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C-Spire to become 4th U.S. iPhone 4S carrier

by Megan Lavey-Heaton Oct 19th 2011 at 5:20PM

You would think the fourth U.S. iPhone 4S carrier would be T-Mobile. But, because of network incompatibility, it's not. It's actually C Spire Wireless, formerly known as Cellular South, a CDMA regional carrier that most people probably haven't heard of unless you happen to live in Mississippi or parts of Alabama, Florida and Tennessee.

It's not surprising that Apple is starting to push the iPhone toward regional carriers now that the exclusive deal with AT&T is a distant memory. As stated during Tuesday's earnings call, CEO Tim Cook said he wanted to get the iPhone 4S out to as many people as possible, even though the question of carrier expansion was deferred. Cook said that the smartphone market would eventually absorb the handset market, and the best way to do that would be to expand to these smaller carriers.

Which regional carrier could we see the iPhone with next in the U.S.? My theory is that it's Cricket, a CDMA carrier owned by Leap Wireless, which I became familiar with when I was in Arizona. The company began expanding its network in 2010 and added nationwide 3G data roaming a year ago today. I wouldn't be surprised if we eventually saw the iPhone 4S land with these guys. Who would you like to see acquire the iPhone?



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You would think the fourth U.S. iPhone 4S carrier would be T-Mobile. But, because of network incompatibility, it's not. It's actually...
 

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acorn

Metro PCS please, I like my unlimited plan for a decent fee and no contract. Just the phone selection sucks.
Or any other carrier in the NY area and finally there will be competition in the market. Stop the robbery.

October 21 2011 at 8:00 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
macserv

I might have guessed Alltel Wireless.

October 19 2011 at 9:47 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
userjack6880

I have a feeling that US Cellular would be next. The C Spire market has been really, really wanting it, settling for Androids as the iPhone was never available to us. The carrier has the highest percentage of smartphone users of any other carrier, which is probably why it was the first regional to be chosen.

US Cellular and C Spire tend to see phone about the same time, with USC probably getting some phones before us. They're probably the next biggest regional that has service plans that lets Apple sell their phones at a subsidized price.

That being said, by the time C Spire actually lets their customers buy these phones, I should be in that period where I can upgrade at the subsidized price with an early upgrade fee. I will gladly pay a little more for the 4S early, that's for sure. While I'd like LTE support on my phone, 4G rollout will be available before LTE (which is going to be more widespread in the carrier's region than any other carrier), I can deal with HDSPA+, especially since we're dealing with the slower 3G CDMA service has to offer (compared to GSM). I had an iPhone 4 with AT&T before I switched, and would be happy to be drinking the Apple KoolAid once again on a cheaper plan than what AT&T and Verizon offers, especially since C Spire is still handing out "infinite" data and text where other carriers limit you to 2 GB (ignoring Sprint since 3G isn't even offered in my area, while AT&T, Verizon, and C Spire all have it).

October 19 2011 at 9:27 PM Report abuse -1 rate up rate down Reply
Oneota

US Cellular would sure be nice!

October 19 2011 at 8:09 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Romeo

I'd like to see Credo Mobile in the mix. For those of us who don't like to see the big telecomm companies buying politicians.

October 19 2011 at 5:37 PM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply
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