It’s been a busy week for T-Mobile. After refusing to comment to PhoneNews.com on T-Mobile testing 1900 MHz UMTS service in select markets, a direct effort to support unlocked iPhones, the carrier has made more depressing internal moves.

It appears that the carrier has aborted plans to offer 3G on 1900 MHz, as the carrier earlier this month began instructing customer service to suggest iPhone users on the network upgrade to a 4G Android smartphone, compatible with their network frequencies. T-Mobile offered customer support representatives a series of talking points on why iPhone is limited to 2G, or EDGE speeds on the T-Mobile network.

While it is possible that these are simply two different hands of a company not talking to one another, the timeline does indicate that T-Mobile wants iPhone off its network, rather than embrace the 1900 MHz band for UMTS. With no possibility of an AT&T merger, the carrier has to decide to use 1900 MHz for UMTS, or save it for LTE.

The carrier also has to decide when to wind down its GSM/EDGE services, which would leave iPhone customers in the dark. Other handsets that are GSM-only could be upgraded for free with UMTS handsets at marginal cost to T-Mobile. AT&T had to undergo the same effort when it wound down its TDMA and AMPS networks, and will likely have to do the same with GSM in order to re-use the spectrum.

Following criticism from many, T-Mobile does now appear to be pulling at least a temporary about-face with the public. The carrier has published memos internally, confirmed by PhoneNews.com, that they will begin to provide basic technical support for iPhone on the T-Mobile network.

Support will be limited to basic compatibility configuration, the T-Mobile APN (needed to enable data services), as well as T-Mobile’s email and MMS gateways.

In addition, T-Mobile will also provide support for iPhone usage and navigation, but only at a basic level. Services like the App Store and iTunes or iPod will not be supported, T-Mobile representatives are directed to tell customers to contact Apple for further technical support.

T-Mobile is the only of the major four carriers to not carry an iPhone currently. This partially stemmed from AT&T’s intention to purchase/merge with T-Mobile, and T-Mobile refusing to pay Apple’s higher device subsidies. T-Mobile executives have commented that the next iPhone will support T-Mobile’s network, prompting T-Mobile public relations to perform damage control, having announced an Apple product prior to Apple confirming it.

We were all set to close out the lights on PhoneNews.com to celebrate Christmas, but we got one piece of information that we had to push out to readers.

Many in the mobile media had been covering that T-Mobile customers had suddenly noticed UMTS/HSPA receptivity on the unlocked iPhone models. This appears to be coming from the 1900 MHz signal, indicating that T-Mobile has begun, in the wake of the failed merger with AT&T, to begin rolling out 3G coverage for AT&T-banded devices.

Unfortunately, T-Mobile formally declined to comment to PhoneNews.com after we asked what the official status of this situation is. The carrier’s media relations team was unaware of the situation until we brought it to their attention, indicating that this offering was not intentional on T-Mobile’s part.

In fact, this may have been little more than a pilot program, we have only confirmed signal receptivity in one single market (Northern CA and Reno, NV, which is a single market by T-Mobile territories).

By using 1900 MHz for UMTS/HSPA, the carrier is using bandwidth that previously had to remain open for GSM/EDGE network traffic. Much as AT&T and Verizon had to move customers off older network standards, T-Mobile may see fit to begin pushing customers away from GSM, and toward a UMTS-only network.

As part of T-Mobile’s termination agreement with AT&T regarding their merger, the two agreed to a network-wide UMTS roaming agreement. These kinds of agreements were long sought after by consumer groups, and smaller carriers alike, noting that the carriers could not find any reasons in principle to not have such pacts.

Armed with a UMTS roaming agreement with AT&T, T-Mobile simply does not need to continue operating a GSM network. While millions of customers still have GSM devices, the per-device cost for a basic UMTS feature phone is low enough now that a trade-off would be to T-Mobile’s advantage; start welcoming iPhone customers immediately by reducing GSM spectrum immediately.

T-Mobile is now offering unlimited plans at the $50/month price-point, including data. At those rates, T-Mobile could argue that customers purchasing an unlocked iPhone would save money over AT&T, even factoring in the nearly $400 device subsidy that AT&T pays for each iPhone customer.

After all, there’s nothing stopping T-Mobile from offering bill credits and subsidies on service in lieu of a contract phone purchase…

I’ve posted a few brief comments on Steve’s passing on my personal blog…

It’s not 100% clear yet if all iPhone 4S variants will have CDMA hardware inside, but Apple has made one thing clear; if you purchase an iPhone 4S from AT&T, a GSM/UMTS carrier, or an unlocked version, you won’t be able to use it on CDMA carriers like Sprint and Verizon.

Many sites, including a few of our competitors, were unsure why Apple made this move. Thankfully, we have the answers.

Presuming all iPhone 4S variants have the necessary CDMA hardware, we explore the history, and answer why, you cannot activate that CDMA radio on a GSM carrier. And, we’ll also tackle the difficult questions for CDMA customers of roaming on GSM that iPhone 4S has raised.

And yes, there’s a history lesson involved.

First, a primer. CDMA is the abbreviation for Code Division Multiple Access, and its more modern version, CDMA2000, which is the network that Sprint, Verizon, MetroPCS, Leap/Cricket, and others use today as their primary network. GSM/UMTS are the (2G/3G, respectively) networks that T-Mobile and AT&T use.

GSM/UMTS is primarily used in Europe and much of Asia. CDMA is the predominant network in the Americas, and portions of Europe. While CDMA does not have a technical future, its diminishing cost has driven it to developing nations, while GSM/UMTS are migrating to the newer LTE technology. As such, Sprint and Verizon will also eventually be using LTE as their primary networks.

Up until now, there have been practically zero phones that operated on both CDMA, and GSM/UMTS, in the same country. There are a plethora of international devices however that operate on the frequencies used abroad, as well as networks locally. Even when devices supported both CDMA 3G and GSM 2G, they rarely have supported the U.S. GSM, UMTS, and CDMA frequencies at once.

Much of this has been at the behest of US carriers. Regulatory concerns crop up once CDMA and GSM carriers can interact with one-another. Specifically, each and every carrier fears that the FCC may begin to mandate that the carriers act homogeneously. If the carriers can claim technical barriers to that, then they can stave off FCC mandates regarding roaming, interoperability, unlocking of devices, stolen device databases, and… well, we’ll end the run-on sentence there.

This makes iPhone 4S a bit of a game changer. Technologically, there’s nothing stopping a Sprint or Verizon customer from accessing AT&T’s “4G” GSM/UMTS/HSPA+ network. They could also theoretically access T-Mobile’s 2G GSM network.

However, they can’t. The reason is aforementioned paragraph regarding why the carriers have not wanted this innovation; they don’t want all the carriers being interoperable, as it opens the door to regulation. As such, none of the roaming agreements are in-place to allow for Sprint and Verizon customers to fall back to GSM/UMTS/HSPA, nor is there a roaming agreement for AT&T or T-Mobile customers to hop on Sprint and Verizon.

Now we start to see how this situation came about. Of course, if your iPhone is locked to AT&T, activating on Sprint or Verizon is not going to happen, so Apple simply disabled CDMA at the firmware level.

GSM carriers have abhorred the more-robust CDMA2000, some in Europe even made it illegal to deploy such a network in many areas through regulation and “discretionary mandates”. As such, international roaming in places like Brazil, Mexico, and elsewhere, cannot happen on the GSM side of things.

Apple, out of care to the carriers that are their largest customers, simply is disabling the CDMA portion of the device when initially activated on a GSM/UMTS carrier. This prevents all of these questions, and calls for comprehensive roaming agreements to occur.

It also prevents people from scamming AT&T out of a $400 subsidy, and then running the device right over to MetroPCS or Cricket.

The next question that then comes to mind is why you cannot take a device from Sprint to Verizon, and vice-versa. CDMA, unlike GSM, does not have firm subsidy locks… instead using an antiquated Master Subsidy Lock code system. As such, the risk of people ripping off a carrier is high. Customers have already hijacked “frozen” Verizon iPhone 4 devices and activated them on MetroPCS and other regional carriers, in areas where the devices are compatible (part of MetroPCS’s coverage uses the 1700 MHz frequency, which iPhone does not support currently on CDMA bands).

As such, Apple is again helping the carriers. While Apple cannot (totally) stop jailbreaking, they can ensure that unlocked versions of iPhone 4S are limited to the carriers that have openly accepted unlocked devices with open arms (AT&T, T-Mobile, and the MVNOs that operate on those networks).

Sprint has agreed, years ago, in a settlement to unlock and accept unlocked devices, but the attorneys that took their multi-million dollar payoff have never forced Sprint to enforce the latter part of the settlement. No attorney to date has filed the simple action needed to enforce this settlement. Verizon claims to accept unlocked devices through a similar settlement, but only supports a list of antiquated devices that can be hacked with a common tool — and will not activate a Sprint iPhone 4S, even if the subsidy has been fully paid.

In sum, most of the rules of CDMA vs GSM that Apple has laid out are of their own making, designed to appease the carriers that flagship their devices. The rules are born out of a history of antiquated technological boundaries that are no longer valid. It will be left to consumers to demand that things change.

Earlier today, T-Mobile sent out a statement to the press regarding the specifications for the recently launched LG G2X Android smartphone. The smartphone as listed on T-Mobile’s website claims support for 3G on the 850 and 1900MHz bands used by AT&T as well as its current 1700MHz AWS and 2100MHz bands for international roaming, leading many to speculate that the G2X would be one of the first T-Mobile phones to transition to AT&T’s network pending the completion of the merger. The above speculation has now been clarified in the following statement:

The T-Mobile G2x fact sheet, attached [PDF link], contains accurate information. The T-Mobile website is incorrect and we’re working to correct it. The G2x supports 850/900/1800/1900 MHz for 2G/GPRS only, and supports 3G/4G UMTS/HSPA+ bands I (2100) and IV (1700). The G2x does not support AT&T’s 3G bands. This banding is hardware based.

Very early this morning, AT&T held a conference call to outline the details of the $39 billion purchase of T-Mobile from Deutsche Telekom, with the key points being in the planned network transition at the completion of the purchase, which also hinges on regulatory approval.

AT&T has confirmed that it plans to transition the current T-Mobile 3G network to LTE once the purchase is complete and approved, with customers being moved off the AWS network onto AT&T 3G via deployment of dual-band W-CDMA cellsites and new multi-mode handsets, along with automatic roaming at no additional cost before completing the transition.

AT&T will still deploy the majority of its LTE network on the 700MHz spectrum already owned, while using the 1700MHz it also owns and combining it with the newly acquired T-Mobile infrastructure to deploy LTE in rural areas, emphasizing its goal to cover 95% of the country with the expanded network and stating a belief that the coverage goal will help it convince regulators to approve the purchase.

Cell phone radio manufacturer Option, best known for its UMTS modems has announced its newest multi-radio modules in the GTM601 and GTM609.

The GTM601 and GTM609 are being touted by the company as the smallest to support voice, GSM / HSPA, CDMA / EV-DO, GPS, and the new GLONASS navigation system.

The modules will also be compatible with Windows Phone 7, Android, MeeGo and Linux.

The FCC has approved a version of the iNQ Chat 3G handset primarily sold in Europe by the carrier 3 as a low-cost alternative to smart devices with support for AT&T 3G on the 850 and 1900 bands.

The handset is known for its tight integration with social networking services and messaging along with support for multimedia on the aforementioned European network.

No US carrier has announced support for the device, but iNQ had previously confirmed that it wanted to expand to the Americas during CTIA 2009.

Korean wireless carrier SKTelecom is demonstrating a rather novel concept for easing the typical tedium associated with swapping out phones and having to reapply customizations as well as the exchange of contact information from one device to another using Android.

The Android SIM concept as explained in the companion video allows for a user to carry a heavily customized Android build with complete settings and contact information from one phone to another without having to spend time adjusting settings or dealing with contact entry.

The SIM contains a complete build of Android, 1GB of memory and processor in a standard USIM package which would theoretically allow devices to be manufactured without NAND flash, dedicated processors or other components that typically drive up the cost of manufacturing such devices, simply needing a display and keyboard interface to function properly.

Image courtesy of PhoneArena

The first images and information have surfaced regarding the Verizon Wireless UMW190 USB modem expected to be released later this quarter. The modem features dual-band EVDO Rev. A for domestic use and quadband GSM/EDGE/triband HSPA access on Vodafone partner networks for international roaming with the included SIM card along with an external antenna port.

No pricing details are known at this time.

LG is slowly revealing more information on the mysterious BL40 New Chocolate device, with the latest information being presented in press images that demonstate the phone.

What is currently known about the device is that it features a 21:9 aspect ratio with an 800×345 resolution reinforced glass capacitive touch display at 4 inches in diagonal length, Flash-based user interface with WebKit based browser, 5.0 megapixel camera with autofocus and xenon flash, HSPA data access with Wi-Fi radio, Bluetooth with stereo audio support, 3.5mm headphone jack and A-GPS.

More concrete information is expected next month