T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network is pretty good, right? It’s really speedy and all that but, you know what’s better than HSPA+? LTE. While HSPA+ right now might be good enough for a lot of people, where you can get it, a long-term strategy to roll out a truly 4G network to bring T-Mo’s offerings up to speed with that of Ma Bell and Big Red is what the company should have done last year, let alone this year. At this year’s CES, the carrier took to the stage to let the world know that they are very much on track for launching their LTE network and it could very well switch on any week now. For T-Mobile fans this is perhaps exciting news but, the problem with LTE -well, the problem swapping to LTE from outdated HSPA+ – is that current phones aren’t compatible with the new network. Leaving T-Mobile with a line-up of devices that won’t be able to tap into the new infrastructure when it goes live.
The Magenta carrier of course know this and at CES they’ve let word out that the first device to run on their new 4G network is going to be a refreshed version of the Galaxy S III. Presumably, new hardware is needed to be rolled out due to radio requirements and. T-Mobile’s version does feature the same Dual-Core Snapdragon S4 as the AT&T, Sprint and Verizon models out there but it doesn’t look like there is support for LTE frequencies onboard. We can’t say that the situation of having to buy a new device to enjoy true 4G is an ideal one but, if you’re in an area with good HSPA+ coverage then it’s not as if you’ll be desperate to get away from poor 3G speeds. Like you would be if you were on Sprint.
There is, of course, another device on T-Mobile’s network that supports LTE and this time around, it’ll be easier to tap into the new network. T-Mobile’s Galaxy Note II will be able to run on the new LTE network with what T-Mobile are calling a “small” software update. Certainly an easier situation than that of the Galaxy S III. Both of these Samsung devices have proven to be extremely popular and it’d be no surprise to us if a lot of users were to switch to an LTE-enabled model of the S III and that Note II that cost you more than any other carrier is perhaps looking like a good investment right about now.
[Source: The Verge]