Current AT&T iPhone 5 will work on T-Mobile LTE, HSPA+ 21 networks
With the news that T-Mobile is throwing its hat into the iPhone ring, current owners of the iPhone 5 may be wondering exactly what their options are in terms of jumping ship from their existing carrier.
Thanks to the alphanumeric soup that is wireless technology, it’s not necessarily a straightforward question to answer. Not only are there different broad speed categories—2G, 3G, and 4G—but there are different technologies within those, and different frequencies and bands within those.
So, here’s the skinny: If you own an iPhone 5 and you’re on AT&T, or any other carrier that uses the GSM-based A1428 model, you’re (mostly) in luck. Assuming that you can convince your carrier to unlock your phone—a tough proposition, given that most iPhone 5 customers are only about six months into a two-year commitment—Apple tells Macworld that you can take your iPhone 5 to T-Mobile and get full LTE speeds on the carrier’s network. The same goes for the unlocked iPhone 5 that Apple sells, which is the same A1428 model.
However, if you’re in an area where T-Mobile hasn’t currently deployed LTE service, the best your phone will be able to do is use T-Mobile’s HSPA+ 21 network, which offers a maximum download speed of 21 Mbps. T-Mobile also has a faster, 42Mbps DC-HSDPA network (which T-Mobile sometimes refers to as HSPA+ 42), but that network is incompatible with the current iPhone 5.
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
http://www.macworld.com/article/2032256/current-atandt-iphone-5-will-work-on-t-mobile-lte-hspa-21-networks.html#tk.rss_all
