.
“T-Mobile delivers the fastest 5G speeds and a 5G signal more often,” T-Mobile CTO Neville Ray said in a statement Thursday. “T-Mobile 5G will keep layering on even more capacity and speed to the nation’s largest 5G network.”
Similar recent reports by Opensignal and Umlaut also showed T-Mobile having the fastest 5G network, with the most availability. However, a report Wednesday by RootMetrics ranked AT&T the highest on 5G download speeds, as it was able to deliver speeds above 50Mbps in 31 cities compared to T-mobile’s 11 cities and Verizon’s 10. T-Mobile kept the top spot for 5G availability in the RootMetrics report.
AT&T and Verizon didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The three major US carriers are using different radio waves for their 5G networks: Verizon uses high-band millimeter-wave 5G spectrum, which can travel only short distances and can be blocked by solid obstacles like buildings and trees. AT&T uses 850MHz spectrum for its low-band 5G network, which has better range but slower speeds.
T-Mobile’s latest Un-carrier event had plenty of news. From the official launch of its home broadband product to an automatic upgrade to unlimited for those still on tiered or shared data plans, the carrier had much to say on Wednesday as it looks to build on its 5G lead.
Here’s a breakdown of everything you need to know.
Home Internet is now widely available
T-Mobile’s Home Internet play has been in the works for years. The company has talked about using 4G LTE and 5G to provide a home broadband alternative for a while, and on Wednesday the program finally graduated from a pilot stage to a real offering.
Available starting at $60 per month (with AutoPay), the carrier says users can expect average download speeds of 100Mbps for “most new customers.” The data is unlimited, there are no caps where your speeds will be slowed and T-Mobile touts that taxes are already included, with no additional fees for equipment such as the 4G/5G modem that doubles as a router.
You don’t need to be a T-Mobile wireless user to sign up for the service, with the carrier also not forcing you to sign up for a contract. If you cancel the service you just need to return the modem back to the company. Those with Home Internet will also be able to get a $10 discount on YouTube TV or Philo for streaming television.
Although T-Mobile has been building out the service over the last year, Wednesday’s launch brings the service to 30 million “eligible” households across the 48 contiguous states, plus Hawaii.
At its analyst day last month, the company revealed that it ended 2020 with 100,000 subscribers in its Home Internet pilot. The company hopes to have 500,000 Home Internet subscribers by the end of this year, with 7-8 million customers by 2025.
For reference, Comcast finished 2020 with 33.1 million customers.
The T-Mobile Home Internet modem doubles as a router.
Rick Broida/CNET
T-Mobile says it is going after urban areas that have multiple providers, as well as those in rural communities that have limited competition. Of the 30 million eligible households the company says that 10 million are in rural America, adding that it “plans to continue to expand access.”
Dow Draper, T-Mobile’s executive vice president of emerging products, tells CNET that the company plans for Home Internet speeds and household eligibility to “continue to grow significantly in 2021 and 2022.”
While the carrier’s 5G network reaches 287 million people today, not everyone will be able to get the Home Internet service. Draper notes that the reason why the footprints won’t match up is that the company is focusing on locations where it has “deep areas of capacity” for where it offers Home Internet. This, Draper says, allows for the “highest likelihood of providing people an exceptional broadband experience” without sacrificing its mobile network’s performance.
CNET’s Rick Broida has been experimenting with the pilot version of Home Internet and while he found some issues, he planned to keep the service, as the hiccups he experienced were “a lot more tolerable when you’re paying less than half what you were before.”
A boost to unlimited data for those on older shared plans
Angela Lang/CNET
Beyond the Home Internet push, T-Mobile also revealed that starting on April 18 it will be automatically upgrading existing users with either T-Mobile or Sprint shared data plans to unlimited. It says that it won’t change the monthly price, with the switch just removing the worry of how much high-speed data you will use before speeds slow down.
Called the “Great Unlimited Trade-Up,” in essence the carrier is moving those on these limited-data plans to its Magenta Essentials offering without raising the price for their monthly service.
As with before, access to T-Mobile’s growing 5G network remains included. The carrier says that those switching from a tiered data plan on Verizon or AT&T will be able to switch to T-Mobile and get this deal at a rate that is “the same or better” than what they are paying for limited data buckets.
While the data is unlimited on 4G LTE or 5G, T-Mobile notes that it might slow speeds in busy areas “during congestion” if you’ve used over 50GB in a month. While mobile hotspot data on Magenta Essentials is generally limited to 3G speeds, the carrier tells CNET that those being switched over will have a “bucket of high-speed hotspot data that’s equal or better to their current limited bucket.”
A new push to get people on 5G phones
The iPhone 12 is getting a limited-time deal at T-Mobile.
Andrew Hoyle/CNET
Beyond the unlimited boost for plans, T-Mobile also introduced a “Great Free 5G Upgrade” where it will swap any old, working phone for a new Samsung Galaxy A32 5G. The company says it will accept any phone as part of this promotion — from flip phones and Sidekicks to old iPhones, BlackBerries or Palms — so long as they are in working condition, power on and are without cracked screens or water damage.
As with many other free phone promotions, the phone won’t be free upfront with the cost dishing out over 24 monthly bill credits to keep you on the carrier. If you leave before the two years are up you’d be on the hook for the remaining balance owed on the $282 device. You also will need to pay the sales tax.
Beyond the Galaxy deal, which runs until the end of the year and is available to both new and existing customers, the carrier is also offering a new iPhone 12 promotion.
Running from April 18 through May 1, T-Mobile is offering a free iPhone 12 when you trade in an iPhone 11. Those with “most older” iPhones will be able to get half off the iPhone 12 with trade-in, while those with older iPhones such as an iPhone 7, iPhone 5S or iPhone 4 will be able to get half off an iPhone 12 Mini.
The carrier confirmed to CNET that there will also be discounts available for the iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max, but it did not detail them. It also did not specify which of the “most older” iPhone models would qualify for the half-off iPhone 12 discount.
As with the Galaxy deal, the iPhone promotion requires that the device you are trading in be in working condition. Unlike some other wireless promotions, it is available to existing customers without the need to switch over or add a new line.
Adding new jobs with new stores
T-Mobile says it plans to add 7,500 new jobs over the next two years and will build “hundreds of new retail stores in small towns all across America.” The carrier touts that the new stores will be responsible for “5,000 direct new jobs” plus “thousands more in construction and services to build and maintain them.”
A new initiative it calls Hometown Experts will add 2,500 people in “2,500 small towns.” The carrier says that these “Experts” will function as “a one-person store, but without a traditional storefront.” This includes selling devices, setting up services and providing help connecting people to its network.
Jon Freier, executive vice president at T-Mobile, says that this program is designed to bring the carrier into areas where it would be “tough” economically to open a full-fledged retail location. “This is our innovative way to bring T-Mobile into those smaller communities, just without the cost of landlords and leases and all those things,” he says.
Frier adds that these employees won’t have to store inventory on their own and will instead be connected to “nearby” stores and be able to access the inventory there. The positions will also be treated as full T-Mobile employees, with Frier noting that “they have the same benefits that I do.”
The company says that the first 1,000 of these new Expert positions have already been posted on its website.
Have an old tiered or a shared data plan on Sprint or T-Mobile? It’s about to become an unlimited plan. As part of its Un-carrier Next event on Wednesday T-Mobile announced that a new initiative it calls the “Great Unlimited Trade-Up.”
The premise of the new offer is simple: Put more people on unlimited plans even if they currently pay for shared or tiered data that only includes a certain amount of gigabytes of data in a month.
Available starting April 18 and running through the rest of the year, the carrier will be automatically switching those on older T-Mobile or Sprint tiered data plans into new Magenta Essentials unlimited plans. The carrier says pricing will not go up as part of the switch, with the only difference being you now no longer have to worry about running over your monthly allotment of high-speed data.
As with before, access to T-Mobile’s growing 5G network is included with the plans. The carrier says that those switching from a tiered data plan on Verizon or AT&T will be able to switch to T-Mobile and get this deal at a rate that is “the same or better” than what they are paying for limited data buckets.
The lowest of its three unlimited plans, Magenta Essentials normally runs $60 per month for one line (with AutoPay discount), $90 per month for two lines or $105 per month for four lines. Unlike T-Mobile’s step-up Magenta and Magenta Max offerings, Essentials lacks features such as free Netflix, free international data roaming and the bundling of taxes and fees into the list price.
While the data is unlimited on 4G LTE or 5G, T-Mobile notes that it might slow speeds in busy areas “during congestion” if you’ve used over 50GB in a month. By comparison, those on regular Magenta plans see their data slow in busy areas if they’ve passed 100GB in a month.
Hotspot data is included with normal Essentials plans and is similarly unlimited, but only at 3G speeds. As part of this switch, T-Mobile tells CNET that those on limited plans who are upgraded to Essentials will have a “bucket of high-speed hotspot data that’s equal or better to their current limited bucket.”
New 5G phone trade-in programs
T-Mobile is giving away Samsung’s Galaxy A32 as part of its new promotion.
Samsung
Like Verizon, T-Mobile is also looking to move people from 4G LTE phones to newer 5G devices.
Beyond the plan upgrade, the nation’s second-largest carrier is rolling out a new promotion that will allow new customers as well as existing T-Mobile or Sprint users to trade in any old phone and get Samsung’s new A32 5G for free.
Whereas a recent Verizon promotion solicited broken smartphones for a discount on a 5G upgrade, T-Mobile is looking for any older phones so long as they are in working condition, power on and don’t have cracked screens or water damage. This includes not just older smartphones like BlackBerrys, Palms or old iPhones but also flip phones, Sidekicks and even “whatever that suitcase phone was called” for the free phone.
Like with Verizon’s deal, the phone won’t be free upfront but will instead have the $282 total cost dished out in bill credits over 24 months to keep you tied to T-Mobile. You also will be on the hook for the sales tax and, if you leave T-Mobile early, you will need to pay off the remaining balance.
The Samsung A32 5G deal runs from April 18 through the end of the year.
In addition to the free Galaxy off, T-Mobile is also launching a new trade-in deal for those interested in a new iPhone.
The deal, which runs from April 18 to May 1, will give a free iPhone 12 to those trading in an iPhone 11 or half off an iPhone with the trade-in of “most older iPhones.” T-Mobile says the iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max would also be available as part of this promotion, but declined to provide a list of which “older iPhones” would qualify for the discount.
Those looking for Apple’s iPhone 12 Mini will be able to get half off the price of a new device with the trade-in of any older iPhone, dating all the way back to the original iPhone from 2007.
As with the Galaxy deal the iPhone you are trading in needs to be in “working condition” and the cost will be doled out over 24 monthly bill credits. You remain on the hook for the sales tax and will need to pay off the balance if you decide to leave the carrier.
Unlike some older wireless promotions, however, you don’t need to switch a line to the carrier or add a new one to get the deal.
Goodbye TVision, we hardly knew you. On April 29 T-Mobile will wind down its live TV streaming service, which launched just five months ago. Instead the wireless carrier will partner with other services, namely Philo and YouTube TV, by offering $10 off their monthly subscription prices.
TVision was available to T-Mobile subscribers who wanted to replace a cable subscription with live TV channels streamed over the internet. Its base TVision Vibe package cost just $10 per month, making it the least expensive such option and an excellent value. Step-up packages, dubbed TVision Live, offered more channels, including local stations, starting at $40 per month.
The new $10 discounts are available now to all current TVision customers, and will roll out to new T-Mobile and Sprint customers starting April 6. They cut the monthly cost of Philo in half, from $20 to $10, and bring a YouTube TV subscription down to $55 per month. Current customers also get a free month of either YouTube TV or Philo, depending on which package they chose. The carrier says the TVision Hub, an Android TV streaming device, will work with Philo and YouTube TV.
TVision launched amid controversy, with three of its partner networks — Discovery, ViacomCBS and Comcast’s NBCUniversal — claiming the service was never properly vetted by them. Soon after the complaints surfaced, T-Mobile added more channels to its Live packages.
The passing of TVision is just the latest change in the fast-paced world of live TV streaming. Stalwarts Sling TV, YouTube TV and Hulu with Live TV all raised prices by $5 recently and in January AT&T TV rebranded and consolidated its service — and, yes, raised prices too. Now Philo, which starts at $20 per month with no sports or local channels, is the cheapest such service.
T-Mobile’s weekly perks will now be available to its prepaid Metro by T-Mobile customers.
The company’s customer rewards program, called T-Mobile Tuesdays, includes things like promotional offers and free items from Baskin Robbins, Redbox and Burger King. One of the more notable perks is a free one-season subscription to MLB.TV, which will kick off again this year starting March 30.
With the Federal Communications Commission’s C-band auction now in the wireless industry’s rearview, the US carriers are making their pitches to Wall Street about what benefits the newly acquired airwaves will provide their 5G networks. While the auction pulled in billions, the bulk of the bidding came from Verizon and AT&T, with T-Mobile a distant third.
The “C-band” is midband spectrum that has been viewed by the wireless industry as a key technology for offering faster 5G performance than wider-ranging low-band networks while covering larger areas compared to faster millimeter-wave 5G.
After Verizon made its pitch on Wednesday, T-Mobile Thursday gave its own update on its network and some of its plans for the next few years. The big takeaway: it didn’t bid as much because it already has a strong midband 5G presence thanks to its purchase of Sprint last year. Here are some of the highlights from the over three-hour event.
Building on its 5G lead
Whereas T-Mobile found itself trailing for years in the 4G LTE race, when it comes to 5G it is actually well in the lead, thanks in large part to the Sprint purchase. It is “nice to be in the front of the pack this time around,” CEO Mike Sievert noted during the virtual event.
Unlike rivals Verizon and AT&T, which were much more desperate for this spectrum, thanks to that Sprint deal T-Mobile didn’t have the same need for more midband spectrum and therefore didn’t spend anywhere near as much to boost its portfolio.
The carrier already has a large amount of 2.5GHz midband spectrum that it has been aggressively deploying over the last year. On Wednesday it announced that it currently covers 125 million people with these airwaves, which it says are capable of providing average download speeds of 300 megabits per second and peaks of 1 gigabit per second.
T-Mobile’s low-band network, which it first deployed at the end of 2019, now reaches 287 million people. This network offers the best 5G coverage, albeit with speeds that aren’t as fast as what you would find on a midband connection.
T-Mobile’s vision for 5G improvements over the next three years.
T-Mobile
During Thursday’s event, the carrier said that it plans to raise its average download speed to 400 Mbps this year as it works towards covering 200 million people with midband 5G. By the end of next year, it plans to cover over 250 million people, with 90% of Americans covered by the end of 2023. It plans to cover 97% of Americans with low-band 5G by the end of 2022.
While it spent $9.3 billion on C-band, because of its existing 5G network the carrier didn’t bid on the first chunks of spectrum that will become available at the end of this year. Instead, it will need to wait until the end of 2023 to start putting its new spectrum to use, with the goal of having it complement its already well-built out 5G network in urban areas.
And whereas Verizon is already talking about which devices will be able to tap into its C-band network later this year, T-Mobile is remaining a bit more mum. Neville Ray, T-Mobile’s president of technology, wouldn’t confirm if any current devices will be able to use the spectrum, telling CNET that the carrier has “more time” before they would need to worry about that. He does, however, say that the carrier would have phones on its network that support C-band, adding that “it’s good for Verizon and AT&T to carry the water on this one,” when it comes to bringing C-band support into devices.
Preparing to take on cable providers
The T-Mobile Home Internet router.
Rick Broida/CNET
One of the big new efforts for T-Mobile in 2021 will be the launch of a home internet product that competes with traditional cable providers like Comcast’s Xfinity, Charter’s Spectrum and Verizon’s Fios. Although the carrier did not announce full details for the product, it did say that it will launch later this month and shared some insights it has gleaned from the pilot program it has been running over the last year.
Available first as a 4G LTE solution, T-Mobile said Thursday that it ended last year with over 100,000 people taking part in its Home Internet pilot program. It has since switched over to a router capable of connecting to both its 4G LTE and 5G networks.
The pilot program offered unlimited data for a flat $50 monthly rate (with automatic payments enabled) and had no contracts and no fees for equipment or taxes. While the company has since raised the pricing for new pilot customers to $60 per month, it remains to be seen if that will be the final or rate or if there will be differing plans. Sievert teased in his remarks that the company’s launch plans will include “immediate, much wider availability” of the service and that it will be sharing “launch markets, service levels, price points, and a lot more” at the full reveal later this month.
The company said it is planning to go after rural markets with limited or no broadband competition as well as urban areas that already have multiple providers, with the goal of having 500,000 Home Internet customers this year and 7-8 million customers by 2025.
While T-Mobile’s network has greatly improved in recent years, it is still dogged by a perception that it is still a much lower class service compared to rivals Verizon and AT&T. The carrier acknowledged the challenge on Thursday, and it hopes to change that by not just continuing to improve its network but with expanding into areas it traditionally hasn’t been before. This includes states like Vermont, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Wyoming, adding new T-Mobile stores in rural communities as well as establishing itself in retail stores such as Walmart and Best Buy.
T-Mobile is also hoping that its Home Internet play will get people to realize their area has strong coverage, leading them to then try its wireless service.
Moving Sprint customers onto T-Mobile plans
Angela Lang/CNET
With the company now almost a year past the merger with Sprint, T-Mobile revealed Thursday that it expects to migrate “100%” of older Sprint plans onto newer T-Mobile plans by the end of the second quarter.
Matt Staneff, T-Mobile’s chief marketing officer, tells CNET that the carrier is doing this by explaining to Sprint customers the “benefits that the T-Mobile customers have long been accustomed to” such as the bundling of taxes and fees into the monthly price and additional hotspot data. Those who switch over will also be using T-Mobile’s improved network as their primary service, as opposed to using Sprint service first and falling back to T-Mobile when Sprint isn’t available.
The migration process is underway, though he says that those who want to keep their plans will still be able to do so.
T-Mobile is starting a new program that collects and shares data with advertisers in order to show you ads more relevant to your interests. Customers will be included by default, but will be allowed to opt out. The carrier announced the change in a privacy policy update last month, and it was spotted by the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.
The new policy will affect both T-Mobile and Sprint customers, since the companies merged last year, and will allow the carrier to share info like your browsing data and the apps you use. The policy will go into effect on April 26. The company clarified that the info it collects won’t be tied to your name, but it will link to a unique mobile advertising identifier.
Once the policy goes into effect, data on your web browsing and phone usage will be collected and shared with advertisers by default. If you are a T-Mobile customer or a Sprint customer, you will need to opt out if you don’t want this info collected.
A week after introducing a new Magenta Max consumer plan with truly unlimited 4G and 5G data, T-Mobile is revamping its pitch to businesses. On Thursday the country’s second-largest carrier introduced new offers, part of what it calls T-Mobile WFX, that it hopes will help lure companies and government contracts away from rivals AT&T and Verizon regardless of whether employees are traveling or stuck at home.
The first is perhaps the most traditional. Called Enterprise Unlimited, the carrier is offering businesses a new unlimited 5G plan that’s designed to replace any pooled or shared data plans companies get from other carriers. There isn’t even a set price for the new offer with Mike Katz, executive vice president of T-Mobile for business, telling CNET that his company will “match or beat” the rates companies are paying his competition.
“What we’ll do is we’ll work with an enterprise, we’ll see what they’re paying for their pooled and shared plans, and we’ll match or beat that rate with that T-Mobile unlimited 5G plan,” Katz says.
There are no requirements for a minimum amount of lines and the plan will also come with 10GB of high-speed hotspot data. One hour of GoGo in-flight Wi-Fi (per flight) is also included, as is 5GB of high-speed data when traveling in Canada and Mexico and international texting and data in over 210 countries, though data speeds will be at much slower, 2G speeds (128 kbps).
Although it allows unlimited data in the US, if you use over 50GB of data in a month you could be slowed during a time of congestion. Katz says that only happens in “unique circumstances” when someone who is over that data level is in a congested area at a busy time.
If you want truly unlimited data with no worries of your phone’s data slowing down can upgrade a line to the Max version for an additional fee. The carrier is also offering a new suite of business-focused tools that can be bundled with Enterprise Unlimited. It calls this bundle T-Mobile Collaborate.
The suite, part of a team-up with a company called Dialpad, allows for replacing a traditional business phone system as well as HD video and voice conferencing. Dialpad’s software can also integrate with existing services including G Suite, Microsoft Office 365, Salesforce and Slack.
The Enterprise Unlimited offer will be available starting March 5 to small, medium and large businesses as well as government agencies and first responders, though for the latter the carrier still is pushing its Connecting Heroes program that offers free service for first responders. Those looking for the bundle of wireless service with the T-Mobile Collaborate tools will be able to get it starting on March 22 for $37 per line.
A play for the home office
T-Mobile’s Home Internet gateway serves as modem and router, though you can also plug in an existing router or mesh network.
Rick Broida/CNET
In addition to the new wireless plan, with the pandemic’s work-from-home effects likely to hang around T-Mobile is making a move to try and become an internet alternative for companies whose employees are now stuck at home.
Called T-Mobile Home Office Internet, the carrier is officially entering the world of home broadband with a $90 a month, for each user service that connects to its 4G and 5G networks. Unlike some traditional internet providers, Katz says there are no data caps or thresholds where internet speeds would be slowed.
The goal, however, is not to replace an employee’s regular home internet that is shared with their families but to provide a dedicated internet connection to ensure better connectivity without having to compete for bandwidth with other household members Zooming, gaming or streaming. The consumer home internet offering remains in the works and Katz says a family could have both services together.
To keep the focus on work, T-Mobile will have content filtering on the service enabled by default that will block sites for gaming, gambling, porn and even Netflix because this service is “designed for work.” Companies who want to whitelist certain websites and applications — or block others — will be able to work with T-Mobile to do so.
With its consumer home internet pilot, T-Mobile pitches download speeds of at least 25 Mbps. While Katz wouldn’t give a target speed for the Home Office Internet, he says that the carrier will be working with companies to make sure their employees would be able to get strong T-Mobile service that is capable of handling tasks such as video calls before it provides the router.
If the employee’s home address doesn’t get a strong enough signal, it won’t supply the service.
The router will be preconfigured by T-Mobile for easier employee installation through an app on your phone. Available on March 22, Katz says the company will be available to 60 million households across the continental US and Hawaii to start, with the plan to expand that number “throughout the year” as it continues to build out its 5G networks.
T-Mobile has unveiled its new plans for the over-55 crowd, introducing a Max tier to its Magenta Unlimited 55 plan with unlimited premium data — so no throttling even when using 5G. The carrier’s customers will also be able to add up to four lines to the Magenta Unlimited 55 plans.
T-Mobile is including Netflix Basic, which usually costs $9 a month, in its Magenta Unlimited 55 plans, and Netflix Premium (usually $14 a month) on family plans for Magenta Max Unlimited 55.
T-Mobile is adding a new plan to its lineup, this time designed for its most demanding data users. Called Magenta Max, the new plan will replace the existing Magenta Plus offering and become available starting on Feb. 24. The new Max offering notably features no smartphone data throttling regardless of how much 4G or 5G data you use in a month.
Mobile hotspot data, however, will be slowed to “3G speeds” if you exceed 40GB in a month. The Magenta Plus plan previously limited high-speed mobile hotspot data to 20GB in a month.
T-Mobile says the new plan will launch at a “limited time” price of $47 per line per month for three lines with automatic payments, a $10 discount from its normal $57-per-line-per-month rate. A single line is $85 per month with autopay, with all plans including taxes and fees in the pricing.
Other features for Max include a subscription to Netflix’s Standard plan (normally $14 per month), which allows for HD streaming if you have two or more lines, while a subscription to Netflix’s non-HD Basic plan ($9 per month) will be included for single Max lines. Those with the new plan will have access to unlimited GoGo in-flight Wi-Fi and texting and be able to take advantage of the same faster international data speeds that were offered on Magenta Plus when traveling abroad (though speeds are still capped at 256kbps).
You also will be able to stream on your phone in 4K UHD (as opposed to HD), so long as you have the proper content and a phone with a high-resolution display.
While it is replacing the Magenta Plus option, T-Mobile Chief Marketing Officer Matt Staneff tells CNET that the company won’t automatically switch those with Plus onto the new Max plan. “They’ll have to choose to get it,” he says, “and that’s been a long-standing policy of ours […] we don’t change your plan, only you can change your plan.”
To try and lure customers from Verizon and AT&T the carrier will be offering a “zero cost to switch” promotion that will allow those who are financing a phone to switch to T-Mobile and have it cover up to $650 per line off of the remaining installment plan while letting you keep the phone. Like the discounted rate the switcher offer is a “limited time” deal, but Staneff wouldn’t disclose how long the time period would last, saying only that it will be around “until we change it going forward.”
Beyond the Max change, those with T-Mobile’s main Magenta plan will also see some improvements without needing to adjust their plan, including having up to 100GB of high-speed monthly data on their phone and 5GB of high-speed mobile hotspot data per month.
T-Mobile customers in Texas were hit by a service outage on Monday as a powerful winter storm paralyzed much of the state.
Angry customers complained on DownDetector of being unable to make calls or text since about 6 a.m. PT on Monday. The outage appears to be affecting customers in major cities from north to south, including Dallas, Houston and Austin.
“We’re experiencing network issues following severe weather in several areas of the country and especially across Texas,” Neville Ray, T-Mobile’s president of technology, wrote in tweet. “Our teams are working hard to restore service.”
The operator of Texas’ electrical grid said early Monday it’s instituting rolling blackouts across most of the state amid a massive winter storm that’s shut down much of the state. The temperatures for Dallas and Austin were in the single digits Monday morning, and many roads were iced over.
President Joe Biden declared a federal emergency across the state.
T-Mobile’s growth streak continues, the company announced in its fourth-quarter earnings report on Thursday. T-Mobile beat analyst estimates for both earnings per share and revenue while adding another 824,000 phone customers.
The carrier posted earnings per share of 60 cents on revenues of $20.3 billion for the quarter. Analysts polled by Yahoo Finance had expected earnings per share of 51 cents with revenue of $19.93 billion.
For the year, the carrier added 5.5 million postpaid net additions, of which 2.2 million were phone users. Postpaid customers, who pay at the end of the month, are valued more highly by the investment community as a key metric for success.
“These results show that we’re pulling way ahead of the pack on what matters — overall 5G network performance — and executing to stay ahead,” T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert said in a statement. “And customers are noticing. 2020 was quite simply our best year yet, with our highest ever total postpaid net additions of 5.5 million.”
The past year was a busy one for T-Mobile, which started off 2020 looking to wrap up its merger with Sprint. That deal closed in April, with Sievert then taking over the CEO role from John Legere, who initially was going to step down in May. In August the company became the second-largest US wireless carrier, thanks to the tie-up with Sprint, overtaking AT&T. The carrier says it now has 102.1 million customers.
T-Mobile also continued to deploy and expand its 5G network on both the low-band and midband flavors. In its earnings release, the company touts that its low-band network (what it calls “Extended Range 5G”) now covers 280 million people while its faster midband service (which it calls “Ultra Capacity 5G”) reaches 106 million people. T-Mobile has said it plans to cover 200 million people with the faster version of 5G by the end of 2021.
Whereas the low-band flavor offers speeds comparable to a good 4G LTE connection, the midband version utilizes spectrum acquired as part of the Sprint deal. T-Mobile says its “Ultra Capacity” 5G network is capable of average download speeds of 300Mbps with “peak speeds of up to 1Gbps” on 5G devices.
The company is currently in the process of migrating Sprint users onto its T-Mobile network and says it’s already moved 25% of Sprint postpaid traffic to its main service.
T-Mobile has announced adding 5.6 million net customers during 2020. It’s the most customers added in the carrier’s history, T-Mobile revealed in its preliminary full-year results Wednesday.
“Our focus on bringing unmatched value and experience to customers while building and delivering the nation’s best 5G network paid off with record-breaking results in 2020,” said Mike Sievert, T-Mobile CEO. “Our 5G leadership position is getting stronger every day.”
Read more: Verizon vs. AT&T vs. T-Mobile compared: How to pick the best 5G carrier for you
T-Mobile said its “ultra capacity” 5G network now reaches 106 million people. According to T-Mobile, this is 50 times more than Verizon’s 5G coverage, although the carriers use different radio waves for their 5G networks.
There’s never been a better time to cut the cord. These days, more than ever, people are looking to save money on streaming, and the selection of robust, affordable live TV streaming services make cable TV totally unnecessary. T-Mobile is throwing its hat into the ring with its revamped TVision service. After spending some quality hands-on time with TVision, I can tell you that it offers one tier that promises particularly good value at just $10 per month. The more expensive options? It’s complicated.
The entry-level tier, TVision Vibe, offers a grab bag of solid cable channels for $10 a month. There’s nothing else that comes close to that pricing — the next-cheapest option is Philo, which costs twice as much. Vibe is so cheap because its channel selection is very limited: no sports, news or local channels (ABC, Fox and NBC), and if that’s OK with you, it’s worth trying out.
In December, T-Mobile added the channels that were once exclusive to Vibe to the higher-end Live Packages, starting at $40 a month. While the company says the offer is only available for a “limited time” it is unable to say when it will end. A T-Mobile representative said that customers who subscribe for the “Live plus Vibe” deal will keep the new channels as long as they keep the account active.
Whichever package you choose the service does offer some excellent usability — speedy channel surfing and voice search using the optional $50 TVision Hub — but compared with other apps, its content discovery is lacking. Overall we prefer Sling TV, Hulu with Live TV or YouTube TV over any of the non-Vibe packages, either because the competitors’ channel-for-the-money ratios make more sense and/or their apps are better.
What is it?
Ty Pendlebury/CNET
TVision is a live TV streaming service exclusive to T-Mobile customers, and it includes a live TV guide, on-demand content and up to 100 hours of DVR. There are four different tiers:
TVision Vibe: $10 a month, 30 channels
TVision Live TV: $40 a month, 35 channels (plus Vibe for a limited time)
TVision Live TV Plus: $50 a month, 65 channels (plus Vibe for a limited time)
TVision Live Zone: $60 a month, 78 channels (plus Vibe for a limited time)
Vibe includes channels such as AMC, Animal Planet, BBC America, Comedy Central and the Discovery Channel, while the Live tiers add local channels including ABC, Fox and NBC (but not CBS) in select markets, as well as Cartoon Network, CNN, ESPN and Fox News. In addition, TVision offers Starz ($9), Showtime ($11) and Epix ($6) as add-ons or stand-alones. See the end of this article for a comparison with other services. With the addition of Vibe the Live packages are much more compelling than they were previously.
The service is compatible with Apple iOS and Android phones and tablets, as well as TV streamers and smart TVs including Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV/Google TV. But T-Mobile is hoping you’ll opt for the TVision branded Hub.
The $40-plus Live plans include 100 hours of cloud DVR storage, while those on Vibe or the add-ons can add 100 hours of DVR for $5 per month.
TVision Hub: Useful but not essential
Ty Pendlebury/CNET
The TVision Hub is a $50 Android TV box with a separate Google Assistant-capable remote. Though you don’t need the TVision Hub to use the service, the remote integrates TVision-specific functions.
The TVision Hub is virtually indistinguishable from the TiVo Stream 4K and it’s also very similar to the Chromecast. All of these products are priced at $50 and offer essentially the same functionality. Though there’s very little reason to buy the Hub instead of the Google product if you don’t use T-Mobile’s TV service, the Hub does offer TVision-specific integration through the remote and voice search.
The remote offers three new buttons — Guide, DVR and TVision — as well as incorporating a number pad for directly inputting a channel’s number.
The TVision app: Zippy but disorganized
T-Mobile’s new TVision app works on a variety of devices.
T-Mobile
Having used AT&T Watch TV in the past, and being used to its general sluggishness, I was pleasantly surprised by how zippy the app was — both when using the TVision Hub and on a (T-Mobile supplied) iPad Pro. Changing channels was quick, and skimming the guide was also very fast. Suffice to say, its general responsiveness is the best thing about the service. But being fast isn’t the only thing people care about.
Content discovery is important to any streaming service — for though you sometimes know what you want to watch, often you’re just trying to find something interesting. This is one area where the TVision app does particularly poorly. Sure, it has a standard grid-style program guide like cable, but beyond that it’s kind of a mess.
The app is broken up into five main sections: Home, Guide, Shows, DVR and Search. To get the menu onscreen, you need to press the TVision app button on your controller — pressing the Enter button brings up the playback controls. Unfortunately, the Shows subsection is the worst of all. It’s a jumble of random on-demand and recordable shows, but until you click on a title, there’s no indication of which it is.
If you’re using another device that isn’t the Hub — as most users of the service will be — the interface is slightly different. For example, the iPad app keeps the options onscreen unless you’re watching a show. The back button brings the menu up again, as it does on the TVision device.
Channel surfing is familiar on TVision: Press up or down while watching a program and it’ll switch to the next channel. It’s fast, taking only a couple of seconds. In comparison, AT&T TV Now could take up to 10 seconds to “flip.”
Channel comparison
Below I’ve included a comparison between TVision and the competition spanning 100 of the top channels. Not every channel is included, but all the major ones are.
Philo subscribers should definitely take a look at Vibe. Though Philo has a DVR and more channels overall, they share a lot of lifestyle favorites like AMC, Comedy Central and HGTV.
The $40 TVision Live package is $10 more than Sling TV Blue but has ABC, Fox and NBC locals in some markets, and a lot more channels overall (at least as long as that limited-time offer remains good). If you’re a T-Mobile customer it looks like a pretty good deal, and there are no other streaming services to really compete with that right now. Especially after Hulu hiked its prices to $65.
