T-Mobile USA Announces Major 4G Coverage Expansion in 14 Markets, Solavei MVNO Targets iPhone Users

T-Mobile USA today announced that it has made significant enhancements to its 4G network in 14 areas, signaling continued efforts to support the iPhone on its fastest 4G networks. T-Mobile has announced that it will officially begin offering the iPhone sometime next year.

Today, we’re announcing technology advancements in 14 new metro areas to close out 2012, underscoring our rapid enhancements to the already powerful 4G experience we offer. This has been a busy year for T-Mobile’s network — we announced a $4 billion plan to advance the network, secured vendors and quickly got to work installing new equipment across the country. Only 10 months after announcing our plans, we’ve already enhanced coverage for more than 100 million people!

solavei
Alongside T-Mobile's announcement, mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) Solavei, which operates using T-Mobile USA's network, has officially launched a major push to attract iPhone customers.

Launched on September 21, 2012, Solavei has already attracted more than 100,000 members nationwide to take advantage of the only mobile phone service offering a $49 per month unlimited voice, text and data plan, along with the unique opportunity to earn recurring monthly income by sharing with friends and family.

“The network enhancements give our current and future members the ability to use their unlocked iPhones and other AT&T/4G smartphones at the highest possible speeds in even more cities,” said Ryan Wuerch, founder and CEO of Solavei. “The time is right for the more than 4 million AT&T iPhone customers who initially signed contracts in 2010 to cut their phone bills in half and gain the opportunity to earn income by sharing Solavei with their friends and family.”

Solavei notes that T-Mobile's network enhancements now allow it to support the iPhone in 37 new markets.

The network enhancements allow Solavei members to use iPhones and other AT&T/4G smartphones to access its $49 per month unlimited voice, text and data in areas including New York City, Newark, Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit, Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio, Tampa, Baltimore, Houston, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Washington DC, Atlanta, Seattle, Minneapolis, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Diego, Central and Southern Arizona, San Francisco Bay Area, Central Valley California and South Florida.

T-Mobile is the last of the four major U.S. carriers to officially offer the iPhone, and while T-Mobile itself will not begin offering the iPhone until next year, Solavei's announcement suggests that T-Mobile's 1900 MHz 4G buildout is far enough along to support a major rollout of iPhone service.

Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

Generic iOS 19 Feature Mock Light

iOS 19 Leak Reveals All-New Design

Friday January 17, 2025 2:42 pm PST by
iOS 19 is still around six months away from being announced, but a new leak has allegedly revealed a completely redesigned Camera app. Based on footage it obtained, YouTube channel Front Page Tech shared a video showing what the new Camera app will apparently look like, with the key change being translucent menus for camera controls. Overall, the design of these menus looks similar to...
2024 App Store Awards

Apple Explains Why It Removed TikTok From the App Store in the U.S.

Sunday January 19, 2025 6:58 am PST by
Apple on late Saturday removed TikTok from the App Store in the U.S., and it has now explained why it was required to take this action. Last year, the U.S. passed a law that required Chinese company ByteDance to divest its ownership of TikTok due to potential national security risks, or else the platform would be banned. That law went into effect today, and companies like Apple and Google...
iPhone 17 Air Size Feature

'iPhone 17 Air' With Rear Camera Bar Allegedly Shown in Leaked Photo

Tuesday January 21, 2025 12:46 pm PST by
A leaker known as "Majin Bu" today shared an alleged image of a component for the rumored, ultra-thin "iPhone 17 Air" model. The blurry, pixelated image shows a pair of rear iPhone shells with a pill-shaped, raised camera bar along the top. On the left side of the bar, there is a circular cutout that appears to be for a single rear camera. On the right side of the bar, there appears to be an ...
iPhone SE Dynamic Island Majin Bu

iPhone SE 4 Leak Shows Dynamic Island, Casts Doubt on Rumored 'iPhone 16E' Name

Monday January 20, 2025 9:01 am PST by
A new iPhone SE is widely rumored to launch this year, and the device has potentially been confirmed today by known leaker Evan Blass. In a private social media post, Blass shared an image of what appears to be source code mentioning an iPhone SE (4th Gen), which casts doubt on the alternative "iPhone 16E" name rumored for the device. However, the name in the source code could be a...
airtag 4 pack blue

AirTag 2 Launching This Year With These 3 New Features

Sunday January 19, 2025 8:11 am PST by
After a four-year wait, a new AirTag is finally expected to launch in 2025. Below, we recap rumored upgrades for the accessory. A few months ago, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple was aiming to release the AirTag 2 around the middle of 2025. While he did not offer a more specific timeframe, that means the AirTag 2 could be announced by the end of June. The original AirTag was announced...
iOS 19 Roundup Feature

iOS 19 Rumored to Be Compatible With These iPhones

Saturday January 18, 2025 10:28 am PST by
iOS 19 will not drop support for any iPhone models, according to French website iPhoneSoft.fr. The report cited a source who said iOS 19 will be compatible with any iPhone that can run iOS 18, which would mean the following models: iPhone 16 iPhone 16 Plus iPhone 16 Pro iPhone 16 Pro Max iPhone 15 iPhone 15 Plus iPhone 15 Pro iPhone 15 Pro Max iPhone 14 iPhon...
apple power beats pro 2

Powerbeats Pro 2 Coming Soon: Apple to Announce Them 'Imminently'

Sunday January 19, 2025 8:25 am PST by
In September, Apple said that it would be launching Powerbeats Pro 2 in 2025, and it appears the wireless earbuds are coming very soon. Powerbeats Pro 2 images found in iOS 18 code In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the Powerbeats Pro 2 are "due imminently." In addition to Apple filing the Powerbeats Pro 2 in regulatory databases last month, Gurman said Apple is...
Generic iOS 18

Everything New in iOS 18.3 Beta 3

Thursday January 16, 2025 12:39 pm PST by
Apple provided the third beta of iOS 18.3 to developers today, and while the betas have so far been light on new features, the third beta makes some major changes to Notification Summaries and also tweaks a few other features. Notification Summary Changes Apple made multiple changes to Notification Summaries in response to complaints about inaccurate summaries of news headlines. For...

Top Rated Comments

Chocolatemilty Avatar
158 months ago
instead of wasting time and resources for HSPA+ redeployment on 1900mhz, they should instead that towards deploying LTE band 4.
I'd hardly call rolling out the 1900 band for HSPA+ as a fallback for the eventual LTE rollout when they received $4 billion "wasting time and resources," not to mention the increased revenues from the MVNOs using their network and the expected increase of unlocked phone subscribers.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AAPL addict Avatar
158 months ago
So I'm in Austin and getting 3G data on my iPhone 4S with T-Mobile. However, my daughter with her iPhone 3GS (3G data turned on) still only shows EDGE. Does anyone know why?

You might want to contact T-Mobile tech support for this question. I find it interesting on all the T-Mobile press releases I've read as it relates to upgrading their data speeds to work with iPhone they consistently state up to 70% faster data speeds than AT&T when tested with the iPhone 4S. I have yet to see them mention any other iPhone models as it relates to this. It makes me want to think that the faster data speeds might not work for an iPhone 4 or iPhone 3GS but only guessing by reading their press releases.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AAPL addict Avatar
158 months ago
Go T-Mobile go!

As a proud owner of an iPhone 4S, living in Dallas, stuck in an AT&T contract I cannot wait to finish my term and move to T-Mobile or a T-Mobile MVNO (i.e., reseller). I'll take the now availlable for iPhone T-Mobile 3G / 4G data speeds of 20 MB download which blow away the slow AT&T data speeds I get for my iPhone now (advertised by AT&T as 4G on my phone), get unlimited talk / text / data with T-Mobile and cut my monthly wireless bill in half. I for one would rather have unsubsidized wireless rates and pay full price for the iPhone. I think T-Mobile upgrading their technology to deliver 3G and 4G data speeds for iPhones and offering unsubsidized rates will play out big in 2013 and the years to come. Sorry AT&T but I foresee a lot of cost conscientious consumers completing their AT&T terms, unlocking their GSM iPhones and moving to T-Mobile.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
winston1236 Avatar
158 months ago
Now on to their 200mb of 4g speed...
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
OriginalMacRat Avatar
158 months ago
The 3GS doesn't support hspa+ which is what they're refarming....... So her 3GS won't do 3G on tmob only 4 and up

Incorrect. The 1900MHz refarm isn't limited to HSPA+.

And before you try to argue that it is, keep in mind that many iPhone 3GS users (myself included) are getting 3G on T-Mobile now.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dukebound85 Avatar
158 months ago
Does Straight Talk have more coverage than TMO?

ST uses either ATT or Verizons network depending on the plan
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)