T-Mobile: always the bridesmaid, never the bride
By Triston McIntyre
Poor, poor T-Mobile. For all its good customer service and friendly plan-pricing, it just can’t seem to be much more than a cellular network in search of its next Catherine Zeta-Jones.
After all, the little network that could hasn’t really shown much promise. Being the highest-ranked in customer service only gets you so far when you have shoddy service and outrageously-priced, outdated handsets. Even would-be lucrative deals like the Wi-Fi distribution agreement T-Mobile had with Starbucks got snubbed by its larger GSM competitor AT&T.
As I see it, T-Mobile’s problem is two-fold. First, T-Mobile’s service isn’t very good at all. Though GSM networks are supposed to be great for globe-travelling, in-state service is spotty at best. T-Mobile is built upon the idea of free roaming, but the roaming quality is poor on other networks, and T-Mobile handsets have a nasty habit of jumping from miniscule T-Mobile reception to local towers like a schizophrenic child with Attention Deficit Disorder.
The second problem is that T-Mobile is probably the most behind-the-times carrier on the planet in terms of handsets. The cellular provider is still selling the Razor for $30, for pete’s sake. When T-Mobile very rarely gets a cutting edge handset (by American, not Japanese, standards), it tends to be grossly overpriced in comparison to other cellular competitors. With other providers offering lovely touch-screen interfaces and high-end models, why is the most expensive phone an older generation Blackberry?
T-Mobile could have made a name for itself if it had landed the iPhone instead of AT&T. Of course, I would never imagine Apple would confront T-Mobile USA for this privilege, simply because very few people choose T-Mobile for cellular service. Most people are willing to pay a premium at Verizon for CDMA reception and quality, and with all of AT&T’s mergers and acquisitions, it has solidified the biggest GSM customer base.
T-Mobile has no cell phones, and they aren’t reasonably priced. They have less-expensive plans, but you pay for what you (don’t) get. If T-Mobile wants to become a factor, they need to start focusing on the two things that matter most for cell phones: the actual devices you use and the reception and connectivity you need to actually contact people. Your quality customer service becomes tiresome when I have to call you once a week and ask you why I don’t have reception in the areas you mark to be highly receptive.
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on Wednesday, June 11th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
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June 12th, 2008
and yet i have never had a reception problem. so it might be safe to say that issue doesn’t apply to everyone. nor does it just apply to you. but this is the case with EVERY provider.
if they could just get on the ball with the handsets and 3g network, they’d do alright!
June 12th, 2008
I agree I have never had a problem with T-Mobile either my service has been great for the past 5yrs I do agree they need better handsets and 3g.
June 12th, 2008
T-Mobile has fantastic service in the cities. Outside and in between cities is where it suffers.
June 13th, 2008
Hmmm. Coverage on ANY network is subjective to where you live and work. Here in So. Calif, I get good reception on T-Mobile at both places and everywhere else I need to go (local, regional and national). The dead spots I have are about the same number friends have on AT&T and Verizon.
Contrast this with friends who get slightly better reception on AT&T in a few areas but can NEVER make a call at peak hours due to “Network Busy” messages.
Coverage as in signal strength means nothing if the RF layout was done by brute force of more towers/masts with no proper balancing of the network.
Most carrier dead spots are well known and all carriers including T-Mobile add new mast sites (see. http://compass.t-mobile.com ). Local opposition to new sites is what prevents better coverage. More and more carriers though are co-locating their mast sites with other carriers. If a city wants to put up opposition to improved coverage then they either need to pre-build co-location sites or FORCE co-location on existing sites.
That would solve coverage issues once and for all if the carrier is willing to make the infrastructure investment.
June 16th, 2009
Yea I agree… I have a sidekick slide and now I have prepaid but when I had a plan with tmobile I was constantly calling them inquiring why I cannot make calls or why I don’t have access 2 the internet, it becomes annoying afterwhile. My biggest question is why they haven come up with the bright idea 2 make one of these sidekicks a touchscreen. It seems like a given. Sidekick is they’re thing like the iphone is at&t’s. They’d make a killing if they’d add that one obvious feature to it. I mean they just started adding video 2 the damn things… so behind the ball. And I have 2 admit im disappointed. I’ve had a side kick as a young adult it should be growing with me! They charge too much money for a phone that’s behind the times.