T-Mobile may offer free signal boosters to stop subscribers from fleeing

By on Aug 31, 2011 at 9:00 AM
mobile August 31, 2011

T-Mobile intends to offer cellular signal boosters to customers looking to switch carriers due to poor reception at home, according to T-Mobile watcher TmoNews. The move appears to be part of a new program intended to slow service quality-related cancellations, which are apparently a significant problem for the nation’s No. 4 carrier. Beginning on September 7th, T-Mobile will seemingly begin offering in-home signal boosters “when a customer triggers for cancellation of service due to poor in-home coverage,” according to a purported leaked internal memo to T-Mobile staff. The memo also warns that signal boosters should never be offered to customers as an incentive when closing a sale. In order to take the signal booster, which will be free of charge, customers will need to sign a new 2-year service contract and it is unclear if they will be permitted to test the level of improvement afforded by the booster before signing.

[Via Gizmodo]

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18 Comments

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  • Anonymous

    I wonder if the signal booster is better Than the uma.

    • Jeeverz

      I’m pretty sure it is.. out of what I have heard it is not a femtocell but an actual booster. It only works if there is atleast one bar of signal strength and it roughly costs about $300 outright.. it also comes 20 foot coax cable and a yagi omni directional antenna

      • Anonymous

        ..guys,, i cant believe this!! me and my sister just got two i-pads for $42.77 each and a $50 amazon card for $9. the stores want to keep this a secret and they dont tell you.
        go here, EgoWin.cöm

    • Eric

      That is what I was thinking. I was briefly a TMO customer a while back and had a Blackberry with UMA. I found UMA to be, quite frankly, awesome (especially when I was International). I wish other carriers supported UMA.

  • Anonymous

    I wish this was something they would offer new customers up front. I have a friend who has tmobile and while coverage is decent in my area it sucks at my apt so if I knew I could get a booster prior to signing a two year I would be good to go..

  • Anonymous

    This is a great idea!  especially if it’s portable…ie-work buildings, hospitals, etc.  My vzw signal goes down 2 bars in my house.

  • putwaree916

    Why not just put up more towers. That would boost signals for more customers.

    • dba

      it’s not towers but their frequencies. high frequency low wavelength signals are pretty bad at penetrating walls. t-mobile has the highest frequencies in the US because they were the last carrier here.

      VZW has the best and i get 3-4 bars almost everywhere i go no matter how far inside a building i am in. AT&T is second. Sprint is crap. T-Mo is always dropping calls when i call T-Mo people

    • Geokaplan

      The cost per tower in a residential area is up to approximately $1M each, along with a protracted and bruising series of zoning hearings and firm opposition from organized, passionate NIMBYs.

      I am sure the boosters are both cheaper and easier.

  • Anonymous

    Most are fleeing due to an uncertain future of t-Mobile or because they don’t want to be part of AT&T.

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_FSO3NC5B5EPKYG4PZAQCGJ3GD4 Dave Graves

      Now that’s the spirit.@Guest, i cant believe this!! me and my sister just got two i-pads for $42.77 each and a $50 amazon card for $9. the stores want to keep this a secret and they dont tell you. go here BidsOut.com

    • http://canyonr.com CanyonR

      And they are going to have all these signal boosters just laying around after the merger when AT&T kill service on the t-mobile frequencies. They might as well give them away now.

    • Anonymous

      No, T-Mo was gushing subscribers well before the merger was announced.

      I work for a retailer who carries T-Mo, and we have by far the highest return rate on them. People like their plans and their phones, but so many people come back frustrated at the lack of coverage where they used to have it.

  • TK

    I’m gonna be leaving because they throttle my internet speeds and they charge me for using my phone as a hotspot. Ten plus years with them for this BS.

    • Wirelessmodz

      i use my phone as a hot spot and i never get charged , are you a idiot ? you must be if your paying to use as a hot spot shits built in to froyo and up and tmobile dont charge me numnuts

  • highbulp

    I’d just outright buy a signal booster if they sold one (and it worked)

  • Anonymous

    They already offer free wi-fi calling; all you need is a wireless router and your voice coverage at home should be good. Their coverage everywhere else will still be lacking. How is this supposed to help?

    • Aj

      Mostly the TMob Blackberries are the phones with UMA. Maybe a few other, but the whole line doesn’t have UMA.

      I hope these boosters aren’t like the GSM femtocells that the hackers use for man in the middle attacks.

      UMA is great. The only bug I found is sometimes touch tone doesn’t work well. It seems to me to be a codec issue.

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