Speculation has been rampant over a Verizon Wireless iPhone, however a simpler path for Apple to expand its iPhone market would be to offer the device to T-Mobile. Doug Reid, an analyst at Thomas Weisel, sees this move as a logical step.
Apple already offers the iPhone through Germany's T-Mobile unit (T-Mobile is owned by Deutsche Telekom). The carrier has compatible wireless technology to AT&T and wouldn't require any hardware changes to the iPhone, unlike any move to Verizon Wireless.
Furthermore, although Verizon is double the size of T-Mobile at over 70 million subscribers, lately Verizon has been embracing Google's Android and aggressively competing with AT&T in its marketing department by directly targeting the iPhone.
Reports have indicated that Apple's exclusive deal with AT&T expires as early as summer 2010. A move to T-Mobile would be similar to Apple's strategy in other countries after exclusivity deals in those markets ended.
It's widely believed that Verizon rejected an offer of exclusivity from Apple when the iPhone first launched in 2007. Issues over software control and revenue sharing with Verizon are cited as factors that led to Apple's deal with second-largest US carrier AT&T.
Many iPhone users with jailbroken and unlocked devices already subscribe to service with T-Mobile.
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I use my 1G iPhone on T-Mobile and it is still better than any new BB device that Tmo releases. It'll be nice to move all my BB users to iPhone and finally upgrade my iPhone.
I don't know why people would use an iPhone on T-Mobile because it uses a different frequency for 3G than AT&T does, so iPhones meant for AT&T and used on T-Mobile via jailbreak methods only reach T-Mobile's EDGE speed, not its 3G speed. I guess if you are someplace where AT&T only has Edge then it's OK, but for cities where AT&T has 3G it will be waaaaaayyyyy faster.
Mark Bernay
www.phonetrips.com
I have an officially APPLE unlocked iPhone 3GS which I purchased from APPLE store in Sydney. I'm with T-Mobile because I refused to switch to AT&T. My friends, on the other hand, decided to stick with AT&T for financial reason (officially unlocked iPhones are very expensive). I can honestly say that my EDGE connection on T-Mobile is more RELIABLE than with AT&T'S 3G network. I'd rather have RELIABILITY of connection than a faster connection. You can have all the speed you want, but in the end you want your connection to go all the way through and not die on you just before you reach the "finish line.". I know this for a fact because we've done several tests on our iPhones. We've visited various sites i.e. filling out forms, paying bills online, downloading porn, etc. It never fails, AT&T would drop the connection and force my friends to log back on to those sites (talk about annoying). My T-Mobile connection may be a tad slower but it doesn't drop my connections, hence, avoiding re-entering data I have painstakingly input. Same goes for MMS & SMS send and receive process. With T-Mobile RELIABILITY and $92 per month all inclusive(taxes) -unlimited, unlimited, unlimited plan I definitely made the best decision by purchasing an officially APPLE unlocked iPhone.
So did you figure out how to Tether an unlocked phone on T-Mobile.
The instructions I've found on the internet involve bizarre hijinks with old versions of iTunes.
Problem for me has been that the only carrier settings I have come from Optus, and they won't setup Tethering without charging me $10/month (a bit pricey since I'm in the US and not using their network, only have the contract with them because it costs more to buy it out than to keep paying monthly till I get back to Australia!).
I've not found any problems with the edge speed, even the maps load fast enough, and I wasn't getting 3G at home in Australia anyway so I'm used to the speed.
Any help with tethering appreciated..... its a 3G (not a 3GS)