T-Mobile to update unlocked iPhones to LTE while Barclays tie up enables Apple Store $99 purchases

We told you about a jailbreak tweak last week that enables LTE at 1700mhz by loading a custom carrier firmware on an existing, unlocked AT&T iPhone 5. It was good news for T-Mobile customers interested in taking advantage of the carrier’s LTE network without updating to Apple’s new T-Mobile/AT&T iPhone 5 variant set to launch April 12, but there was no word from AT&T if an official update would also be available for existing unlocked GSM iPhone 5 owners. TmoNews got its hands on an internal document today that shows the carrier will indeed enable LTE support, along with a handful of other features previously not available through software update on April 5.

“The T-Mobile Carrier Update is a minor iOS software update that enables official iPhone support by T-Mobile. When installed, the software update enables a handful of capabilities like Visual Voicemail, MMS Settings and Network/Device optimizations that customers do not have access to today. On April 5, the software update will begin being pushed via OTA to all iPhone devices on the T-Mobile network with iOS 6.1.x or higher.”

As you can see above, the update will also enable official iPhone support for T-Mobile customers bringing Visual Voicemail, MMS Settings and Network/Device optimizations to users on April 5.

In related T-Mobile news, we learned that Apple has partnered up with Barclays and T-Mobile to offer 24 months no interest when buying a new iPhone on T-Mobile at Apple Stores. Barclays will also credit customers’ accounts $70, allowing Apple Store customers to finance the T-Mobile iPhone for the same $579 price as T-Mobile offers through its 24-month plan.