T-mobile:

T-mobile is a GSM carrier. GSM is the type of radio wave that goes from a cell site, to your phone, and vice versa. The other version is CDMA. If you want to learn more about this, go here: Howstuffworks "What does GSM mean in a cell phone?"
T-mobile and Cingular are the two national GSM carriers.
Verizon and Sprint/Nextel are the two national CDMA carriers.

GSM carriers (T-mobile and Cingular) have SIM cards. A SIM card has your phone number on it, some times your text messages, and your contacts. If you take your SIM card out of your phone, and put it in a different one, that phone will now ring if you dial your phone number. What ever phone your SIM card is, is what ever phone rings when someone calls you. It will also have you contacts and your text messages.

T-mobile does NOT charge for roaming in the United States. International roaming charges can be found here: Unsupported Browser

Unlocking: Carriers like T-mobile and Cingular do something, called "locking", to their phones. That means that when T-mobile sells a phone to you, it is locked to T-mobile, and you can ONLY use it with at T-mobile SIM card. You cannot use a Cingular SIM card in it, or any other SIM card. You can buy unlocked phones off of E-bay, or, after 90 days, you can call T-mobile and ask them to unlock your phone. They will give you a code to put in your phone, and after that you will be able to put a Cingular SIM card in your phone.

T-mobile does NOT support having two numbers on one phone, or two phones with one number.

I will go over some terms you will probably hear here on the forum:

Deutsch Telekom: The European tele-communications company that owns T-mobile USA.

1900 MHz: The Frequency that T-mobile utilizes for their voice and data. T-mobile uses 1900 MHz, while Cingular uses 850 MHz. Essentially, 1900 MHz is the length of the waves, meaning that 1900 is longer then 850. Due to this, 850 MHz pierces walls and buildings easier then 1900 MHz does. T-mobile has Voice and Data on 1900 frequency as of early 2007

Voice: When you call someone, or they call you, voice is what you hear, and what the person on the other end hears.

SMS: A text message - T-Mobile's SMSC (Service Messaging Something Center) is +12063130004.

MMS: A picture or video message.

Data: The tranfer of data back and forth from your phone. Usually data involves Internet access through WAP or a Java app. Types of data on T-mobile phones listed below:

GPRS: The slowest form of internet on a phone. Usually not over 10 Kb/s (dial up) T-mobile has GPRS almost everywhere they have coverage.

EDGE or EGPRS: A much faster version of GPRS. I get EDGE where I live, and have over 100 Kb/s which is fairly fast. I watch YouTube with 100 Kb/s (its not great, but definitely not bad)

WAP: The kind of Internet your phone uses when it connects to the Internet.

Java App: When you download a game, it uses Java. Java is the coding that is on your phone, that makes games, and other stuff run. Java apps include any kind of game or program you download, weather it be Google maps, Yahoo go, or Windows live.

1700/2100: Recently there was a wireless auction done by the FCC, and they auctioned off the 1700/2100 MHz frequency, and T-mobile's parent company dropped about $4.3 billion to buy spectrum across the United States. T-mobile will be putting 3G on this newly acquired 1700/2100 MHz frequency

Dual Band: A cell phone that has 850/1900 MHz. This phone is perfect for T-mobile in the United States because it can use T-mobile (1900) and also roam off of Cingular (850)

Tri-Band: A cell phone usually with 900/1800/1900 MHz. This works with T-mobile, but does not roam off of Cingular, as it does not have 850 MHz

Quad-Band 850/900/1800/1900: If you plan on doing international traveling and using a SIM card overseas, or roaming on T-mobile, you want this phone. Countries other then the U.S. use 1800/900 so if your traveling, then you may want it.

2G, 2.5G and 3G: The G stands for generation. These terms are used to describe how advanced the technology that a company uses is. 2G (2nd generation) describes a phone that can make calls, and use GPRS, but not at the same time. 2.5 G describes a phone that can make calls (now called voice) and has EDGE, but these cannot be used at the same time. 3G (3rd generation) describes a phone that has voice, and UMTS or HSDPA (even faster versions of GPRS and EDGE, explained below) and voice CAN be used at the same time as Internet.

UMTS: A type of internet that goes over 1Mb/s, pretty much the speed of broadband (Mod, please add to this and the next one)

HSDPA: An even faster type of internet

Short Codes: Codes you can type into your T-mobile cell phone, and find the following info
* #BAL# or #225# - Displays current postpaid balance.

* #MSG# or #674# - Displays SMS/MMS used.

* #MIN# or #646# - Displays minutes used.

* #NUM# or #686# - Displays your current phone number.

* *NUM or *686 - plays back phone number of current SIM.

* #PWO# or #796# - Turns voicemail security on or off.
Sample: Voicemail password has been turned ON/OFF. To turn this feature ON/OFF, dial #PWO# again.

* #PWD# or #793# - Resets voicemail password.
Sample: Your voicemail password has been reset to the last 4 digits of your mobile number.

* #999# - Prepaid balance.

* *ADD or *233 - Add minutes to your prepaid T-Mobile To Go account with a credit card or electronic check.

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T-mobile's roaming partners inside the United States:

United States

Airadigm Communications - GSM 1900

Alaska Digitel, LLC - GSM 1900

Alltel Communications Inc - GSM 850/1900

C T Cube, LP - GSM 850

Caprock Cellular Limited Partnership - GSM 850

Cellular Properties, Inc (Cellular One of East Central Illinois) - GSM 850

Centennial Communications - GSM 850

Chariton Valley Communications Corporation Inc (Chariton Valley Communication Corporation) - GSM 1900

Choice Wireless LC (AmeriLink PCS) - GSM 1900

Commnet Wireless, LLC - GSM 850/1900

Concho Cellular Telephone Co., Inc. - GSM 1900

Corr Wireless Communications - GSM 1900

Dobson Communications Corporation - GSM 850/1900

E.N.M.R. Telephone Cooperative (Plateau Wireless - New Mexico RSA 2 and New Mexico RSA 6-II) - GSM 850

Easterbrooke Cellular Corporation - GSM 850

Edge Wireless - GSM 1900

Epic Touch Co (Elkhart Telephone Co Inc - Liberal, KS) - GSM 1900

Farmers Cellular Telephone Inc - GSM 850/1900

Indigo Wireless, Inc - GSM 1900

Iowa Wireless Services, LP - GSM 1900

Key Communications, LLC (West Virginia Wireless) - GSM 1900

Keystone Wireless LLC (Immix Wireless - Pottsville, PA) - GSM 1900

Long Lines Wireless LLC - GSM 1900

Mid-Tex Cellular, Ltd. - GSM 850/1900

New Mexico RSA 4 East Ltd Partnership (Plateau Wireless - New Mexico RSA 4 East) - GSM 850

Pine Telephone Company (Pine Cellular) - GSM 850

Pinpoint Wireless Inc - GSM 1900

SunCom Wireless Holdings Inc (SunCom AT&T - Knoxville) - GSM 1900

SunCom Wireless Holdings Inc (SunCom AT&T - Richmond-Norfolk) - GSM 1900

SunCom Wireless Holdings Inc (SunCom AT&T - Atlanta) - GSM 1900

SunCom Wireless Holdings Inc (SunCom AT&T - Washington-Baltimore) - GSM 1900

SunCom Wireless Holdings Inc (SunCom AT&T - Charlotte-Greensboro-Greenvill) - GSM 1900

Texas RSA 3 Ltd Partnership (Plateau Wireless - Texas RSA 3) - GSM 850

TMP Corp (SIMMETRY - Quincy, IL- Hannibal, MO) - GSM 1900

Union Telephone Company - GSM 850/1900

Wireless Alliance - GSM 1900

XIT Wireless (Texas RSA 1 Ltd Partnership DBA XIT Cell) - GSM 850

Advantage Cellular Systems Inc - GSM 850

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If I missed anything, have any errors, or you would like to know what something means, feel free to post it below. This thread is for beginners on T-mobile. Please tell me if it helped you, and what we could do better.

If you are experiencing network issues, call T-mo (611 on your cell phone, 1-800-937-8997 from elsewhere) and log a service issue. They will ask you the following questions, so be prepared to give them as much information as possible to help them locate and correct the problem in your area:

- When did you notice the problem (Time/Date)?

- Where were you when the problem occurred (Address/Intersection/Cross Streets)? If in a vehicle, please provide the direction you were driving?

- What is the exact nature of the problem? Dropped call (in conversation
connection is lost), Call Setup Failure (at least one signal bar), No
Coverage (zero bars), or Poor Voice Quality?

- How would you best describe the problem that you experienced (i.e.
cutting out, distorted speech, one-way audio, other conversations, or
screech)?

- Has the quality of your service changed or degraded in regards to this
problem?

- Were there full signal bars on your phone? If not, then how many?

- Did you ever have coverage at this location?

- If the engineers need more information may they contact you directly (and how)?

By keeping these questions in mind AND gathering as much relevant information possible when you hit a troubled location, you can greatly increase the chance the problem will be fixed AND minimize time it takes to fix it. It's impossible for ANY carrier (even T-mobile) to have perfect signal strength everywhere, 100% of the time, AND/OR know exactly who, where, and when everyone is having coverage issues at any given time. BUT if people start calling in their service issues and at least let the carrier know where/when they have issues, then in general, I would imagine many legit issues could be resolved quickly instead of dragging out for extended periods of time.

Just remember, every extra set of eyes... errr, ears... helps! :idea:

Excellent posting! Great job!!

Happy is the man who learns from the misfortunes of others.　　　 /　\./　\/\_　　 I Hand You　 __{^\_ _}_　 )　}/^\　　　 A Rose...　/　/\_/^\._}_/　//　/ (　(__{(@)}\__}.//_/__A___A__wow gold____A__wow gold_A______A____　\__/{/(_)\_}　)\\ \\---v----V-----V--Y----v---Y-----　　(　 (__)_)_/　)\ \>　　　　 \__/　　 \__/\/\/