T-Mobile USA has announced Q4 results -- eclipsing the 25 million subscriber milestone for the first time. The carrier is by far the smallest of the four national wireless telecoms by a long shot, but is adding customers at a fast mobile clip. Cingular, the nation's largest carrier, recently announced they have surpassed the 60 million+ subscriber mark.

T-Mobile released the customer milestone new along with the big Q4 2006 earnings statement. Several interesting metrics were included:

1) 900k net new customers in Q4; nearly 800k of those were post paid
2) 1.6 million BlackBerry and Sidekick users -- data centric
3) Churn has remained the same versus the year ago period

Posted by mobilemodo at 09:21 AM | Permalink Posted to News | T-Mobile

T-Mobile USA is getting in the game with kidConnect -- much like the services launched by Disney Mobile and Verizon Wireless's Chaperone service. These products are all aimed to help parents manage communication costs, kidConnect is basically a new kind of service plan that doesn't allow any overage fees.

The kidConnect $19.99 a month plan includes:
50 whenever minutes
Unlimited in-network calling (which is also played up as unlimited calling between parent and child)
Unlimited weekend calling

Text messaging is included in this offer, and will convert 4 outgoing texts per whenever minute (incoming messages are free). Once the 50 whenever minutes are used, the phone is unable to place calls outside of the network unless it's the weekend or the call is to 911. kidConnect is compatible with any T-Mobile handset.

Continue reading "T-Mobile USA introduces kidConnect" »

Posted by mobilemodo at 01:47 PM | Permalink Posted to News | T-Mobile

T-Mobile USA has now launched the Samsung t609 that was announced earlier this year. The t609 is a mid-priced clamshell style flip phone. T-Mobile is also stocking the entire T-Series lineup, the t309, t509, t609 and t809.

Samsung t609 features include:
Quad-band GSM + EDGE high-speed data
Bluetooth Wireless
1.3 megapixel camera
MP3 music player
External Speakerphone
Instant Messenger

T-Mobile is now selling the t609 for $150 with $50 in instant savings and a 1-year contract. The Samsung t609 is available in stores and on the web today.

Posted by mobilemodo at 11:49 PM | Permalink Posted to News | Samsung | T-Mobile

The FCC has just updated photos and specs of two new BlackBerry models yet to be released on their website. Both the Blackberry 7130c and 7130g are GSM/EDGE network compatible and will be headed for Cingular and T-Mobile. The basic design of the new BlackBerry units are slimmed down with a more rectangle shape than previously released handset models.

BlackBerry 7130 series features:
Quad-Band GSM with added EDGE
SureType keyboard support
64MB flash, 16MB RAM
Mini-USB port
Bluetooth Wireless 2.0 support

The maker of the Blackberry Unit, Research In Motion is now embroiled in another lawsuit -- this time around with Visto. The cards may not be in RIM's favor this time because Visto already settled a huge patent infringement suit earlier this year for a cool $600m.

Posted by mobilemodo at 11:53 PM | Permalink Posted to Cingular | News | Rumors | T-Mobile

T-Mobile USA has launched the BlackBerry 8700g, which is just like the 8700c that Cingular launched in November, 2005. The BlackBerry 8700 Series is now the newest line of mobile handsets being released from Research In Motion. This handset features the standard QWERTY keyboard that usually comes with this style of smartphone.

BlackBerry 8700g includes:
Quadband GSM + EDGE
High-speed internet support
64 MB flash memory with 16 MB SDRAM
QVGA (320x240) color screen display
Intel XScale CPU power

Currently T-Mobile is selling the Blackberry 8700g for $299 with contract and $50 mail-in rebate.

Posted by mobilemodo at 11:14 PM | Permalink Posted to News | T-Mobile

We are happy to report that the previously yanked Motorola RAZR from Cingular and T-Mobile stores has been restored. The phones had been cleared from the shelves due to problems with dropped calls. Motorola quickly resolved the issue and resumed shipments, much to the chagrin of anxious customers waiting to get their hands on the pink razr.

Other news agents are also reporting that the phone is now being restocked. The minor disruption in the supply chain due to the glitch will probably not hurt sales for Motorola, the 2nd largest handset manufacturer in the world.

Posted by mobilemodo at 03:17 PM | Permalink Posted to Cingular | Motorola | News | T-Mobile

Cingular Wireless and T-Mobile USA have unexpectedly yanked the Motorola RAZR V3 from all their sales channels. Mobilemodo has confirmed that the ever-so-popular RAZR V3 model will not disappear for long, all colors (even pink) are expected to be released for shipment within the next week or two.

T-Mobile noted that they were having problems with an internal electronic component in a limited number of GSM RAZR handsets that were purchased in the weeks following February 1st. Motorola reps stated that the issue is related to mobile users experiencing dropped calls and a reboot of the phone (also affects free drivers motorola razr v3 users). Any customers with RAZR handsets that have experienced this problem should forget about waiting for your rebate check, and head straight to a T-Mobile or Cingular store to make an exchange.

Cingular is now showing the RAZR V3 as Out of Stock in the online store, and it appears that T-Mobile has yanked it from the website and store shelves altogether.

[via CNN story]

Posted by mobilemodo at 10:52 PM | Permalink Posted to Cingular | Motorola | News | T-Mobile

The forums are burning about a cool free program to unlock an HTC Wizard. Many hacker wanna bees have been hovering around just waiting to unleash the shackles off their Cingular backed 8125, or T-Mobile plugged MDA.

An XDA-Developers.com contributor has developed a wiz-bang software program called lokiwiz that will untether your Cingular HTC Wizard and free it from its SIM-locked shackles.

We don't currently have a locked HTC or MDA phone in our lab, but lokiwiz users are reporting a not-to-shabby -- 80% success rate of unlocking their HTC. This is not too bad considering their is currently no way to do this without locking into a big contract with T-Mobile or Cingular.

If you are still trying to get your hands on one of these phones you're still going to have to pony up a wad of cash without a contract on these phones. The prices still circulating are upwards of $450 without a signed carrier contract.
[via EngadgetMobile]

Continue reading "HTC Wizard Unlocker code name - lokiwiz" »

Posted by mobilemodo at 04:09 PM | Permalink Posted to Cingular | HTC | Mobile Applications | News | Rumors | T-Mobile

T-Mobile USA announced its fourth quarter and full year earnings for 2005. The company posted record numbers in several important categories.

T-Mobile USA stats:
1.4 Million Net Adds during 4Q, 4.4 added during 2005
$1.1 Billion in OIBDA for quarter, 4.2 in year
ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) = $53 (combined post and pre paid), with 9.6% data revenue
Postpay customer churn settled at 2.3%

T-Mobile USA's network area was boosted by over 50% during 4Q, 2005 -- with the addition of new GSM 850 roaming coverage.

Incidentally, the big three US based wireless carriers also added a significant slice of customers. Cingular added 1.8 Million, Verizon 2 Million and Sprint Nextel 2 Million respectively.

Posted by mobilemodo at 11:36 AM | Permalink Posted to News | T-Mobile

T-Mobile in the U.S. today officially launched the T-Mobile SDA cell phone along with the MDA. The Windows Mobile 5.0 powered handset is made by HTC of Taiwan and self-branded by T-Mobile.

T-Mobile SDA features include:
Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0
EDGE/Wi-Fi data capable
Bluetooth wireless
Music Control keys
MiniSD card slot
1.3 megapixel camera

The T-Mobile SDA is available today online from the t-mobile.com.

Posted by mobilemodo at 12:39 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (2) Posted to 3G | News | T-Mobile

Not only has T-Mobile launched the SDA today, they have also disclosed the release of the new T-Mobile MDA Smartphone. The MDA will be shipping to T-Mobile stores next week, on February 21st, 2006 making it an official 2Q release.

Like the SDA, the T-Mobile MDA is manufactured by HTC from Taiwan. The MDA was previously known by the codename Wizard, and is identical (excluding brand logo) to the phone that Cingular recently launched as the Cingular 8125.

T-Mobile MDA features include:
Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE
TI 200MHz CPU
Sliding QWERTY keyboard
2.8" QVGA 320x240 64K Color LCD Touch Screen
Integrated Bluetooth Class II
Integrated 802.11b wireless
1.3 megapixel camera
64MB SDRAM and 128MB flash ROM

MDA Mobile Application features:
Windows Mobile 5.0
Mobile Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint and Word
Windows Media Player 10
MPEG4 videos

The T-Mobile MDA will be scheduled for sale release next Tuesday, 02/21/06. We expect the pricing of the T-Mobile MDA to be inline with Cingular's $299 pricetag for the 8125.

Posted by mobilemodo at 12:20 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (4) Posted to News | T-Mobile

Cingular, Verizon, and T-Mobile have all recently launched their own variation of Motorola's popular Pink RAZR mobile phone. These mobile's are sure to catch your attention with the noticeable difference in color shade variation.

Let's take a look at the pink shaded RAZR differences:

We think that Cingular's Pink RAZR is the best representation of what would get a true girly girl's top vote with an extra dose of cotton candy Barbie pink.

Verizon's light pink RAZR is not as bright and bold, and is sure to satisfy anyone that is searching for a mobile that is not overly distracting yet distinguished with personal style.

T-Mobile's RAZR mobile is not hardly pink at all, but is much closer to a boldly colored purple-like magenta. Grab this mobile if you really want to be noticed.

Sprint Nextel is noticeably absent from this list, and does not currently carry Motorola's RAZR mobile, but instead they carry the Samsung A900 phone as a RAZR alternative. The A900 mobile is currently only sold in black.

If you think these pink RAZR are great, just be prepared to drop down about $50 more than you would for the Silver colored RAZR.

[via Gizmodo]

Posted by mobilemodo at 11:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) Posted to Cingular | Motorola | News | Reviews | T-Mobile | Verizon

T-Mobile recently announced that they will being doubling the price of SMS messaging outside of their messaging Value Bundles. They will be raising the per SMS message price from 5 cents to 10 cents each in the U.S. market.

T-Mobile states in small print online: start sending domestic text messages now for just $0.10?each ? Discounted domestic messaging rate (for US telephone numbers) of $0.05 each in effect through February 28, 2006. Messages to international numbers from the US are $0.15 each."

Users of T-Mobile are reporting that although they love their service, they cannot disable the SMS messaging service. This can cause big problems when voluminious amounts of spam SMS messages are sent indiscriminately to mobile phone subscribers that should not have to pay for such messages.

T-Mobile has stated that they cannot disable the service because that is how they communicate with their customers. Customers of other carriers like Sprint Nextel or Verizon wireless have reportedly been able to disable their SMS services with no problems.

Be thankful that T-Mobile gets top ratings for customer service, because this just might be an issue they have to resolve in the future as more SMS spamming becomes a problem.

Posted by mobilemodo at 11:20 AM | Permalink Posted to Mobile Applications | News | T-Mobile

T-Mobile in the U.S. is now stocking the shelves at their retail stores nationwide with the new Motorola PEBL cell phone. Since December they have only been selling the PEBL handset exclusively over the Internet in their web store.

The PEBL is a sophisticatingly smooth phone, with a cool iconic oval design just like a soft pebble pulled out of the river. This mobile provides the simplistic yet functional features that an artistic mobile phone connoisseur would love.

Motorola PEBL features:
Quadband GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
Bluetooth
176 × 220 pixel 262K color screen
VGA camera

The Motorola PEBL is now selling for $299 after a 1-year service contract with T-Mobile.

Posted by mobilemodo at 08:40 PM | Permalink Posted to Motorola | News | T-Mobile

T-Mobile reportedly has just been recognized as Vendor of the Year 2005, from Wal-Mart the largest retailer in the world. T-Mobile was one of only 31 companies chosen from a group of 21,000 that sell their products and services in Wal-Mart stores.

Doug Chartier, VP National Retail and Partner Sales, expressed his thanks to the National Retail teams who made earning this award a reality, “Many companies wait a lifetime to earn this prestigious award and many will never see it. The award is more than being a great partner with Wal-Mart; it signifies a joint effort, here at T-Mobile, to come together, cross-functionally, to exceed the customers’ expectations within the largest retailer in the world.”

[via recruitersdumpinground]

Posted by mobilemodo at 11:44 PM | Permalink Posted to News | T-Mobile

The Motorola PEBL is now available on a web exclusive from T-Mobile if you go to T-Mobile.com. You can purchase the PEBL handset or you can opt for a handset upgrade.

The new T-Mobile PEBL is said to be a mobile "object of intrigue". It has a sleek and slim design with a cool self-opening hinge. This is sure to be a popular phone.

Motorola PEBL Mobile Handset Features Include:
Quad band world mobile phone (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
Bluetooth® wireless technology
Camera w/ 4x digital zoom
Speakerphone
Voice-activated dialing
Voice recorder
Full-color screen
Vibrating alert

Motorola PEBL Mobile Application Features Include:
AOL®, Yahoo® and ICQ® Instant Messaging
Phone book
External caller ID
MegaTones®, Wallpaper, HiFi Ringers™, & Games wireless technology
Predictive text input for easy messaging
Calculator
Alarm clock
Calendar
Hands-free options
T-Mobile Internet ready (GPRS)
Games

The new phone will help keep T-Mobile on a roll after the new 1.4 million new customers acquisitions they had in 2005. Mobilemodo reported last week that High-End Mobile phones such as the Motorola PEBL are increasing in popularity.

Posted by mobilemodo at 01:51 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (4) Posted to Motorola | News | T-Mobile

After Cingular reported earlier this week 1.8 million new subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2005, the other three largest U.S. cellular operators Thursday all reported nice increases.

In quarterly financial reports, T-Mobile USA reported 1.4 million new customers for the fourth quarter of 2005 and Verizon Wireless reported two million new subscribers. Sprint has stated they will release 4th Q results on Feb 22.

The preliminary results of the quarter for all mobile carriers so far, means that Cingular remains the largest cellular carrier in the U.S. with 54.1 million subscribers. Verizon Wireless is in second place with more than 51 million mobile subscriptions followed closely by Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile a more distant fourth.

The fact that Verizon Wireless was able to keep pace with new subscribers topping 7.5 million in 2005, can't be underscored given that fact that they were impacted by the pullout from Radio Shack as reported earlier this month.

Posted by mobilemodo at 08:54 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (4) Posted to Cingular | News | Sprint Nextel | T-Mobile | Verizon

After months of speculation, T-Mobile has finally announced that they will offer Windows Mobile 5 devices starting next month.

If you go to the company's website, they are now offering a "sign up now" pre-registration for the T-Mobile MDA handheld mobile, and the T-Mobile SDA SmartPhone.

The T-Mobile SDA handheld is dubbed to feature:
Internet Browsing on bright color screen
Quad-band GSM/GPRS (EDGE) support
Full sliding QWERTY keyboard
Picture Messaging
Video Messaging
Text Messaging
Instant Messaging
Bluetooth and Speakerphone

The T-Mobile SDA Smartphone sports the following features:
GPRS / EDGE / WiFi
Send voice notes in e-mail
Dedicated keys for music and video
1.3 megapixel camera with video capture
Bluetooth and Speakerphone

Cingular has also just recently launched the 2125 Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone. It is similar to T-Mobile's SDA, but does not have Wi-Fi support and dedicated mobile music and video playback buttons.

Posted by mobilemodo at 09:44 PM | Permalink Posted to News | T-Mobile