GigaOMreader Milan Milanović made the discovery with his LG Nexus 4 handset:
“Milanović said that the Astoria cells are actually invisible to most phones even if they support LTE at the proper band. He had to force his way onto the network by setting his Nexus 4 (which unofficially supports LTE in T-Mo’s 4G airwaves) to LTE-only mode and manually scan for a network connection. Milanović encountered a 5 MHz-by-5 MHz link in the 1700 MHz/2100 MHz frequencies, but he was allocated only half of the 37 Mbps of bandwidth that the network could theoretically support.”
The site goes on to note that T-Mobile has already completed construction on a handful of other LTE sites, including some in Las Vegas and Kansas City. Back in January, the carrier’s CEO John Legere said that it was hoping to light up its first LTE markets “within a few weeks.” But so far, we haven’t heard anything outside of these various scattered reports.
If you’re wondering why we’re so concerned with the status of T-Mobile’s LTE rollout, it’s because the provider is widely expected to start carrying the iPhone in the next few months.The news was confirmedearlier this year by Legere, at the Citi Global Conference, who told reporters the carrier now sees around 100KunlockediPhone activations per month.
T-Mobile is certainly making a lot of moves right now. And when you combine its LTE rollout, itsgrowing HSPA+ network, its just-approvedMetroPCS merger, and its newly-releasedunlimited plans, it’s making a pretty good case for itself for future iPhone users. But a lot hangs on what its new‘no subsidies’ modellooks like, which is due to start anytime now.
