DISQUS

BjornTipling · 1 year ago

Nice comparison. Thanks for doing that. I wondered what the tmobile service would be like. Interesting that you actually get a Tmobile logo. I also noticed that I get less bars with 3G in Campbell, CA.

jessestay · 1 year ago

Bjorn if you disable 3G in your settings I think you'll notice those bars go back up. The 3G seems to have an effect on the signal strength of the phone.

michael · 6 months ago

3g isnt really a setting, its the actual service, the reason why you get better signal, is because your using edge, which has more coverage atm

John · 1 year ago

T-Mobile rolled out pro-rated Early Termination Fee's 2 months ago but only for new customers

koichi · 1 year ago

nice article, very helpful. i just started a t-mobile contract and planning to buy an iphone and unlocking it for t-mobile, but i am debating whether or not to wait for the demand of the new iphone 3g to die down and get it on ebay or to go ahead and buy the old one. i have read in multiple post regarding reception and speaker and would like to know if you noticed any major difference between the original iphone compared to the new iphone 3g?

jessestay · 1 year ago

Alkoichi I'm not sure what you're referring to with reception and speaker -
can you clarify? Do you have a link to one of those posts?

koichi · 1 year ago

thanks for the quick response. i read that the when making calls it was noticeably clearer on both ends. Have you noticed anything dramatic?

i've seen it on gizmodo here http://gizmodo.com/5024412/iphone-3g-review described as "the difference when using the new phone and old is like the difference between talking to someone with their hand over their mouth and with their hand taken away."

also is speaker on the phone is it a major improvement as well? i read that it was louder and clearer when they used it during a call with speaker phone.

jessestay · 1 year ago

As far as the hardware goes, I haven't notice a noticeable difference in the
speaker quality personally. I have a feeling the differences are only
subtle. In fact, the iPhone speakerphone echo issue still exists in the new
version. All my callers get an echo if I use the speaker phone, even on the
new iPhone.

koichi · 1 year ago

ok thanks for the help.

Arno · 1 year ago

AT&T's network is definitely faster then T-mobile, but as you have shown, there may be areas where signal strength may be better on Tmobile. Tmobile was probably the smarter one by being more conservative in their network buildout plans for the extremely expensive 3G. AT&T could lose a lot of money selling the iphone data plan for only $30.
http://www.geldpress.com/2008/07/att-lose-money...

stellar7 · 9 months ago

Could you run the Speedtest application (free in the app store -- from Xtreme Labs) for AT&T (edge) versus T-Mobile? I'm curious about going to T-Mobile and if there would be a speed change. I typically get 140-190kbps down, 30-50kbps up, and 400-500ms latency (AT&T EDGE in Atlanta).

Ashlee · 8 months ago

This just made our decision alot easier. you were very helpful! and the visuals really help out too! thanks!!

Tom · 3 months ago

yeah i had my original iphone on tmobile and i noticed they dont have edge coverage everywhere sometimes it would drop back to gprs, buti have a 3gs now on at&t

littleduck · 3 months ago

Hello. This article is a year old. My sister has a T-Mobile Behold and just recently, she turned it on to find a little 3G icon on it. So, T-Mobile is now 3G. I have had the Iphone 3G with at&t since last December and I am pay around $100/month for it and that plan doesn't even have unlimited texting. I am thinking of jail breaking my iphone to work on t-mobile. I use to have t-mobile; I just switched to at&t for this phone. My t-mobile phone is actually still active but it is not a smart phone. Do you think it will be worth it now? Have your thoughts changed at all since a year ago regarding the t-mobile iphone vs. at&t? Any further advice on the matter would be very much appreciated! Thanks!

jessestay · 3 months ago

littleduck, 3G is the wrong type on T-Mobile, so it won't work with the
iPhone. You'll be able to Jailbreak and get Edge, but not 3G on T-Mobile
with the iPhone. The iPhone is incompatible with T-Mobile's 3G.

littleduck · 3 months ago

Thanks for the speedy reply. I didn't know there were types of 3G. Interesting. That is kind of a bummer then. Do you still use at&t with your iphone 3g? I am just tired of spending so much money for it. It is such a great phone. I don't want to go through the trouble of jailbreaking it and be like..."darn. i use to be able to do this or that with at&t and now I can't"...
So, I am a little hesistant, hence the reason I am searching like crazy trying to find people who have done this to get their feedback on which one is better.

As of now, which service are you liking the best?

jessestay · 3 months ago

I will always like T-Mobile the best, but unfortunately AT&T is the only
service that I can get 3G for. I suggest waiting until AT&T releases their
exclusivity, personally.

littleduck · 3 months ago

What about services other than t-mobile and at&t such as verison? Do they have 3G that will work for the iphone?

jessestay · 3 months ago

Little Duck, no, Verizon is on an entirely different network than AT&T or
T-Mobile and will not work at all with the iPhone (or ever will until the
iPhone updates its hardware).

reliableakura · 2 months ago

I'm currently using the new iPHONE 3GS 32GB right now. To make things even more clear, I actually preferred T-Mobile over ATT. Why? It's simple. It's because with T-Mobile I decided to sign up what's call a Flex-pay plan which I'm sure most of you have heard about that? I refused to sign a 2 years contract and so they offer me a flex-play with unlimited data plan and text messaging.

With ATT, I don't have a choice of choosing. I was force to either sign a 2 year commitment with a data plan and not to mention local or national plans for minutes as well. It all adds up.

Now with flex-pay on T-mobile I'm not obligated to continue service with them indefinitely and I can cancel anytime. My data plan with T-mobile seems to be very great and I haven't had one drop calls or any connection failure with their tower. I guess it all depends on where you are and that also include ATT.

I'm from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I can only speak for myself and the kind of experience I'm having dealing with both ATT and T-mobile. To me it doesn't really matter but as long as I am able to log into the internet withg my data plan whether it's on EDGE or 3G then that's all it matters to me.

If I need to check my email or read the news. Then as long as I can stay connected 24/7 then that's all I care about. Still deciding to choose 3G over Edge? Well, ask yourself this question first before you end up paying more money?

If I need to check my email or send an email? Does 3G or EDGE connection really makes a bit of difference when I can stay connected and do what I needed to get done whether it's on EDGE or 3G? Should I be saving money or spending more money on data plan when both can send and receive email?

That's the question you need to ask yourself before choosing your wireless service. In my opinion, I have already made up my mind and don't ever plan on going back to ATT with a commitment contract of 2 years and not to mention their most horrible customer service that I have to put up with before those past 2 years of my life.