T-Mobile's Senior Plan Makes Competitors Look Comically Outdated

I turned the page on another year today, but happy to say I still don't qualify for this new 55+ plan @TMobile :) https://t.co/DzKAkGstdl

— Dennis Smith (@DennisSmith) August 10, 2017

Taking it To The Next Level: #UncarrierNEXT

Let's take it to the next level. #UncarrierNEXT pic.twitter.com/o2teO1p1vs

— John Legere (@JohnLegere) December 28, 2016

The T-Mobile Product Dude Unboxes the Note 7

💦 is no match for the Samsung #GalaxyNote7. Click here & we’ll DM you when you can get yours https://t.co/BvUplGqaO4https://t.co/z8XCKmZTzM

— T-Mobile (@TMobile) August 2, 2016

L2E Greatness @ T-Mobile

Calling all big thinkers, bold leaders, #EagleScouts, ASB Officers, & Team Captains. Be part of our L2E greatness. https://t.co/vbVHsrH3Qx

— Dennis Smith (@DennisSmith) October 19, 2015

On Steve Levy and #SOX Analysts

Hey, @LevyRecruits! This one is for you, Captain America! "On Steve Levy and #SOX Analysts" https://t.co/xddEeA478V via @YouTube

— Dennis Smith (@DennisSmith) May 27, 2015

CareerXRoads? Un-leash

#CareerXRoad? Un-leash. http://t.co/6Ac234YihV #instajob pic.twitter.com/YOAQbYStfl
— Dennis Smith (@DennisSmith) July 15, 2014

Color Me Magenta

It's official. On May 12th, I will once again be a member of the T-Mobile family. And it's a beautiful thing. #Be…http://t.co/GDAvQsQGri
— Dennis Smith (@DennisSmith) May 1, 2014

FCC Clears Free Wireless Web

Source: WSJ.com
Author: Amy Schatz

A proposal to create a free, national wireless Internet service got a boost as Federal Communications Commission engineers concluded that concerns are overblown about such service interfering with other carriers.

The report clears the way for the FCC to move forward with a plan to auction off airwaves to a bidder who agrees to offer free, national wireless Internet service. The FCC is expected to finalize rules this year and could begin auctioning off airwaves in early-to-mid 2009.

The report released Friday was bad news for T-Mobile USA, a unit of Deutsche Telekom AG, which uses airwaves that abut the chunk of spectrum that's set to be auctioned off. T-Mobile USA bought its spectrum for about $4 billion a few years ago.

T-Mobile has fought FCC Chairman Kevin Martin's proposal to encourage development of free Web access by raising concerns that the service would disrupt the company's 3G wireless network, for which it charges customers. But FCC engineers said recent tests in Seattle showed the airwaves could be used for a wireless broadband service "without a significant risk of harmful interference."

"This report confirms that we're able to move forward with broadband services as proposed by Chairman Martin without causing harmful interference to license users of adjacent spectrum," said an FCC spokesman.

A T-Mobile spokeswoman was not available for comment.

Wireless companies and some lawmakers have raised concerns about the plan, because the proposed auction rules appear to favor M2Z Networks Inc., a Kleiner Perkins-backed start-up that originally floated the free-Internet plan two years ago.

M2Z originally asked the FCC to give it a national 25 megahertz block of airwaves to build a national wireless Internet network. The start-up said it could pay for the build-out via advertising and a subscription-based plan for consumers willing to pay more for faster service.

The idea of handing out airwaves potentially worth billions didn't go over very well at the agency. But in May, Mr. Martin proposed auctioning off the airwaves to a company willing to set aside some of its airwaves for free use.

The network would have to reach 50% of the U.S. population in four years and 95% within a decade.

T-Mobile Stuggling to Meet Android Demand

Source: Eric Zeman, Information Week

Interest in the HTC G1 appears to be off the charts. In response to a huge number of pre-orders for the Android handset, T-Mobile is attempting to accommodate everyone. If you want an Android phone, you'd better act quickly.

T-Mobile issued the following statement regarding The G1's availability:

Given the great anticipation and the heavy pre-sale demand for the T-Mobile G1 with Google, we nearly tripled the number of phones initially available for delivery on our Oct. 22 launch date, and have sold through them all. However, to accommodate additional T-Mobile customers who want to pre-order a device, they now have the opportunity to place a pre-order through Oct. 21, for delivery at a later date.

Also, people can still pre-register on the T-Mobile G1 Web site to be notified prior to launch where they can purchase the device beginning Oct. 22.

If you haven't already ore-ordered the G1, it looks like your only bet is to pre-register for one. The caveat, of course, is that you have to be an existing T-Mobile customer to both pre-order and pre-register. If not, you have to wait until the G1 actually hits store shelves to pick one up. Given the high demand, the G1 might be this holiday season's Tickle Me Elmo Extreme.

Google's Android Expected to Capture 4% of Market

Even in a crowded market, research by Strategy Analytics suggests expectations that Google's Android phone will capture 4% of the market.

That would be good news for T-Mobile.

Article HERE.

Wireless Jobs Group on LinkedIn

On October 4th, 2007 at 8:11am in the morning, I created the Wireless Jobs Group on LinkedIn.

Eight days would pass before even one person thought it worthwhile enough to join. My thanks to you, Bryan Burgmaier, for being the first person to join our wireless group at 10:26am on October 12, 2007.

As of this today, we hit 10,843 members. Wow. Bryan's quite a trend-setter.

Bryan Burgmaier - Real Recruiter of Genius.

If you a member of WirelessJobs.com and would like to join the Wireless Group on LinkedIn - here's some good news: whatever it was that had previously capped the Group at 10k members has been lifted. Feel free to join and move about the cabin group.

Here's the official invitation: http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/36193

Dennis

G-Mobile: T-Mobile / Google to Launch Mobile Phone

T-Mobile said Monday that it plans to launch a mobile phone powered by Google Inc.'s Android software, making it the first operator to do so and posing a direct threat to Apple Inc.'s popular iPhone.

The New York Times reported the phone will hit the stores in the U.S. before Christmas, perhaps as early as October.

The new device will have a touch screen like the iPhone and other smart phones that use software from firms like Palm Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Nokia Corp. to allow users to access the Internet. But the screen also slides out to expose a full five-row keyboard, the Times report said.

Source: Dow Jones Newswire, Aug. 19th, 2008

April Showers Bring Starbucks New Wireless Towers

Starbucks and T-Mobile have been a HotSpot staple for quite some time. In fact, I've enjoyed my HotSpot account for the last two years.

But beginning this spring, Starbucks launches a new service with AT&T calling an end to its partnership with T-Mo.

Bummer for T-Mo.

Starbucks and AT&T will offer a mix of free and paid Wi-Fi. The deal expands the AT&T Wi-Fi network to more than 17,000 U.S. hot spots and more than 70,000 globally.

Check out the complete article here.

Senior Manager, Recruiting (T-Mobile, Bellevue, WA)

Although I've moved on to a new venue, I still have many friends at T-Mobile and would enjoy helping the right person land in my previous role.

This role manages the "incredibly awesome" engineering recruiting team, supporting all Engineering and Operations recruiting activity across the U.S., as well as the Network Operations Centers in WA, TX, GA, and NJ.

The right candidate will have experience managing a remote team, and preference goes to those candidates with wireless / telecom recruiting experience (they aren't asking that you know how to change out a radio at a cell site, but it would be a big plus if you have more than a passing understanding of wireless technology).

If you have an interest, send me an email and I will put you in touch with the recruiter.

Dennis

The Life of a Wireless Recruiter

Yesterday I said goodbye to my family at T-Mobile, as I stepped out in to the next chapter of my "recruiting life."

I am very grateful to T-Mo for giving me the opportunity to lead their engineering / op's recruiting team, as I had the privilege to work with some of the best recruiters in the country (thank you, Jen, Jodi, Kristen, Mattea, Sherri, Ryan, Carrie, and Mattea!).

On Monday I join the ranks of another great team at WorldLink, and will continue recruiting in the industry that caught my interest in 1997 and has been my passion ever since: wireless.

I'll also be spending more time on WirelessJobs.com, and hope to begin making a few site changes soon. If you are currently in the wireless business, or ready to take the first step in your next job search, I'm all ears.

You can reach me at dennis@worldlink-us.com. Actually, you might want to give me a couple of days to get that one started - for now, let's go with smithtx@gmail.

Cheers!

Dennis Smith
Director, Talent Strategy & Acquisition
WorldLink, Inc
Editor, WirelessJobs.com

T-Mobile's Girl Scouts

While in Vegas last week, our team had the opportunity to "give back" to the community - and it was a blast.

Armed with magenta t-shirts and tiny paint brushes, we invaded one of the Girl Scout's centers for an afternoon and helped them "liven" the place up a bit.

I think it turned out great.

Thanks to a terrific organization (Girl Scouts!) for giving us the chance to lend a hand.

And, just for the record, I only ate one box of Thin Mints while we were there.

From Black Hole to Blog (welcome to T-Mo, Joe Pierce!)

On March 20th, I received an email from Joe Pierce (former wireless employer to remain anonymous ; ).

Joe had found me on LinkedIn and, as a result, got the address to my blog, WirelessJobs.com. From there, it was easy to find my email address.

Joe made quick work of his email and sent me a note,

"I just started looking through the carriers website when I noticed what looks like a great fit/opportunity with T-mobile.

What do you think would be the best approach for getting an interview for this position? Is there a contact I could reach out to? I am hesitant to send a resume via the website because so many of them get "lost in the shuffle".

Any advise or recommendations would be greatly appreciative."

It's no surprise that Joe was hesitant to send his resume for fear of it being lost in the shuffle. Do the words "Black Hole" ring a bell? (I digress....)

After reading Joe's email, I left him a v-mail and then got his contact info into the hands of Christopher Parker (T-Mobile Recruiter Extraordinaire). In Christopher's capable hands, the snowball picked up momentum.

Now, fast forward 43 days for the really cool news: 24 hours ago, Joe Pierce accepted an offer from T-Mobile.

Way to go Christopher! Nice job of recognizing talent and doing your very best to make sure that Joe's "candidate experience" was first-class!

By the way, I just hung up the phone with Joe. He's on cloud nine.

Guess what Joe...that makes two of us.

Welcome to T-Mobile,

Dennis

T-Mobile Named A Service Champ

It's my horn, so I'm gonna blow it:

T-Mobile USA is the only cell phone company named by BusinessWeek magazine as one of the 25 top customer service companies in the United States.

We will now return to our regularly scheduled broadcast.

5 I'd work for, 5 I wouldn't!

My new friends at wirelessisfun.com just posted an interesting piece called, "5 I'd word for, 5 I wouldn't!"

Well, to be specific, it wasn't the whole crew, just Dan.

Here's the post:

Getting a job in the Internet era is trivial if you’re serious about your skills and really want to go the next mile. It’s a personal matter to choose fun over paycheck, relocation over your home town or country, alternative crew or 9-5 army.

Since I deal with the following companies in various ways, I’ve settled on which I’d say yes or no to if they made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. Not all of them are in the wireless field, but they are all Internet players.

The beloved-

1. Skype, because they preserve identity and stimulate individual development, while managing to hold a functional team. Plus, working for Skype is fun.
2. Moo, because they use Macs, are innovative and have a good sense of humor.
3. Meraki, because they’re still young and I could get there in time to make them work.
4. Apple Inc., only if i took Steve’s job. It’s the only decent/thrilling job in Cupertino.
5. A Chinese OEM. I bet that’s fun! :)

The ‘no so much’-

1. Google, because they’re big and matte. Individual identity? What’s that?? So what if they pay, give you free candy and loundry? The paycheck should cover that plenty anyway.
2. Yahoo!, oh no! These guys have lost touch with the 21st century realm.
3. T-Mobile, too big and slow moving, lost in the incumbment’s junkyard. I’d say yes only if they gave me an innovation team to work with and took us seriously.
4. Fon, because they’re only cool on paper. I’m into really changing the WiFi world!
5. Cisco, because only the Japs know the secret of the do-it-all company.
# Dell, nope! Don’t ask!
# Boingo. Nope! Innovation??? Ring a bell?
# Vodafone and the like. No way! Clock tickin for you guys! ;)

I’m off to my favorite caffe downtown to sip on a latte! Which employer would let me out of the cubicle before 5pm?

Dan notes a few good points on the companies for which he'd rather choose unemployment. However, I feel it's my duty to defend at least two companies that made it to his "naughty" list:

Google:
Hey, you can't please everybody, but most likely the #1 company on Fortune's Best Place to Work list isn't going to fool this many people. And we recently posted this video that showed its share of smart, happy, energetic employees, many of whom I'd wager leave the office at 5pm each day for a caffe. And I don't think they're all just drinking the Google Kool-Aid.

I could be crazy, but something makes me think that the folks at Google have "individual identity" to spare. I mean, c'mon, isn't Jason the epitome of individual identity? Just look at that mug!

T-Mobile:
I know, I'm slightly partial here. I left a comment on Dan's post and questioned whether he had the right company. Anybody that's ever had reason to work with, or for, T-Mobile USA, would not use the words "big and slow-moving" to describe the company.

Hey, we're not perfect, but big and slow-moving are absolutely inaccurate. We might be big (employee-wise) compared to Alltel or U.S. Cellular, but certainly not when compared to the likes of Verizon and the new AT&T.

Big and slow-moving? Wow, I don't put in many 80 hour work/weeks, but I'm no slouch. And neither I, nor my colleagues are what I'd call slow-moving.

In fact, I'll go out on a limb and say that, I believe it would be difficult in the United States to be a big, slow-moving company and still receive the highest customer service rating by J.D. Power and Associates for six consecutive years (among wireless carriers).

But like I said, I'm partial.

Okay, Dan, I'm officially stepping off of the soap-box now.

But just for the record, I still like you and your motley wireless crew. And to prove it, I'll officially leave the office at 4:00pm CST tomorrow. Your ears will probably be itching as I say a lil' toast to my good buddy Dan and, in his honor, sip my Caffe Latte.

Cheers, my friend. And thanks for keeping wireless "fun."

Dennis

T-Mobile's Hot Job for Tuesday: RF Engineering Manager - Atlanta, GA

One hot job for Tuesday, Feb. 13th:

RF Engineering Manager, Atlanta, GA


Apply online and send me an email at wirelessheadhunter@gmail.com.