T-Mobile USA supplying 3G for unlocked iPhones in some areas

T-Mobile in the US is well known for its 1700MHz 3G band that leaves incompatible devices on EDGE. But reports are appearing that a 1900MHz band has become available in parts of Nevada, Northern California and the Northwest. That's great news for the reported 1 million iPhone users on T-Mobile's networks, since that's a 3G band supported by their Apple phones.

Several other phones can jump on the new frequency too - Samsung's Galaxy S, S II and Tab, the HTC Radar and Huawei Springboard are reported to have had success. You can try dialing *#0011# to enter a service menu and attempt to move to the 1900MHz band as well.

T-Mobile's expansion into the 1900MHz band is part of their plan to push their HSPA+ network to 84Mbps downlink speeds. T-Mobile has a habit of calling their HSPA+ "4G" but this time they seem to have a point - reports of real-life 3G speeds show 7.92Mbps downlink and 1.77Mbps uplink speeds, beating AT&T's own 3G network.

All that's great, but T-Mobile is the one carrier of the big four that doesn’t carry the iPhone (officially anyway, unlocked iPhones on T-Mo's network number over one million according to the carrier).

If they expand the 1900MHz across the whole country though, the number of unlocked iPhones on T-Mobile's network might grow quickly.

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