T-Mobile, having recently received the much needed AWS spectrum from the AT&T deal breakup, has just announced that they're transitioning to LTE come next year.
AWESOME.
What does this really mean for T-Mobile and its data hungry comsumers? I really don't think it means that much on a short term basis. HSPA+ 42 is already deployed on most of its footprint in the US, which brings speeds upwards of 20 Mb/s on compatible phones, which easily rivals current LTE speeds. So unless they're going to jump straight to LTE Advanced, which is a true 4G technology, it won't make a bit of difference and you'll end up buying new hardware for little to no gain.
As I see it, however, the problem isn't T-Mobile speeds in major metro areas, the problem is with anything outside of that. They're pretty famous for having the fastest speeds possible in medium to large cities and then the minute you hit the city limits outward it drops pathetically to 2G. Not just EDGE, but straight up GPRS. This brings data speeds comparable to 56k modems, and ping times just as bad. They need to concentrate on this.
This upgrade will end up launching LTE or LTE Advanced in most metro areas, and everything else will remain untouched. Verizon 3G customers have been able to stream music while driving pretty much anywhere, including out in the country in the middle of nowhere for years. Same with Sprint and, to a lesser extent, AT&T. T-Mobile just doesn't care about upgrading their equipment out in the country. They might as well turn the data service in these areas off entirely. GPRS and EDGE are useless while driving. Unless you have a full 4 bars of signal, it's impossible to push anything through, and I'm sure you're not asking the driver to pull the car over so you can check your e-mail.
T-Mobile, do your customers a favor and upgrade these towers. You don't even have to upgrade the backbone to the tower, just make it a UMTS signal so we can actually communicate with the tower. As a matter of fact, I'll do you one better.
STOP SELLING 2G PHONES AND TURN EVERYTHING INTO UMTS. How many 2G phones does T-Mobile really sell each year anyway. They've had smartphones that are free on contract for the last 3 years and 3G dumbphones and feature phones for the last 2. Just cut the legacy customers off, offer them a new phone for free on a contract renewal, and cut GPRS off at the knees. You can use this spectrum for LTE in the city, and for UMTS in the country. Problem solved.
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