The much hyped T-Mobile G1 handset will hit the market next month, but its in my eyes, it has a major obstacle to overcome – the overwhelming lack of a 3G network to operate on. Many site AT&T’s 3G coverage (or lack) as a weakness with the iPhone 3G models, but T-Mobile’s 3G network coverage is abysmal. It looks like parts of Texas, New England, Atlanta and spots of California are the only lucky 3G coverage in T-Mobile’s network from examining their coverage map.
What makes matters worse is the fact that AT&T and T-Mobile, our nation’s only GSM network operators, aren’t on compatible 3G frequencies, so phones from one network can’t even roam onto the other provider’s network. While this might be nice for the network’s “customer loyalty”, its horrible for customer choice. It means monopoly for handsets and shackles for users. Lack of choice is never a good thing in any market. I hope that we will see this change, but incompatible networks has long been the de-facto operating stance for American phone providers.
For clarity sake, T-Mobile lists the following cities (look how many are Coming Soon) with 3G coverage (source):
- Atlanta
- Austin
- Birmingham – Coming Soon
- Boston
- Chicago
- Dallas
- Denver – Coming Soon
- Detroit – Coming Soon
- Houston
- Kansas City – Coming Soon
- Las Vegas
- Los Angeles
- Memphis – Coming Soon
- Miami
- Minneapolis
- New York
- Orlando
- PhiladelphiaPhoenix
- Portland
- Sacramento – Coming Soon
- San Diego
- San Francisco
- Seattle
- Tampa – Coming Soon
