Rolling out an LTE network may be T-Mobile's longer-term goal, but in the near term, it still has customers cruising on its HSPA+ 4G network to satisfy.
Starting today, denizens of Abilene, Amarillo, Odessa, and Victoria, Texas; Bakersfield, Calif.; Eau Claire, Wis.; and Joplin and St. Joseph, Mo., are the newest recipients of T-Mobile's faster network.
The fastest speeds, known as HSPA+ 42 (which stands for theoretical download speeds of up to 42Mbps), will come to the Texan and Californian cities, as well as to Port St. Lucia, Fla. That brings the total to HSPA+ in 225 markets, according to T-Mobile.
For those of you who are curious about T-Mobile LTE stance, the carrier supplied its own Q&A with Neville Ray, its chief technology officer. "As we roll out LTE in 2013," Ray said, "we have the advantage of coming to market at a time when the price points on LTE devices and network infrastructure will be coming down and the performance of LTE devices and network infrastructure will be improving."
T-Mobile announced the HTC One S Android Ice Cream Sandwich smartphone at Mobile World Congress last month, one of three debut phones introducing the new HTC One handset family.