T-Mobile US

T-Mobile USA, Inc.

Company type	Private (Subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom)
Industry	Wireless Services
Founded	2001 as Voicestream Wireless
Headquarters	Bellevue, Washington
Area served	United States (including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands)
Key people	Philipp Humm - President and CEO (November 1, 2010)
Products	HSPA+, HSPA, HSUPA, HSDPA, W-CDMA, UMTS, UMA, EDGE, GPRS, GSM
Revenue	US$16 billion(Q1 - Q3 2010)
Operating income	US$2.092 billion(Q1 - Q3 2010)
Net income	US$1.086 billion(Q1 - Q3 2010)
Number of employees	37,612 (2010)
Parent	T-Mobile
Website	www.t-mobile.com

T-Mobile branch office, San Juan, Puerto Rico

In the United States, T-Mobile is a cellular telecommunications provider. It is wholly owned by Deutsche Telekom, itself based in Bonn, Germany, as part of its T-Mobile division. It was formed from 4 U.S. companies, VoiceStream Wireless, Aerial, Omni Point and Powertel (VoiceStream acquired Aerial, Omnipoint and Powertel before T-Mobile acquired it). In May 2001, VoiceStream was acquired by Deutsche Telekom for US$24 billion, and in September 2002 the combined U.S. company's name changed to T-Mobile. Headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, T-Mobile USA is currently the fourth-largest wireless carrier in the U.S. market, behind Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility and Sprint Nextel with 33.8 million customers as of the end of the third quarter of 2010 and annual revenue of US$21.53 billion for their 2009 fiscal year.

T-Mobile USA tends to compete on value and advertises heavily to the family market. Historically, they have also pioneered new features; they were the first U.S. carrier to launch a ringback tones service nationally (CallerTunes), video messaging and "HiFi Ringers" (ringtones which are clips of an actual song), and they became the first company to use and promote the Android operating system from Google, with the launch of the G1.

As of 2010, T-Mobile USA has captured at least 18 J.D. Power Awards in the areas of customer care, call quality, and overall customer satisfaction. In particular, it has dominated the wireless industry in the area of customer care and customer satisfaction, winning all customer care and satisfaction awards for all six surveyed regions for eight years in a row & 20 with two ties.

As of July 29, 2010, T-Mobile USA has won J.D. Power Award once again in the 2010 U.S. Wireless Customer Care Performance Study - Volume 2 making it award #18 excluding the two ties which would make it #20. T-Mobile has shown that they provide the best customer service in the United States out of its competitors Sprint Nextel, Verizon Wireless & AT&T Mobility.

Network

A T-Mobile store in San Jose, California

Through acquisitions of Aerial, APT, Digiph PCS, Eliska, General Cellular Corp, GSM Alliance, Intercel, Omnipoint, Pacific Northwest Cellular, Powertel, SOL Wireless, SunCom Wireless, Voicestream, Western PCS, GSM Facilities, and Western Wireless, T-Mobile has added sites to its network. The native T-Mobile network currently consists of 36,400 cell sites and predominantly uses the GSM/GPRS/EDGE 1900 MHz frequency-band, making it the largest 1900 MHz network in the United States. As of 2010, T-Mobile covers over 293 million customers.

Data service is available to most users in the form of the older General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) or newer Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE). EDGE coverage is stated as being available within at least 75% of the GSM footprint. 3G service in the form of Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is available in most major markets. 3G (UMTS/HSPA/HSPA+) service by T-Mobile exclusively uses the AWS 1700/2100 MHz frequency-band, making it incompatible with other existing 3G UMTS/HSPA networks already established in the United States. On the 5th of January 2010, T-Mobile announced that it has upgraded its entire 3G network to HSPA 7.2 Mbit/s which is an improvement from its previous peak of 3.6 Mbit/s. T-Mobile also said that it plans to be the first U.S. carrier to deploy HSPA+ across its network by mid 2010. T-Mobile has finished HSPA+ trials in Philadelphia and has begun deploying HSPA+ across its network, HSPA+ is still available in Philadelphia. HSPA+ 21 service is now available to over 175 Million POPS.

Roaming

Although T-Mobile USA has the smallest native network of all the national U.S. carriers, it has roaming arrangements with a number of regional carriers, such as Centennial Wireless (Subsidiary of AT&T Mobility), Dobson (Subsidiary of AT&T Mobility), and Unicel (Verizon Wireless), and with the national carriers AT&T Mobility and the former Alltel (Verizon Wireless) GSM network. These carriers predominately provided service using the GSM 850 MHz band, and a dual band phone is required to use both the native and affiliate networks. When roaming on these affiliated networks airtime is deducted from the user's plan, as opposed to a surcharge, effectively expanding nationwide coverage.

As of 2008, prepaid customers have almost all of the postpaid domestic roaming privileges and restricted international roaming to Canada and Mexico.

On June 29, 2010, T-Mobile launched voice service via Roaming Agreement through Broadpoint in the Gulf of Mexico on GSM. T-Mobile is scheduled to launch data service this fall.

While international roaming is available to most customers, it must first be activated through customer service. Once provisioned, there is no monthly fee to maintain international roaming coverage.

In 2009, T-Mobile began removing AT&T roaming coverage in many locations across the country, and updated its on-line coverage maps to reflect the loss of coverage. AT&T roaming remains available in select locations, primarily on smaller carriers that were acquired by AT&T after long term roaming contracts were in place between T-Mobile and the smaller carrier. These smaller carriers include Centennial Wireless and Edge Wireless.

T-Mobile HotSpots

A T-Mobile HotSpot is a Wi-Fi based internet access point, generically called a hotspot, which provides high-speed wireless internet access to computers and electronic devices within a distance of approximately 300 ft (90 m). The T-Mobile HotSpot service operates a nationwide collection of approximately 8,350 access points, installed in venues such as Starbucks coffeehouses (which will remain unchanged in spite of Starbucks migrating to AT&T ), Borders Books and Music stores, FedEx Kinko's Office and Print Centers, Hyatt Hotels and Resorts, Red Roof Inns, Sofitel and Novotel Hotels, the airline clubs of American Airlines, Delta, United Airlines and US Airways, and throughout a few airports and/or airport terminals.

The service was formed in 2002 when T-Mobile USA acquired the assets of MobileStar, a bankrupt wireless ISP that had been installing a collection of access points in venues such as Starbucks coffee shops, Hilton Hotels, and in American Airlines Admiral Club since 1998. Branded as T-Mobile HotSpots, the service was initially expanded into 400 Borders bookstores, as well as 100 of the most-frequented airport clubs and lounges operated by American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines.

Wi-Fi Calling

T-Mobile's Unlimited HotSpot Calling service is a Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) service that enables a wireless handset to make and receive calls via an internet-connected Wi-Fi network instead of the cellular network. The service was an add-on feature costing $9.99 on an existing plan (paying $39.99 and up). This fee allowed for basic unlimited calling to any number in the US from any compatible open Wi-Fi network worldwide, as well as US T-Mobile HotSpot locations. The Unlimited Hotspot Calling feature was discontinued with the launch of Even More and Even More Plus rate plans in October 2009. Customers can still utilize the UMA service for improved service in Wi-Fi hotspots, but the unlimited calling feature is no longer for sale.

In order to use the service, customers must use a UMA handset and have access to a wireless router. This is applicable in locations where cellular signal coverage is inadequate, enabling the wireless router to operate as a femtocell.

For use at home, T-Mobile branded wireless routers manufactured by D-Link or Linksys are available and claim advantages such as prioritizing voice calls and helping to preserve phone battery life, however most wireless routers work with the service and new equipment is not required.

If the Unlimited HotSpot Calling add-on service is removed from the service plan, a UMA handset will still be able to connect to WiFi routers for digital quality calls but minutes used will be deducted from the user's rate plan. (A customer service representative from T-Mobile indicated, however, that the removal of unlimited-calling-over-UMA may affect billing, beyond the deduction of minutes from the rate plan. In particular, T-Mobile UMA calls are billed based on the user's home time zone, because the UMA service does not provide a local-time time stamp. Thus, for a user who has a home time zone of Eastern Time (U.S.), a phone call made from the Pacific Time (U.S.) would be billed as originating at the time of the actual call + 3 hours. This may result in the call being billed at peak hours even though it was placed off-peak (and vice-versa)).

The service was initially soft-launched in select stores in the Seattle, Washington area. The nationwide service was launched on July 2, 2007 to all of T-Mobile's customers.

T-Mobile offers a landline replacement service called T-Mobile @Home. Using the same UMA technology to offer unlimited nationwide calling, the service requires a T-Mobile @Home branded Linksys router or adapter connected to an already existing high speed internet connection. The service is similar to offerings from other VoIP companies like Vonage, Comcast Digital Voice, or Verizon VoiceWing and launched nationally in the Fall of 2008 after two years of test marketing under the name T-Mobile Hotspot @Home. The name was changed at launch in order to avoid confusion with Unlimited Hotspot Calling and T-Mobile Hotspot Wi-Fi services.

The full list of features for @Home service is: basic caller ID, basic voicemail, Call waiting, Call forwarding, and Conference calling. As is the case of some other VoIP providers, fax transmittances currently don't work on this service. Calls within North America are unlimited. However, without the monthly $5 international discounted calling (add-on) package, those international calls are largely billed at T-Mobile's regular mobile phone rates.

As of May 2010, It was announced that T-Mobile is looking to launch UMA on Android devices in Q3 2010.

In October 2010, T-Mobile announced the evolution of its UMA service to a new service called Wi-Fi Calling planned for a wide selection of Android™-powered smartphones. The service is powered by Kineto Wireless Smart Wi-Fi technology. It will be offered first on the LG Optimus, Motorola Defy, T-Mobile G2 and myTouch 4G.

• Hotspot and @Home devices:
  • D-Link models: TM-G5240
  • Linksys models: WRT54G-TMTemplate:·w WRTU54G-TMTemplate:·w UTA200-TM
  • VTech models: 5146Template:·w TM3111-2

3G Upgrade

In September 2006, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) offered, at auction, licenses in the first Advanced Wireless Services band. This band was an area of wireless spectrum, half in the 1700 MHz (1.7 GHz) and half in the 2100 MHz (2.1 GHz) frequencies, that was already in use by government services but would be available at some point in the future when those services moved to different frequencies.

The auction made numerous licenses available in overlapping market-area, economic-areas, and regional levels. Each license was individually bid upon, and T-Mobile was the winner in 120 license auctions, at an aggregate price of $4.18 billion. As part of its winnings, T-Mobile gained nationwide coverage of 1.7 GHz and 2.1 GHz, with numerous areas being supplemented with addition licenses. Examples include New York City, Chicago, and Boston where T-Mobile acquired one-third (33%) of the available spectrum, or San Francisco, Houston, and Miami where they acquired 45% of the available spectrum.

Two weeks after confirming their winning bids, on October 6, 2006, T-Mobile announced their intentions to create a UMTS third generation, or 3G, cellular network with the spectrum they had won. T-Mobile USA said it would utilize and build on the experience of T-Mobile Europe, which already implemented its own 3G network, and at roll-out they intend to offer 7.2 Mbit/s service, making it the fastest 3G network in the United States. The upgrade was forecast to cost $2.6 billion, in addition to the $4.12 billion spent to acquire the spectrum.

During the October 6 announcement, T-Mobile indicated they had already begun to deploy about half of the upgraded equipment, beginning in major markets such as New York City. With the equipment in place, they would be able to activate their network as soon as the current users, various government services, vacated these frequencies. T-Mobile had hoped to have its network activated by mid-2007, but as of September 2007 the government users had not vacated the AWS band.

T-Mobile began selling their first 3G-capable phone, the Nokia 6263, in November 2007. They announced in February 2008 that their 3G network will finally be activated "within the next few months" and released in the New York City market on May 1, 2008.

Currently, T-Mobile carries over 20 3G capable devices, all of which support the WCDMA 1700 MHz and 2100 MHz frequencies.

So far T-Mobile has launched its 3G network in most of their top markets with 3G networks active already. Additional markets will launch as they are tuned for optimal performance and in conjunction with marketing programs for new services or handsets. In 2009 T-Mobile upgraded more than 200 markets, covering some 208 million POPs. T-Mobile has begun rolling out its 3.75G HSPA+ network across its existing 3G network and has plans to upgrade the entire 3G network by the end of 2010 covering 185 million POPs. T-Mobile's HSPA+ network offers up to 21 Mbit/s speeds, making it the fastest 3G network in the United States. As of June 2010, AT&T still claims to have the "Nation's fastest 3G network"; however, due to T-Mobile USA deploying a HSPA+ network, these claims are inaccurate. T-Mobile HSPA+ is also currently faster than Sprint Wi-Max.

On September 2, 2009, Nokia launched the N900, which was the first device to support HSPA 10.2.

On June 16, 2010, T-Mobile launched the Nokia E73 Mode which is the second handset to support HSPA 10.2.

On June 28, 2010, T-Mobile held a managers meeting in Seattle in which it was announced that they will begin to upgrade its HSPA+ 21 to HSPA+ 42 beginning sometime in 2011.

On Oct 4, 2010 T Mobile Officially Confirmed the new myTouch in their website with 4G communication facility and Screen Sharing Technology.

On Oct. 6, 2010, T-Mobile will be launching the T-Mobile G2, the first handset capable of HSPA+ speeds.

T-Mobile's top markets are as follows:

• New York, New York
• Austin, Texas
• New Jersey and Long Island
• Las Vegas, Nevada
• Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota
• Miami, Florida
• Dallas, Texas
• Chicago, Illinois
• Houston, Texas
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Denver, Colorado
• Detroit, Michigan
• Orlando, Florida
• St. Louis, Missouri
• Kansas City, Missouri/Kansas
• Atlanta, Georgia
• Los Angeles, California
• New England
• Portland, Oregon
• Sacramento, California
• San Diego, California
• Seattle, Washington
• Washington, D.C.
• San Francisco, California
• Birmingham, Alabama
• Memphis, Tennessee
• Tampa, Florida
• Phoenix, Arizona
• Knoxville, Tennessee
• Augusta, Georgia

Service Outages

Main article: Microsoft data loss 2009

On October 1, 2009 all Sidekick Data users lost all data functionality. Some users also experienced personal data loss — contacts, notes, calendars, etc.  On October 8, most data services were restored to some users. However, on October 10 it was announced that personal data may not be restored. The download catalog and T-Mail service are both still in the process of being restored as of current though some users are now able to use the T-Mail service. T-Mobile and Microsoft announced that all personal data stored on Sidekicks "almost certainly has been lost as a result of a server failure at Microsoft/Danger.". On October 15, 2009, Microsoft said they had been able to recover most or all data and would begin to restore them. A few weeks later, all Sidekick customers were able to recover their data via Danger's sync website using a restore file, or had the option to wait until data was restored to the device itself. Due to this outage, many users abandoned the Sidekick for another device, or left T-Mobile for another carrier entirely.

Radio Frequency Summary

The following is a list of known frequencies which T-Mobile employs in the United States:

Frequencies used on the T-Mobile USA Network

Frequency	Protocol	Class	Notes
850 MHz	GSM/GPRS/EDGE	2G	Non-native accessible via roaming agreement
1900 MHz	GSM/GPRS/EDGE	2G	Largest network in the United States
1700/2100 MHz	UMTS/WCDMA/HSPA/HSPA+	3G	Uses AWS Auctioned Spectrum

Current Plans and Services Offered

As of Oct. 25, 2009, T-Mobile launched Even More and Even More + plans. The plans were made to save customers money and provide a simpler way in choosing services.

Even More

Individual plans start at 39.99 and go up to 59.99/monthly. 3 options are given 500, 1000 & Unlimited voice minutes. Family plans start at 59.99 and go up to 99.99/monthly. 4 options are given 750, 1500, 3000 & Unlimited voice minutes. Customers buy a discounted handset which is subsidized and requires a 2 year contract. These plans include Unlimited Nights & Weekends at 9PM & Unlimited Mobile to Mobile.

Even More +

Individual plans start at 29.99 and go up to 49.99/monthly. 3 options are given 500, 1000 & Unlimited voice minutes. Family plans start at 49.99 and up to 79.99/monthly. 4 options are given 750, 1500, 3000 & Unlimited voice minutes. Customers can either bring their own GSM capable phone or purchase a handset from T-Mobile at retail price. The discount is there because you're paying retail price and they aren't subsidizing your handset. There is NO contract required. These plans include Unlimited Nights & Weekends at 9PM & Unlimited Mobile to Mobile.

webConnect™ Internet

T-Mobile currently offers 2 webConnect™ plans, which is mobile internet for a computer such as a laptop or a desktop, for $39.99 and $24.99, 5GB and 200MB, respectively. T-Mobile is currently one of the cheapest that offers mobile internet plans as most charge $59.99/monthly. T-Mobile doesn't charge overages for their 5 GB internet plan. T-Mobile however, may throttle speeds if the customer goes over the limit.

Flexpay

In July 2007, T-Mobile launched a service called Flexpay. This service is for those who have NO or poor credit. Customers also can request to be on Flexpay even if your credit check got qualified for Postpaid. This is an alternative to charging for a deposit for service and it doesn't allow overages on your bill. So your monthly payment will always be the same. Flexpay works similar to Prepaid in that the customer pays for service in advance. The customer has to pay up front for any services added rather than be billed. Flexpay customers have the option to sign up for autopay or be charged a $4.99 control charge fee every month. Customers get the same services (plans and features) as a postpaid account except flexpay does not allow laptop webConnect™ service and it limits how many lines you can have on the account. If you run out of minutes, you can purchase refill cards to allow overage at just 20 cents per minute. By doing that, you will always be in control of how much you pay, and you will never get a high bill full of overages. T-Mobile offers refill cards in $10, $20, $50 & $100 increments. These cards are available at T-Mobile retail stores, Wal-Mart, Target, 7-Eleven, Walgreens, Circle K, Office Depot, and many other locations. They can also be redeemed over the phone or online. Customers who have had good payment history for 6 months straight can request to do a Flexpay-To-Postpaid conversion. T-Mobile does a list monthly to see who qualifies to be switched over.

Corporate History

File:Voicestream logo.jpg

Former VoiceStream logo

The merger of General Cellular and Pacific Northwest Cellular formed Western Wireless, a cellular provider for several western and southwestern states, as well as Hawaii. After a successful public offering by Western Wireless, the VoiceStream Wireless division was formed. In 1999, this division was spun off as an independent company, and it proceeded to immediately acquire the regional GSM carriers Aerial Communications, in the midwest, and Omnipoint, in the northeast.

In May 2001, VoiceStream and the southern regional carrier Powertel were acquired by Deutsche Telekom for US$24 billion. In September 2002, the company's name changed nationally to T-Mobile.

On September 17, 2007 T-Mobile announced the acquisition of SunCom Wireless for $2.4 billion in cash. The acquisition expanded T-Mobile's network coverage to North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia. It also added Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to T-Mobile's footprint. At the end of the second quarter of 2007, SunCom had more than 1.1 million customers. The acquisition was subject to governmental and regulatory approvals as well as approval by SunCom shareholders. The deal closed on February 22, 2008.

As of September 8, 2008 SunCom's operations formally switched over to T-Mobile.

Employee and labor relations

Since it entered the American market in 2001, T-Mobile has been repeatedly criticized for its employment relations by the Communications Workers of America and the German service sector union ver.di and other groups. Likewise, the American Rights at Work and Human Rights Watch have issued studies of union intolerance at the company’s facilities.

Labor Rights Violations

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American Rights at Work has published a report documenting T-Mobile's anti-union activity titled "Setting the Standard or Lowering the Bar? Deutsche Telekom's U.S. Labor PracticesAmerican Rights at Work."

On December 9, 2009, international Human Rights Day, the non-profit organization American Rights at Work published the report, “Lowering the Bar or Setting the Standard? Deutsche Telekom’s U.S. Labor Practices,” written by Prof. John Logan, Director of Labor Studies, San Francisco State University. The report “exposes a systematic campaign by T-Mobile to prevent employees from forming a union” and “presents overwhelming evidence that DT is guilty of operating by a double standard: The company respects workers’ rights in Germany, where it cooperates closely with unions, but mistreats workers in the United States and interferes with their right to organize.” writes Logan.

The report, which is based on documents from the National Labor Relations Board, internal company memos and handbooks, and interviews with workers, details T-Mobile management’s aggressive use of union-busting tactics often utilized by U.S. employers trying to avoid unionization: dissemination of anti-union propaganda, intimidation and threats directed at pro-union workers, on-the-job “captive audience meetings,” and the retention of outside union-busting consultants, to name a few. T-Mobile’s management is supplied with materials about how to recognize “early signals of unionizing” and how to counter the “union game plan.” According to one anonymous T-Mobile USA employee quoted in the report: “If we stop to take a leaflet or even look in the direction of union people, we are risking our jobs.”

On April 9, 2010 the report was released in German at a press conference at the German headquarters of Deutsche Telekom in Bonn, and stirred up considerable media feedback.

On September 2, 2010, Human Rights Watch released a report that criticized Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile for its double standard. The report – "A Strange Case: Violations of Workers' Freedom of Association in the United States by European Multinational Corporations" – concludes that "company policy has translated into practices that leave the workforce fearful about even seeking union representation." Deutsche Telekom proclaims its adherence to international labor law and standards that are embodied in German domestic laws. Unfortunately, HRW finds, "T-Mobile USA's harsh opposition to workers' freedom of association in the United States betrays Deutsche Telekom's purported commitment to social responsibility, impedes constructive dialogue with employee representatives, and in several cases, has violated ILO and OECD labor and human rights standards." Cornell University Professor Lance Compa wrote the report.

Among other anti-union tactics, the report documents the following activities at T-Mobile USA:

• Captive audience meetings

  

  CWA President Larry Cohen speaks at a press conference with a T-Mobile worker wearing a disguise so as to avoid retaliation by T-Mobile for union activity.

• Managerial threats
• Interference with handbilling
• Filming workers who accept flyers
• Interviewing techniques to weed out potential union sympathizers
• Managers asking workers to spy on other workers
• Advertisements for HR managers with “union avoidance” skills

At the Allentown, Pennsylvania, T-Mobile call center, security guards were ordered by company managers to write up incident reports whenever union supporters appeared on nearby public grounds and to record the license plate numbers of employees who stopped to take leaflets. In 2006, the National Labor Relations Board found these activities to be in violation of Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act.

In 2008, T-Mobile management in the Pacific Northwest and Southwest Retail Divisions sent a memo to store managers instructing them to immediately report any union activity to their supervisors. Human Rights Watch states, “The NLRB has long held that such activity interferes with, restrains, and coerces employees in the exercise of Section 7 rights in violation of workers' right to freedom of association.”

Elected officials calling on T-Mobile USA to respect Workers' Rights

A number of elected officials from the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate, among others, have written letters to Deutsche Telekom CEO René Obermann to express their concerns about T-Mobile’s anti-labor conduct. On March 13, 2009 U.S. Senator John Kerry (D-MS) sent a letter to Obermann, asking “why the company’s approach to labor rights are different in Germany than in the United States.” On November 5, 2009, Thomas DiNapoli New York State Comptroller and Trustee of the New York State Common Retirement Fund wrote a letter to DT CEO Obermann, stating “I am also concerned with the potential impact on the value of T-Mobile that may result from a disenfranchised workforce and the associated negative publicity that may impact T-Mobile’s profitability." On April 30, 2010 a group of 26 Democratic members of Congress, among them George Miller, Chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor, and Robert Andrews, Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee, wrote a letter to DT CEO René Obermann calling on Deutsche Telekom to protect and respect workers' rights in the U.S.. On July 1, 2010, seven Republicans, among them Steven C. La Tourette (OH) , Candice Miller (MI), and Thaddeus G. McCotter (MI), addressed the same problem in a separate letter.. On August 10, 2010, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA)released a statement in support of the worker’s efforts to organize a union at T-Mobile USA.. On September 21, 2010 15 Californian Members of Congress, among them Joe Baca, Linda Sanchez and Judy Chu sent a letter to Rene Obermann urging him to take action and implement fair and equitable labor relations.

TU - the Union for T-Mobile Workers

T-Mobile/Deutsche Telekom workers in the United States and Germany have formed an international union.

In April 2008, the Communications Workers of America and the German service sector union ver.di formed a joint union for T-Mobile workers named TU. The new organization was "formed with the goal of overcoming the double standard of Deutsche Telekom recognizing labor rights in Germany but ignoring them in the U.S. This new global union is an effective answer to cross-border investment and the globalization of work.".

Marketing

T-Mobile USA's spokesperson through mid-2006 was Academy Award-winning actress Catherine Zeta-Jones. Zeta-Jones was the main figure in T-Mobile's branding strategy. As of September 2006, Catherine Zeta-Jones had officially been dropped as the 'face' of T-Mobile for its US advertising campaigns due to a new corporate rebranding strategy. T-Mobile USA also relied on rapper Snoop Dogg as the spokesperson for the company's T-Mobile Sidekick in a series of commercials late in 2004, T-Mobile also released a series of Sidekick phones known as the D-Wade Edition for Basketball Player Dwyane Wade.

T-Mobile is also an official sponsor of the National Basketball Association, the NBA Rookie Challenge and the Women's National Basketball Association.

In 2007, T-Mobile USA changed their approach to advertising, and moved from the "Get More" slogan to a "Stick Together" slogan to focus more on the personal aspect of staying together with those who matter the most to their customers. With this they also ended their relationship with Catherine Zeta-Jones, and now use mainly non-celebrity spokespeople (though Dwyane Wade, Charles Barkley, and Dwight Howard are featured in some commercials, in association with the company's sponsorship of the NBA as official wireless provider).

T-Mobile also uses their flagship Corporate Social Responsibility program, their Huddle-Up program, to market themselves as a socially responsible organization.

In late May 2009 Zeta-Jones was brought back as a spokeperson for T-Mobile to show customers how to pay less for their wireless plan in a new "Mobile Makeovers" advertising campaign that refers customer to third-party comparison site BillShrink.com.

In late 2009, commercials for the T-Mobile MyTouch 3G featured the song "If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out" by Cat Stevens and celebrities such as Chevy Chase, Molly Shannon, Dana Carvey and Darrell Hammond. Another commercial with the same song performed by a different artist showed Wyclef Jean, Avril Lavigne and Brad Paisley.

In February 2010, T-Mobile began BOGO (Buy-One-Get-One-Free) for Families & continues to offer this deal until Nov. 2, 2010.

In April 2010, T-Mobile launched $5 add-a-line advertising to family plans for lines 3-5.

During the 3rd week of June in 2010, T-Mobile started to advertise for The Mother Of All Father's Day Sale to take place on June 19. Every single phone was free for anyone wanting to activate a family plan, or add-a-line to an existing plan. The sale was a success as T-Mobile’s Retail Channel added more than 110,000 total customers in one day. It was T-Mobile's largest one-day sale in the history of the company.

In September 2010, T-Mobile launched "KIDS ARE FREE TILL 2012" for family lines.

Security Issues

In January 2005 it was revealed that a 21 year old hacker named Nicolas Jacobsen had been charged with intruding into T-Mobile's internal network. Reports indicate that for about a year he had access to customer passwords, address books, Social Security numbers, birth dates, and Sidekick photos but not credit card numbers. He was also able to read customer e-mail including that of the US Secret Service. He was identified by a Secret Service informant as part of Operation Firewall who provided evidence that Jacobsen had attempted to sell customer information to others for identity theft. T-Mobile and the Secret Service did not elaborate on the methods Jacobsen used to gain access but sources close to the case indicated that an unpatched flaw in the Oracle WebLogic Server application software used by T-Mobile was the weakness he exploited. Additional SQL injection vulnerabilities with their web site were reported by Jack Koziol of the InfoSec Institute.

An additional security flaw with their voice mail system passwordless login feature exposes the customer's voice mails to third-parties by way of Caller ID spoofing. T-Mobile recommends that this feature not be used but still offers it by default due to customer demand.

T-Mobile's policy of requiring prepaid phone customers using credit cards to provide the last four digits of their Social Security number has also been criticized. Alternative methods of authentication such as the Card Security Code could be used instead.

On June 6, 2009, a message posted from an email account "pwnmobile_at_Safe-mail.net" to the Full Disclosure mailing list claimed that T-Mobile's network had been breached and showed sample data. The sender offered "databases, confidential documents, scripts and programs from their servers, financial documents up to 2009" to the highest bidder. On June 9, T-Mobile issued a statement confirming the breach but stating that customer data was safe. They claimed to have identified the source document for the sample data and believe it was not obtained by hacking. A later statement claimed that there wasn't any evidence of a breach.

Sidekick Discontinuation

As of July 2, 2010, T-Mobile discontinued the entire sidekick line. Sidekick 2008 & LX will no longer be available through T-Mobile, including retail stores, care, telesales and online. T-Mobile will continue to provide its Sidekick customers with product service and support. The Sidekick was discontinued 24 hours after the Microsoft Kin on Verizon Wireless was launched. The Microsoft Kin itself was discontinued 47 days later.

Further reading

• Compa, Lance, "A Strange Case: Violations of Workers' Freedom of Association in the United States by European Multinational Corporations." New York: Human Rights Watch, 2010.
• Logan, John. "Lowering the Bar or Setting The Standard. Deutsche Telekom’s U.S. Labor Practices." Washington, D.C.: American Rights at Work Education Fund, 2009.

See also

• T-Mobile International
• Microsoft data loss 2009

External links

Official websites

• T-Mobile USA
• Deutsche Telekom (DT) - Parent Company
  • T-Mobile Help & Support forums
  • T-Mobile Developers forum
  • T-Mobile Tower Locator
  • T-Mobile Take Action - Advocacy outreach

Other sources

• http://www.loweringthebarforus.org - Website with news and information about T-Mobile USA
• http://www.tuworkers.org - Website for T-Mobile workers

Resources

• T-Mobile Review at CellPhones.org
• Tmonews.com, an independent site dedicated to T-Mobile news and views.