Dear T-Mobile, The Point Of 3G Is For Data Speeds

from the you-can't-be-serious dept

Thu, May 1st 2008 6:33pm — Mike Masnick

T-Mobile was the one national US mobile operator who really didn't have much of a strategy when it came to upgrading its network. While Sprint, Verizon and AT&T all were working on 3G options, T-Mobile kind of sat around twiddling its thumbs. Then it finally realized that it was way behind and made an effort to catch up. Years after everyone else got around to launching stuff (and as they're all now setting plans for their 4G options), T-Mobile is finally launching its 3G wireless service. But in a move that makes absolutely no sense, it's only for voice -- not for data. If it's only for voice... there's no reason to move to 3G. The very purpose of the 3G mobile network was to enable higher bandwidth for data. This is like building an entire highway next to a perfectly good bike trail... and then saying the highway is only for bicycles. Why bother? Update: Well, phew. Turns out the original story was simply not true. T-Mobile launched with voice and data...

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: 3g, broadband, data, wireless
Companies: t-mobile

22 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Hellsvilla, 1 May 2008 @ 7:02pm

why bother?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Hellsvilla, 1 May 2008 @ 7:03pm

why bother?
(grr... I hate when that happens)

Why bother? don't you know, all bad business decisions are made in the name of profit "margins". Not profit itself, not return customers. Just profit margins.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
casey, 1 May 2008 @ 7:46pm

why bother?
damn sad
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Devang (profile), 1 May 2008 @ 7:50pm

using t-mobile edge
I use google maps with edge and it isn't unusable if a little slow, and I've been with t-mobile since forever, but this is going to be unacceptable if it doesn't change by the time their android phones come out: http://arstechnica.com/journals/linux.ars/2008/04/26/t-mobile-and-google-cozy-up-with-android

Any body know of another carrier that can add another line for $10? It's always been $20 with verizon, sprint and at&turd.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 1 May 2008 @ 7:51pm

Re: using t-mobile edge
It's always been $10 for Verizon, you must have it confused with some other company.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Ann, 1 May 2008 @ 8:05pm

Re: using t-mobile edge
I only paid $10, and I have AT&T...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Charlie, 1 May 2008 @ 8:06pm

Re: using t-mobile edge
$10 at AT&T as well (family plans at least)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Matt, 1 May 2008 @ 8:09pm

tmobile
eh, tmobile screws up sometimes

they are in all fairness a pretty decent provider for people who have decent technical knowhow

30$/month for unlimited 3g is not bad, now if only it were faster than 56k ;)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Matt, 1 May 2008 @ 8:10pm

Why?
For better voice reception. Sorry if you don't understand that.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
sikantis, 1 May 2008 @ 8:24pm

Who stands still
Who stands still will be over rolled by the time. This is true also in economy.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Christopher Smith, 1 May 2008 @ 8:38pm

Re: Why?
And since it's not intuitively obvious to non-network engineers, here's why:

On a digital voice network, phone calls are carried as data just like everything else. However, in order to fit as many calls on the network as possible, the sound is compressed, and at high levels of compression it can get pretty bad.

Many systems use adaptive compression that can give better quality when the network is not congested and then degrade if it gets busy; if your network is often highly loaded (as I'd expect in many major cities), moving to a faster network will generally improve voice quality.

(Also, there have been reports that, despite T-Mobile's announcement, the 3G speeds are being seen on data. I am not a T-Mobile customer, so I don't know.)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
LBD, 1 May 2008 @ 9:49pm

Re: Re: Why?
Not better RECEPTION, just better sound quality. I wonder if the speakers are good enough to let it be known?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 1 May 2008 @ 10:04pm

Huh? So 3G offers great increases voice capacity.

T-Mobile has always seen themselves as a "Voice" company first and data company second. I mean, if you buy a phone you usually do so to make calls first. (last I checked anyways) and it doesn't allow you to make voice calls, what good is it when it comes to that 2 or 3% who want to use data exclusively.

Its hillarious that the billboard across from TMO HQ is a Verizon ad. LOL! Verizon = +1. TMO = par
[ link to this | view in thread ]
'Chops, 1 May 2008 @ 11:42pm

Re: tmobile
Hey, check you plan - they dropped the unlimited EDGE plan to $19.99 a while back. Most people are discovering this by accident, however for 95% of people and 95% of uses (surfing and email) it is fine and a great deal.

I'll stick with T-mo even if they never go 3G-data
[ link to this | view in thread ]
I SEARCH, 2 May 2008 @ 4:08am

WHERE THE HELL YOU GUYS GET INFO?
Wow, whoever post this is late and showed up for the wrong party because they got directions from some douche bag who wasn't invited. T-Mobile launched 3G voice AND data. You should do your own investigation and not rely on others who didn't even do their own. I'm sorry, TECHDIRT is one of my many website stops that I do regularly but have noticed you have fallen in to the same hole as boygenius for some odd reason of copying engadget. Please, news isn't copy and paste, do some research and verify your sources. Don't listen to website that is speculating on a document from a network that has already told their employees to tell their customers that 3G enabled phones that they have are not 3G enabled. This is a tactic so that they won't have to deal with droves of phone nerds (myself included) from bombarding them about information they are not ready to release. It was funny for an hour for some websites to copy engadget with the whole magenta thing, but after a while it seems like a creepy man crush that builds to everyone trying to dress like the cool kid in school. I bet this is how leg warmers and the macarena got started. I'm sorry again for releasing this schpeal on you but integrity in news reporting needs to be regulated and innovation must be strived for.

I mean first of all how do GUYS from a proported technology blog not know that you can't separate data and voice on a UMTS network. This is what they get when they try to be a jack of all trades and a master of none. You have "REPORTERS" who don't know the first thing about wireless technology.

info from engadgetmobile is 100% wrong
got 3G service here, both voice and internet
the editor should check this thread
http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=1364669
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Derek Kerton (profile), 2 May 2008 @ 10:28am

Spectral Efficiency
Mike, on this one you neglect one of the most important benefits of upgrading from GSM to W-CDMA (2G to 3G). The benefit is spectral efficiency, or the ability to cram more calls into a finite amount of spectrum. The US CDMA carriers have always had a significant advantage in this over GSM, which used TDMA (sorry for the acronym overkill).

The best example I can bring up is Hutchison "3" in the UK. Remember in 2003 they launched 3G services to MUCH fanfare, promising awesome data services, video conferencing, etc? Remember how they launched this "awesome", premium-branded data network and nobody signed up?
http://www.techdirt.com/blog/wireless/articles/20030821/111423.shtml

After Hutch realized that they were not being effective in marketing 3 as a premium brand, they got a little desperate. They had a network, and no users. They needed to attract customers. They took advantage of the greater spectral efficiency of 3G, and started offering calls cheaper than other UK cellular carriers:
http://www.techdirt.com/blog/wireless/articles/20040329/144823.shtml

Because of their fundamentally better 3G spectral efficiency, this actually worked:
http://www.techdirt.com/blog/wireless/articles/20040820/121310.shtml

By 2005, the advantage of lower costs had set Hutch 3 on stable financial footing.
http://www.techdirt.com/blog/wireless/articles/20050331/101201.shtml

But they sacrificed the premium brand image in order to survive as a "low cost" provider. This is essentially where they remain today.

Flash forward to today in the US. T-Mobile's brand in the US is already that of a "low cost" provider, so it's a natural fit to leverage 3G to keep costs of voice calls down. I think you are wrong to chastise them for focusing on this element of 3G. For them, it is a good fit.

3G provides dual benefits: lower costs per minute, and better data services. What's wrong with TMo focusing on the former, and taking advantage of the latter in due time.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
biblicone, 2 May 2008 @ 10:57am

bike lanes
I would love a long highway sized bike trail.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 2 May 2008 @ 1:50pm

Re: using t-mobile edge
Verizon's slogan for as long as I can remember has been add a line for 9.99.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
r. decline, 5 May 2008 @ 7:54am

highway for bikes?
i would love to see a highway for bikes, dare i say that would be a breath of fresh air?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Zack, 5 May 2008 @ 8:56am

Add a line
Hmmmmm I thought sprint added lines for 9.99..... because I have *looks at plan* the second line for free and lines 3-5 are an additional 9.99!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 5 May 2008 @ 10:59pm

I'm sorry, Mike, were you going to retract this story or publish an update, or maybe even let people know that the initial "information" that the engadget story was based on was from a "leaked" memo.

Oh, nevermind. That would only be something a credible journalist would do.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/05/t-mobile-clears-everything-up-3g-rollout-with-data-is-on/

Good to see that you haven't changed a bit.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Mike (profile), 6 May 2008 @ 12:06am

Re:
I'm sorry, Mike, were you going to retract this story or publish an update, or maybe even let people know that the initial "information" that the engadget story was based on was from a "leaked" memo.

Sorry, been at a conference, so missed the official announcement. Have updated the post, noting that the story was wrong.
[ link to this | view in thread ]