As T-Mobile is now the only major carrier that doesn’t offer the Apple iPhone in the US you could be forgiven for thinking that no T-Mobile customers actually use an iPhone. However a T-Mobile spokesman has now given the company’s views on unlocked iPhones and it seems that over 1 million customers are now using these devices on T-Mobile networks.
With news yesterday that AT&T is now unlocking iPhones for customers that meet certain requirements it’s even better news for T-Mobile, also a GSM carrier and likely to reap some of the benefits. T-Mobile already has Micro-SIM’s compatible for the iPhone and is also further developing its HSPA+ 1900MHz spectrum so all in all it’s a pretty positive development for the Magenta carrier.
Yesterday in an interview with 9to5Mac a T-Mobile spokesman spoke about unlocked iPhones and told how easy it is for T-Mobile customers to set up their iPhones for its network. After the purchase of a compatible micro SIM card all a customer needs to do is select a suitable Value plan and away they go. T-Mobile’s Value plans can offer real advantages to smartphone users. One example of this is the Value family plan, which for $99.98 for 2 lines offers unlimited text, unlimited talk and unlimited data including 2GB of high-speed data. Bear in mind that the cheapest AT&T plan for two lines costs $130 (with 3GB data per line) and unlocking your AT&T iPhone and moving to T-Mobile could appeal to many customers.
T-Mobile has also described further developments to expand and modernize its 4G network with the result that it will be compatible with more devices. More choice always has to be a good thing for consumers and it seems from comments to the 9to5Mac article that some people are pretty happy but others wish that the iPhone was available to purchase through T-Mobile in the first place. Unfortunately there’s no news yet on when or if that might happen although there have been rumblings about this for some time.
We’d like to hear from readers about unlocked iPhones on T-Mobile. Did you jump ship from AT&T to T-Mobile with your device and if so what do you see as the main benefit?