iPhone 5

Good things have come to T-Mobile customers who have had to wait for the iPhone to finally arrive at their favorite carrier. Per AllThingsD, T-Mobile CMO Mike Sievert claims that the carrier had a “gangbusters” first day of iPhone 5 sales with “lines out the door… at nearly all of our almost 3,000 stores nationwide.” Sievert went on to say that the lines outside T-Mobile stores show that consumers “want the iPhone 5, and they are voting with their feet that they want it from T-Mobile.” T-Mobile is expected to get a boost from finally getting the iPhone on its network this year, with one analyst projecting that the carrier will sell around 3.4 million iPhones in 2013.

Watch out, rival carriers: T-Mobile has its eyes on your iPhone subscribers. The so-called “un-carrier” on Wednesday announced that it would give new customers an iPhone 5 for $0 down if they trade in their iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S models. The iPhone 5 won’t be completely free, however, because customers will still have to pay monthly charges over a two-year period to pay off the cost of the device. That said, iPhone users who switch from other carriers will still be getting an iPhone 5 for $99 less than current T-Mobile subscribers who want to buy the device and for $199 less than what they’d pay on other carriers. T-Mobile’s full press release is posted below. More →

T-Mobile made its customers who use unlocked iPhone 5s happy today by rolling out a new carrier update that gives their devices access to T-Mobile’s LTE network. Per TmoNews, the new update promises to improve battery life on unlocked iPhones while also delivering Visual Voicemail, a 4G network indicator, access to T-Mobile’s AWS LTE network band and access to HD Voice services. While LTE access for unlocked iPhone 5 customers is certainly welcome, they should know that T-Mobile’s LTE network is only live in seven markets right now, so they’ll still likely have to rely on the carrier’s HSPA+ services even after installing the new update.

If you’re a T-Mobile subscriber who’s been accessing the carrier’s HSPA+ network with an unlocked iPhone 5, don’t worry about having to buy a whole new device to use its recently launched LTE network. TmoNews reports that T-Mobile will push out an update to its unlocked iPhone 5 subscribers on April 5th that will give the device access to the AWS spectrum bands used for T-Mobile’s LTE services. Of course, since T-Mobile’s LTE network is only live in seven markets right now, you’ll probably still be relying on HSPA+ connectivity even after installing the update this week. TmoNews also says that the update will also give unlocked iPhone 5 users access to Visual Voicemail “among other features.”