T-Mobile reporting 28.7 million customers at the end of 2007
T-Mobile certainly isn’t the biggest or most successful American carrier, not by a long shot. They have managed, however, to successfully carve out a niche based on exemplary customer service and relatively affordable plans. Judging from their recently released ‘07 numbers, they’re certainly doing something right. The company just announced that at the end of 2007, they celebrated 28.7 million American customers. That figure includes 951,000 new customers gained in the 4th quarter alone, relative to 901,000 from the same period of time one year before. They added a total of 3.6 million bill-paying customers over the entirety of 2007, compared to 3.4 million during ‘06. It’s a relatively marginal increase, but let’s not forget what happened to Sprint last year, okay? All told, we think T-Mobile should be proud of themselves….and all this without a 3G network? Wow, what scammers.
That’s going to change when iPhone goes to 3g and folks won’t be unlocking the phone to get on T-mobile’s edge network.
Give me 3G or give me death!
ohh yes cause go knows all of t-mobiles customers are iphone users (rolls eyes)
well they are about to have one less,that is worst carrier i ever had. when are they gonna institute that thing you posted months ago about the longer you’ve been in your contract the less of a cancellation fee you’ll have??
T-mobile is reliable service, it’s cheap and I have been a customer since 1996, the Powertel and voice-stream days. Not having 3g blows but owning a blackberry and iphone I am not affected. AT&T Blows. T-mobile is the balls.
Great customer service is the plus for me. Coming from sprint its like night and day.
I had Sprint service for nearly 10 years. Their customer service was the absolute worst and about once a year I said I’d had enough until I finally did. Switched to Cingular (AT&T) and couldn’t hear anything so just before my 30 days were up, I cancelled. Switched to TMO and I gotta say it’s the best deal and the customer service, while not perfect, is far better than anything I’ve gotten before. I can live without 3G for now. I have a broadband card through my employer on the EDVO network and I’m not convinced the speed using it vs. my TMO Blackberry as a modem is noticeable. And using my Blackberry as a modem is no additional monthly charge with TMO… I pay $19.95 per month for unlimited Blackberry… what do you folks on AT&T pay??
T-Mobile will hopefully have 3G up and running around April. I heard it got pushed back from February, but I know they’ve been building out their network for the last few months, in this market at least (New York).
I have been a customer with T-mobile for over 5 years and it has been the best experience ever. The customer service is outstanding the price of the plans are great. I am not a bit concern about 3g my smartphone works perfectly fine without it. I have faith in T-mobile..they will have 3g soon.
The customer service at TMobile is top notch. In the past I have had Sprint and At&T. Sprint service was the pits (remember when you had to talk to computerized Claire???). AT&T had marginal customer service.
With TMO I get the same signal strength as I had with AT&T and much better signal strength than Sprint (dropped calls all the time).
Not having 3G is an issue but I have a Blackberry Curve 8320 with wi-fi and I love it. Living in DC there is always a Wifi connection to be had.
If I had decided to get an iPhone I would have unlocked it so I could use it on TMo. However, I find the Curve is more suited to my needs (texting/IM/push email/corporate access).
Tmobile is the worst carrier, their service is horrible and the network is lacking many new technologies. The phones aren’t too shabby but they are being diminished of their full potential because of tmobiles network. The only thing they have is the sidekick and I feel that the sidekick will crash and burn, I mean they haven’t added any features that have significantly improved the phone over the past two to three years. I am currently a tmobile customer and am going to switch to verizon when my contract is up, if tmobile would just improve their network coverage and improve their phones I may be willing to remain with them, but they haven’t listened to me since I joined so unfortunately I have no other choice than to move on from them and try a new service provider.
Tmobile is the worst carrier of them all they have the worst signal and are the only company who charge for a add on ( tmobile at home)just because they have poor service I live in MD and DC and it was the same thing at both and when calling them they had the nerve to tell me I couldn’t use my phone in the house WHAT I don’t get the point of wifi unless your at starbucks or borders all the time which don’t work for me
My Favorite 5 for the win! 3G however would make life complete.
I have been with T-Mobile since 2003, from barely 10meg customers to nearly 29meg
it appears T-Mobile is the most reliable carriers, and more customer-friendly…
Sprint is simply unreliable
at&t/Cingular is the most cutting
VZW is OK, but they’re not GSM (limited to pretty locked-down phones)
I’ve had tmobile since 2001 and I will say that I have never had a problem and you can’t deny they don’t have the best custormer service.
There network is not the greatest but technically its not there fault they don’t have 3g. Isn’t there a problem with the the goverment?
I agree that they need some better phones because right now there streching the sidekick for all its worth. But when u have people like me who will buy it who cares. The people who hate tmobile live somewhere with crappy reception. I love my reception (lives in chicago) so I will be with tmobile for as long as I can.
I sometimes wonder why T-Mobile gets hammered by constant negativity.
I have had T-Mobile since June 2005, and from the very first experience I had (buying my 8700g in store) and my first customer experience (when I accidentally hung up on the lady and she called me back in under 30 seconds) to today, I couldn’t be happier. The customer service reminds me of how the old AT&T was (and I miss the old AT&T). I’ve never had to wait more than a few minutes on hold, even during “peak” call times, and every time I have talked to someone, they have always been happy, and I’ve found that happy employees make a company’s customers happy.
When I heard (on this website actually) AT&T was offering a SIM-only option (which has since disappeared from their website), I looked into the possibility of switching. AT&T is not the friendliest of companies (I currently have DSL through them), and even while the thought of having to deal with AT&T’s customer service made me shiver, it wasn’t the nail in the coffin to my idea of switching. That was left to the pricing. If I were to switch to AT&T, I would be paying almost $70 more a month for my family plan – and that is with less minutes. (Right now, I pay $69 for 1,000 minutes on my family plan. For the same $69, I could get 700 minutes on AT&T – or if I wanted to bump to $89, I could get 1,400 minutes on AT&T.) I grant that AT&T is not the most expensive carrier, but paying $70 more for less is ridiculous to me (while I acknowledge that T-Mobile is a truly inexpensive carrier).
I also wonder about people who complain about T-Mobile’s network and quality. I live in Texas. We have here in Texas what we call the “country”. (For those unfortunate enough to be “city folk”, the “country” is a term for vast rural areas of land NOT occupied by urban development, ugly skyscrapers, and the like). Out in the country, T-Mobile’s service has never failed me – except for areas that are not covered by any cell tower anywhere. (Out in the middle of Lake Buchanan, for example, where we don’t have floating cell towers, so signal strength is nil.) Now, my parents currently use Verizon, so my dad was rather impressed a few weeks ago when we drove out to a remote ranch (in the country here in Texas) when I still had two bars of service and he had no service. Such to the point of telling me the other day that I’d “about” sold him on T-Mobile (so I still have some work to do, it seems).
T-Mobile gets a lot of hell for not having a 3G network. But why? 3G is still a new(er) technology that the vast majority of phones don’t yet support. The US carriers (land and air), in general, are very slow to adopt new technologies. (How long did it take the old AT&T to roll out ISDN? And how much longer after that did we have to wait for DSL to be rolled out?) I don’t singularly fault T-Mobile for not jumping on the bandwagon of every bleeding edge technology out there. I think there’s a natural technological interdependence between the phones and the network. Manufacturers aren’t going to start mass producing phones to work on an untested technology, just as carriers aren’t going to start mass developing their networks for the “latest and greatest” technology. As a spoiled consumer, I can rush out and buy the newest phone for $600 with all the bells and whistles I’ll never need or use. But I’m one person. I can upgrade in a day. Carriers take years to upgrade nation-wide equipment. So if T-Mobile is slow in rolling out 3G, that’s not really that bad. Let the other carriers spend their monies testing, breaking, and fixing the technology first. That seems to make sense to me.
The largest disappointment for me when it comes to T-Mobile has more to do with their phone selections than anything (which is rather trivial all things considered). I’m a BlackBerry guy, and when I see a new BlackBerry phone come out, I start salivating and dreaming. To continually find out that AT&T is getting the exclusive on BlackBerry phones is a bit disheartening. T-Mobile still has not picked up the 8820 (even after AT&T’s exclusivity period expired in December) and they’re stuck on the 8800. (Whether they have plans to eventually release the 8820, I’m not sure.) With this new mystery BlackBerry in the works, I am bracing myself for further disappointment when it is released. I do wish they would be more aggressive in getting newer phones. (To their credit, they did pick up the 8320 early, but it’s more for the consumer side with its camera, than the pro-business 8820 with its GPS and WiFi. Perhaps I’m nitpicking though, as T-Mobile is more geared towards consumers.)
Having said all this, I realize that I’m not going to be able to stop the hailstorm of negativity that plagues people’s minds about T-Mobile. But after reading so many people rant against T-Mobile, I figured I should at least write something in the defence of T-Mobile. They may not be the biggest in terms of network or the biggest in terms of customers, but they have a very wise, very consumer-centric business model that works and appeals to people as evidenced by the increasing customer base. (And maybe they’ll have four more if I can convince my parents and grandparents to convert.)
Though I agree, and I think a majority of T-Mobile subscribers will agree with Seth, I think there is one underlying issue that will never see the light of day and be exposed, because it requires customers of the other carries to admit something no individual is willing to. I agree 100% that the service has never been an issue with my, nor around New York City. The phones they offer (though they sometimes come out later than expected) are competative with AT&T, their GSM counterpart. The lack of 3G has nothing to do with T-Mobile. In fact, T-Mobile shelled out more money than any other carrier has for spectrum JUST to get the government to get off it faster. I doubt AT&T would go that route.
What is really at issue here is that AT&T customers are upset because they get similar service, worse customer support, similar phones but end up paying much, much more. They are bitter for this, and why wouldn’t you be? (iPhones, by the way, have their plusses and minuses, and if you really buy into the fact that a phone is a status symbol, when then take a step back and realize what that is saying about you…pretty loser-ish if you ask me). If you think that another person is subpar for having a particular carrier, let me put it to you this way, you are the only one who cares. No one walks down the street and says, “did you see that person, they’re on T-Mobile!” or “He has AT&T, he must be really cool” And if you are saying that, or think that, or express that, then I feel sorry for you.
Do you. Stop hating on other people when their decisions have no affect on your life whatsoever. If you want to be mad, be mad at yourself for caring so much. You’re wasting too much time and breath and energy. Maybe spend your time working to pay off that high bill you receive when you can “get more” elsewhere…
I have had T mobile, AT&T, Cingular, Verizon and Metro PCS and I have to say T-Mobile is one of the best networks hands down! I have never ever actually been HAPPY with a cell phone company and I am with them. I have no plan in switching to anyone else and their customer service is great! I have been given bonus minutes up the ying yang and have yet to get a fraudulent bill. Unlike Verizon who I had to call every month to retract my text message bills because i had unlimited. They were a nightmare and so was AT&T. In miami I would have to leave my room and go to the front of my house to get a signal! pathetic. Cingular was cool but alas they have been gobbled up by the monster that is AT&T. I HATE AT&T. They are the worst company ever in terms of a million things…customer service, attitude, ideals etc. i hope they crash and burn…
on a lighter note T-mobile rocks!
You ever think the phone you bought on cingular/at&t was possibly defective, doesn’t sound like you gave them a fair chance, and I don’t know people on these blogs take shots at at&t all the time about being terrible, I for one disagree with all of them, they just hit 70.1 million customers after the 4th quarter, granted a lot of it has to do with the iphone but, honestly if they were that bad the iphone would have been a huge flop for apple and at&t. I own an iphone and a Shine, I don’t have issues with either of them. They have great customer service the reps at the stores are very knowledgeable, I can’t say I had the same experience on t-mobile, the guy there was trying to tell me that the reason my reception was bad with t-mobile was because they were working on the satellites orbiting the Earth…….I don’t know who they are fooling with all of those JD Power awards but, it’s a bunch of hogwash to me.
Mez, you must have dealt with a mobile solutions rep(3rd party dealer) they SUCK!!!TMO corporate store reps are very knowledgable and know how to truly take care of their customers!Your just hate’in cuz internationally TMO dwarfs VZ and AT&T combined in GLOBAL customer base!
Currently I have lines of services with AT&T, T-mobile and Sprint. Customer service has always been excellent with T-mobile, but the monthly service cost has always been an even better positive. To argue that AT&T is superior on any level would require some justification to the price difference between similar services. Phone selection really doesn’t matter since I’m sure most people reading boygeniusreport already use unlocked phones to begin with. Unless you are comparing Sprint and Verizon, the phones are meaningless (well until Sprint follows through on their open activations).
Seth: See the funny thing is relatively 3G is actually OLD in the rest of the world by now. Saying it’s not a priority is an anachronism.
There’s so many benefits to 3G (better voice, faster data, at the same time!), that arguing against it is like arguing against the color tv, or CDs.
I love how people love to bash tmobile and have no idea of how their services work. UMA (T-Mobile @ Home) is FREE, no charge if you can connect to any wifi signal. True there is an add on which makes all of those wifi calls free, but that is totally optional.
I save over $500 /year on my bb over verizon, and typically I have better reception than my friends on verizon. Plus I get free UMA, free teathering, and good customer support.
I’ve been with tmo for 3 years now, the only bad thing I ever ran into were idiots at their corp. stores. But hey most corp stores for any carrier have idiots working there so that’s not surprising.
The service has been great, sure reception isn’t “everywhere” but it’s always there when I need it and not like I expect reception underground in the NY Subway anyway. The customer service is amazing.
I mean I had a problem with my voice mail somehow getting disabled. I got on the phone with CS, 10 min later they fixed AND gave me 50 free minutes as an apology. I’d love to see AT&T or Hellrizon ever do that.
@ Seth
I too, reside in the ‘country’…down in San Antonio (actually just outside of SA in Helotes). I ‘had’ been a TMO customer for over 5 years until November of last year. I’ve used them when I resided in the ‘big city’ (NYC), and kept them when i came down here. I can tell you that on my drives between San Antonio and Austin, or Dallas, or Houston, I lost signal. Granted, I don’t think you’ll cover every area possible, but I was on main roads such as 10 and 35. Lost some connectivity on the TMO Pearl. Was carrying GPRS for a good portion in some areas, which killed my data reach and emails. I finally gave up and switched to VZW and got the 8130. Night and day when it comes to tethering. I have to say VZW provides a better service, and the coverage is strong as well. Not great in ‘Hill Country’, but then again, none of them are.
TMO hands down has the best customer service, and it’s one of the reasons why I hung on so long with their great rates and friendly smiles. But VZW is giving me the best coverage and the EVDO Rev. A is sweet.