Posted by Phil Moore on Jul 6, 2013 in News, Tech |
The iPhone 5 has landed on T-Mobile with slightly tweaked specs and vastly different contract terms from the existing iPhone 5 offerings on more conventional carriers AT&T and Verizon, creating a variance in the iPhone user experience from one carrier to the next. The offering also gives consumers a new level of choice, and some homework to do. The iPhone 5 has fast 4G LTE networking built in, but that only matters if your chosen carrier offers LTE in your area. HD Voice phone calls a nifty feature, but so is being able to use the internet while you’re on those phone calls. And while T-Mobile appears to be offering a lower price for the iPhone 5, that may not be the case. Several features come onto play when choosing which U.S. carrier you want your new iPhone from.
T-Mobile offers a contract free experience, meaning you can theoretically walk away from the carrier any time you want. Contrast that with the two year commitments required by Verizon and AT&T. T-Mobile also advertises the iPhone 5 with a $99 price tag, $100 less than competitors. But that extra $100 merely gets spread out and tacked on to your monthly payments. So you’ll pay the same $199 price no matter which carrier you choose, but you may not have to pay the full amount up front. T-Mobile also offers a trade-in programs for older iPhones from other carriers, but the values it’s offering are well below what those same used iPhones could be sold for on auction sites, making the trade-in offer mostly an advertising gimmick.
Studies show that Verizon has the most reliable nationwide network for phone calls and AT&T has the worst, with T-Mobile somewhere in between. But T-Mobile does offer something called HD Voice on the iPhone 5, which means that – at least according to its claims – the voice quality of your phone calls will be noticeably better than if you were using the same phone on one of the other carriers.
Verizon also offers 4G LTE data networks in the largest number of U.S. cities by far. That means T-Mobile and AT&T customers, particularly those in smaller cities or rural areas, as more likely to be stuck with slower 4G (non-LTE) data networks for tasks like internet and Facebook. But the achilles heel, at least for some users, is that Verizon won’t allow you to surf the internet while talking on the phone unless you’re within range of wifi.
T-Mobile is also a much smaller company than its competitors, having nearly been sold to AT&T last year and having since been spun off from its European parent company and merged into MetroPCS to become essentially a new carrier. That makes T-Mobile a wildcard. It lacks the resources to build out a 4G LTE network as quickly as megacarriers like Verizon. But T-mobile also knows it has to work harder to attract new customers, which could translate to better customer service. Meanwhile Verizon has just announced that it’ll force customers to wait the full two years before they’re eligible to upgrade to a new smartphone, giving its customers at least some motivation to consider whether their iPhone 5 should come from T-Mobile after all.
Phil covers tech for Stabley Times.
The iPhone 5 has landed on T-Mobile with slightly tweaked specs and vastly different contract terms from the existing iPhone 5 offerings on more conventional carriers AT&T and Verizon, creating a variance in the iPhone user experience from one carrier to the next. The offering also gives consumers a new level of choice, and some homework to do. The iPhone 5 has fast 4G LTE networking built in, but that only matters if your chosen carrier offers LTE in your area. HD Voice phone calls a nifty feature, but so is being able to use the internet while you’re on those phone calls. And while T-Mobile appears to be offering a lower price for the iPhone 5, that may not be the case. Several features come onto play when choosing which U.S. carrier you want your new iPhone from.
T-Mobile offers a contract free experience, meaning you can theoretically walk away from the carrier any time you want. Contrast that with the two year commitments required by Verizon and AT&T. T-Mobile also advertises the iPhone 5 with a $99 price tag, $100 less than competitors. But that extra $100 merely gets spread out and tacked on to your monthly payments. So you’ll pay the same $199 price no matter which carrier you choose, but you may not have to pay the full amount up front. T-Mobile also offers a trade-in programs for older iPhones from other carriers, but the values it’s offering are well below what those same used iPhones could be sold for on auction sites, making the trade-in offer mostly an advertising gimmick.
Studies show that Verizon has the most reliable nationwide network for phone calls and AT&T has the worst, with T-Mobile somewhere in between. But T-Mobile does offer something called HD Voice on the iPhone 5, which means that – at least according to its claims – the voice quality of your phone calls will be noticeably better than if you were using the same phone on one of the other carriers.
Verizon also offers 4G LTE data networks in the largest number of U.S. cities by far. That means T-Mobile and AT&T customers, particularly those in smaller cities or rural areas, as more likely to be stuck with slower 4G (non-LTE) data networks for tasks like internet and Facebook. But the achilles heel, at least for some users, is that Verizon won’t allow you to surf the internet while talking on the phone unless you’re within range of wifi.
T-Mobile is also a much smaller company than its competitors, having nearly been sold to AT&T last year and having since been spun off from its European parent company and merged into MetroPCS to become essentially a new carrier. That makes T-Mobile a wildcard. It lacks the resources to build out a 4G LTE network as quickly as megacarriers like Verizon. But T-mobile also knows it has to work harder to attract new customers, which could translate to better customer service. Meanwhile Verizon has just announced that it’ll force customers to wait the full two years before they’re eligible to upgrade to a new smartphone, giving its customers at least some motivation to consider whether their iPhone 5 should come from T-Mobile after all.
Phil covers tech for Stabley Times.