Android and Me has noted that Best Buy will sell the Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), ever-so-slightly curved 4″ Super AMOLED screen and other goodies that set the Nexus S as the standard for all upcoming Android phones.

Today Best Buy issued another statement to let customers know that all Best Buy stores and Best Buy Mobile stand-alone locations will be selling the Nexus S. Despite what your local store might say, this includes every location including those that do not regularly carry T-Mobile devices.

The important thing to note is that if your store does not regularly carry T-Mobile phones and you want to purchase one on contract for $199, you will not be walking out of the store with a device. Instead you will have to place your order online and then have the Nexus S delivered to your home. However, if you want to buy it off contract for $529 then it will of course go home with you on launch day.

Bad news.. T-Mobile only – I’m still on AT&T. Good news… it’s going to be sold in stores all over, much unlike the Google Nexus.

[ Links: Android and Me: Best Buy Will Sell the Nexus S ]

Buoyed by the recent ITU declaration that nobody is technically deploying a 4G network here in the States, T-Mobile recently kicked off a new marketing campaign proclaiming that the carrier has the “largest 4G network.”

One cornerstone of the new campaign is apparently making fun of AT&T’s network, which has seen more than its fair share of criticism the last few years due to performance issues in markets like New York and San Francisco. Recent commercials portray AT&T as a balding, middle aged man weighing down the iPhone 4, and the latest ad in the series airing this week certainly isn’t flattering. AT&T got into a feud with Verizon last year about ads mocking AT&T 3G coverage (they even filed suit), but so far hasn’t had anything to say about T-Mobile’s campaign.

Link to the original article…

Last May Wal-Mart launched “Common Cents Mobile,” one of many rebranded Sprint prepaid wireless services. Wal-mart also sells Straight Talk service, which runs on the Verizon and AT&T networks. Apparently to ensure T-Mobile doesn’t feel left out, Wal-mart’s now teaming with T-Mobile to launch a Wal-mart branded postpaid wireless phone service subbed “Wal-Mart Family Mobile.”

According to a merchandising VP at Wal-Mart, they’re launching a postpaid service, in part because there’s “a perception among customers that prepaid service doesn’t offer access to the best phones or the best network quality.”

Link to the original article…

Back in July, slides shown at a T-Mobile manager’s meeting suggested the company wanted to push their 3G HSPA network toward downstream speeds of 42 Mbps. T-Mobile today confirmed those ambitions. T-Mobile’s busily deploying HSPA+ upgrades capable of 21 Mbps downstream speeds (though users see half that), and 42 Mbps speeds will arrive sometime in 2011.

While technically still just 3G, the company will be offering speeds as fast as fourth-gen services, including Verizon’s upcoming LTE service (5-12 Mbps) and Clearwire (3-6 Mbps). Granted, many users are more interested in coverage and reliability above of a few extra megabits per second.

Link to the original article…

As noted back in January, MagicJack was gearing up to offer a new femtocell product that will allow users to make cheap calls using a GSM-based mobile phone. There’s still very limited technical details about the product, outside of the fact it detects a compatible phone within eight feet of the USB femtocell device, and allows users to make VoIP calls with it.

Back in January MagicJack said the device was supposed to go on sale right around now (present time) for somewhere between $20-$40.

More recently the company started telling blogs that the product is still expected to come out this year but with a new wrinkle: the company’s partnering with an as-yet-unnamed mobile carrier. Except given the technology is GSM based, here in the States obviously the company would have to partner either with AT&T or T-Mobile.

But according to a new article by Peter Svensson of the AP, the project is now “on hold” as finding that partner has apparently proven difficult:

Borislow said plans for the device are now on hold. The device had to use low signal power levels to get around legal restrictions on the use of licensed spectrum, but that also shortened the range and reduced sound quality. He’s now looking for a carrier partner that would allow him to turn the power up.

In other words, neither AT&T or T-Mobile were interested in promoting a technology that could cannibalize their own business models. Of course MagicJack creator Dan Borislow has something else cooked up: he’s launching a software version of MagicJack this week called MagicTalk that offers free calls to landlines or cellphones in the U.S. or Canada.

Link to the original article…

It was already known that T-Mobile planned to nurse HSPA+ for as long as possible, and that their fourth generation wireless broadband plans were murky at best. Rene Obermann, CEO of T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom, says the company won’t even consider making a move on LTE for at least two years. According to Obermann, the company isn’t worried that they’ll lag LTE efforts by Verizon and AT&T, who’ll both have deployments underway by that time. Says Obermann:

“We’ll get a fourth-generation wireless network either by buying spectrum or re-farming existing spectrum, or potentially leasing spectrum together with others. I don’t think we’ll trail others in the next two years. With HSPA+ we’re in a very good position. We still have plenty of capacity, so we are competitive” said Obermann.

T-Mobile does have some time (but not a lot) to dilly dally as they consider their next move. The company’s current upgrades allow theoretical downstream speeds of up to 20 Mbps, and there have been rumors they’ll try to push HSPA+ towards 40 Mbps down the line. While Verizon plans to offer 4G services by the end of this year, their LTE deployment will be initially capped at 5-12 Mbps downstream. AT&T meanwhile is taking their time on the shift to LTE, and like T-Mobile is nursing HSPA+, albeit less aggressively.

Link to the original article…

For years wireless carriers have had played fast and loose with the word “unlimited,” advertising their services as such but then quietly imposing caps (usually 5 Gbps) or other restrictions. While Verizon Wireless had their wrist slapped back in 2007 for the practice by New York’s Attorney General, that still didn’t stop many carriers from continuing the practice. Now T-Mobile is being sued in California for inaccurately advertising their limited (10 GB) data services for smartphones as unlimited. Complains the suit:

The only warning given to consumers, according to the suit, is a statement “on the very last page of a T-Mobile brochure, buried in minuscule type barely readable, that ‘Your data session may be slowed, suspended, terminated, or restricted if you use your service in a way that interferes with or impacts our network or ability to provide quality service to other users …”

Parts of the suit are melodramatic for effect, lawyers arguing that the surprise limit makes smartphones “essentially useless for anything other than making or receiving phone calls and text messages.” T-Mobile’s current 10 GB cap is rather generous, and last we checked, unlike some other carriers, T-Mobile only throttles users who cross it they don’t impose unreasonable overages or boot users from the network.

All of that said, the solution for carriers who don’t want suits, user complaints or AG investigations seems pretty simple: stop using the word unlimited, and make your service restrictions clear. False advertising is false advertising, and wireless carriers have been trying to have their cake and eat it too on this front for years. The definition of unlimited is clear, and burying limits for your “unlimited” data plans in fine print on page 50 of your terms of service doesn’t change that fact.

Link to the original article…

T-Mobile is joining Comcast and Verizon (on the landline front) in pushing the long-overdue IPv6 ball forward, and has started their IPv6 user trials. According to this T-Mobile Google Group posting, users interested in participating must be a T-Mobile USA subscriber with an unlimited data plan in a T-Mobile coverage area (not roaming), and you must have a Nokia 5230 Nuron, Nokia E73 or Nokia N900 phone. T-Mobile notes that your participation might not be particularly fun, given that “services like Visual Voice Mail, MyAccount, MMS (picture messages), and several other services do not yet work,” and your only avenue of support will be the via the Google Group they created. In other words, as T-Mobile puts it, this is only for users who are “feeling adventurous.”

Link to the original article…

As noted back in January, Magic Jack is gearing up to offer a new femtocell product that will allow users to make cheap calls using a GSM based mobile phone. There’s still very limited technical details about the product, outside of the fact it detects a compatible phone within eight feet of the USB femto device, and allows users to make VoIP calls with it.

Back in January Magic Jack said the device was supposed to go on sale right around now for somewhere between $20-$40. Now the company is telling blogs that the product is still expected to come out this year but with a new wrinkle: the company’s partnering with an as-yet-unnamed mobile carrier. Given T-Mobile and AT&T are the only GSM carriers, it’s either one of them, or one of the prepaid carriers riding on one of those two networks.

Link to the original article…

On the heels of announcing that faster (10 Mbps+) HSPA+ wireless service is now available in 50 markets, T-Mobile this week tweeted that the company would be launching its first HSPA+ phone later this summer. The company may also be getting the Apple iPhone this fall, according to the Cult of Mac.

An anonymous source tells the website that it’s “80% likely” that the phone could arrive on T-Mobile during Q3 (well ahead of a rumored Verizon January 2011 launch), and talks between Apple and T-Mobile are “at an advanced stage.” Of course post-AT&T exclusive iPhone rumors veered beyond ridiculous long ago, so take this with a grain of salt. Or seventy grains of salt.

Link to the original article…

As rumors had suggested, T-Mobile this week is launching faster HSPA+ upgrades in 24 new markets, including Austin, Baltimore, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Kansas City, St. Louis, Milwaukee and many other large markets (hit their release for the full list). With these new launches, T-Mobile says they now offer the faster service in fifty markets nationwide, reaching roughly 85 million Americans. The service is theoretically capable of 21 Mbps downstream, but users should see speeds somewhere closer to 10 Mbps. T-Mobile hopes to reach about 185 million subscribers with the faster technology by the end of the year. T-Mobile today also unveiled their new, swiveling and HSPA+ ready webConnect Rocket 2.0 USB Laptop Stick.

Link to the original article…

Some leaked details have emerged that T-Mobile is preparing for a June effort to help the fourth-placed U.S. wireless carrier improve its fortunes. According to leaked scripts for two as-yet-unaired T-Mobile commercial spots, the company is planning to give away phones for free on June 19 – assuming of course that you sign a long-term contract.

The exact details of the giveaway aren’t yet clear, though the Father’s Day promotion does seem very broad – the promotion insisting that T-Mobile will be giving away “every single handset in the store.” We can only assume there will be some fine print (when isn’t there?) that hopefully will be revealed in a week or two.

Link to the original article…