By Stephen Schenck | March 23, 2011 9:39 AM
If AT&T’s plans for T-Mobile pan out, the company will end up using the portions of the radio spectrum currently serving T-Mobile’s customers to introduce its own LTE offering. While this transition would still be years off, you can’t help but look at new T-Mobile smartphones and wonder, “will I even be able to use this in a couple years?” Sure, many of us can’t wait to upgrade to the latest phones whenever we get the chance, but there are still plenty of smartphone buyers who are in it for the long haul. T-Mobile may be planning ahead to avoid this obsolescence, as the company’s published specs for the new G2x show the phone equipped with a radio capable of quad-band 4G, essentially guaranteeing it service even after T-Mobile throws in the towel.
The international version of the LG Optimus 2X will already feature tri-band HSPA, and the G2x ups the ante by throwing in support for the 850MHz band used by AT&T in the States. With HSPA+, the G2x should be able to reach 4G speeds with carriers in Europe, Asia, and the Americas.
Now sure, kicking a tri-band phone up to quad isn’t the biggest step, but what if this is just the tip of the iceberg? Could we see future high-profile T-Mobile smartphones prepared for potential AT&T service in similar fashions? In the interim before the proposed buyout, it could serve to just increase phone choice available to AT&T customers, but it would certainly win T-Mobile some good karma from subscribers sticking with it until the end.
