A T-Mobile iPhone? You'll Have To Wait

News that AT&T is set to acquire T-Mobile USA in a $39 billion deal has sparked a flurry of questions regarding the antitrust ramifications of the acquisition, who stands to lose, and more.

But perhaps one of users' most pressing queries has been: does the AT&T/T-Mobile deal mean that T-Mobile customers will get the iPhone?

T-Mobile addressed this issue in a "Q&A" about the acquisition posted Sunday.

The company wrote,

Is T-Mobile USA getting the iPhone?
T-Mobile USA remains an independent company. The acquisition is expected to be completed in approximately 12 months. We do not offer the iPhone. We offer cutting edge devices like the Samsung Galaxy S 4G and coming soon our new Sidekick 4G.

In short, Verizon and AT&T are still the only U.S. carriers to offer the iPhone, as well as 3G service for Apple's iPad.

Comments

[chipchuck]

11:04 AM on 03/22/2011

No, today, you don't get iPhone. But if the merger is approved, T-Mobile won't be independent for long (look at Cingular).

Once T-Mob is assimilated, you can have an iPhone like every other ATT Customer.

[macracan]

06:46 PM on 03/22/2011

What's the point? By that time there won't be any more T-Mobile left. If all I wanted was an Iphone I'd get it now with ATT plans. No point in waiting 2 years to get it then with ATT plans.

[CalGrad2000]

03:49 AM on 03/22/2011

So how much longer will T-mobile be running the ads ripping into AT&T - they make a very good case for not approving the merger.

[PLDgyrl]

01:32 AM on 03/22/2011

Lots of people already have a an iphone on T Mobile.......

[FROZYO]

01:18 AM on 03/22/2011

If iPhone comes out for T-Mobile, then Sprint needs it before them.

[Danek Greori]

08:13 PM on 03/21/2011

Android out sells the iPhone, yet for some reason HuffPost is always reporting about the iPhone like it's a new religion. What's up with that?

[Mister Grumpy]

01:54 AM on 03/22/2011

Apparently you never heard of "kickbacks"..........

[allengoldchain]

12:32 PM on 03/21/2011

haha sorry but I've had an IPhone on T-mobile since the IPhone came out! Funny how T-mobile, with their great customer service, even walked me through setting up my IPhone so I could have a data and voice plan.

[Raboom1]

02:31 PM on 03/21/2011

Cool! How can I get an iPhone on TMobile? I hate TMobile but love the 4G and am stuck with them for another year. Would love to get an iPhone and hook it up with them. How?

[vstill]

07:43 PM on 03/21/2011

http://forums.t-mobile.com/t5/Non-T-Mobile-Phones/HOW-TO-SET-UP-YOUR-APPLE-IPHONE-FOR-T-MOBILE-INTERNET-AND/td-p/263264

[EquinsuOcha]

11:38 AM on 03/21/2011

T-Mobile uses HSPA+ for their 4G coverage, which is a different bandwidth range than the one AT&T uses for their GSM network. An iPhone WILL work with T-Mobile as of right now, but only on the Edge network, not the 4G one.

[allengoldchain]

12:34 PM on 03/21/2011

it's always been that way.. Didn't really matter considering the problems you hear AT&T Iphone users have to deal with. drop calls, bad network, and higher prices for their data plans... that's AT&T.

[Highball]

07:51 PM on 03/21/2011

In the 4 years I've had an iPhone, I've had a grand total of 2 dropped calls. And I'm pretty sure at least one of them was my friend, not me.

Anyways, always remember: The people with problems are going to be the loudest. People like me, who have no problems with coverage or dropped calls or whatever are unlikely to go from msg board to msg board, ranting about how AWESOME it all is! :)

[Winski]

11:32 AM on 03/21/2011

This insipid arrogance is a GOOD reason for the Germans to dump this heap of garbage. As soon as my slave contract is done with these clowns, it will take less that 6 nano-seconds to go somewhere else !

[kcwookie]

10:06 AM on 03/21/2011

T-Mobile won't remain an independent company for long. There is no value to ATT is compete with itself. ATT customers will demand lower prices like T-Moble and T-Mobile customers will demand better service and phones.

[keramos]

10:14 AM on 03/21/2011

One of the appeals of T-Mobile is that you can bring whatever GSM capable phone to their network you want and then use their services without a contract and pay a lower rate for their services than you would with a two year contract.  If you do the math, you'll more than recapture the cost of a phone up to about $500 or so.  Further, you can tether ancillary devices to your phone and share internet signal with laptops, tablets, etc.

AT&T?  hahahaha, you want to do what without additional cost?!  hahahahaha

[allengoldchain]

12:37 PM on 03/21/2011

yeah that's why I stuck by T-mobile. They helped me setup my Iphone on their network. even worst they helped me setup my plan so it would be cheaper for me without losing what I had before. Can you imagine that? AT&T on the other hand is just a disaster...

[macracan]

06:50 PM on 03/22/2011

And neither will get what they want. Instead T-mobile customers will get higher prices and worse service. At which point, all things would be equal, so they could switch to ol' ATT and get the phones they _may_ want. I for one wasn't impressed at all by ATT's offering of phones.

[ringmaster]

09:14 AM on 03/21/2011

Wall-street wins, everybody else looses. Less competition and no value added to the economy. This is the diametric opposite of free market capitalism.

[kcwookie]

10:09 AM on 03/21/2011

The biggest problem is that your wages, like mine, haven't kept up. Wages for most have stagnated for decades. The only thing that can happen now is that the cell phone companies start to price people out of the market, shrinking their customer base.

One other thought is that free market capitalism is a fairy tale.

[Arthur Spooner]

01:36 AM on 03/22/2011

This is what I don't understand. People were complaining about how The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was going to make their healthcare cost go up. Without fail mine have gone up EVERY year, which cuts into any wage raise right off the bat.
People are fighting the wrong battles.

[Adam Story]

08:36 AM on 03/21/2011

Since AT&T and T-Mobile use the same technology, it shouldn't be difficult. I just wonder if they will do a firmware update to allow the use of T-Mobile's 4G frequencies.

[keramos]

09:37 AM on 03/21/2011

You can use an iPaidtoomuchphone on T-Mobile if you want to jail break it

[Adam Story]

09:46 AM on 03/21/2011

Actually you can only use a Jailbroken iPhone on T-Mobile's 2G network. The iPhone doesn't currently work on T-Mobile's HSPA frequencies. Personally, I am more happy with my iPhone than any other tech product that I have ever bought.

[allengoldchain]

12:39 PM on 03/21/2011

you have to unlock it.. jail breaking doesn't allow you access to another network..

been IPhone unlocked on since 2007

T-mobile RIP (unless this buyout fails)