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AT&T to Acquire T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom

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Phoenix

Phoenix

Member
Shed_a_Ninja said:
First, Cingular buys out ATT and then becomes ATT.

Then, Verizon buys Alltel.

Now, ATT buys T-Mobile.

What's next, Verizon buys Sprint?
Click to expand...


There is a pretty solid chance of that - yes.
 
D

Data West

coaches in the WNBA
Pastry said:
You heard this news and immediately went to cancel your plan? Oh my.
Click to expand...
I've been looking for an excuse to change anyways. I barely use the thing, so it felt like the right time.
 
B

backbreaker65

Banned
Damn I've been with T-mobile for over 10 years and been in the loyalty program for 5 of them. I'm going too loose all my perks. I haven't dealt with AT&T in years, I just don't like them at all.
 
W

witness

Member
I wish I could get out of T-Mobile since I just signed up with them because we were escaping from ATT and paid the early termination fee. Fucking early termination fees.
 
S

Shed_a_Ninja

Banned
gluv65 said:
Damn I've been with T-mobile for over 10 years and been in the loyalty program for 5 of them. I'm going too loose all my perks. I haven't dealt with AT&T in years, I just don't like them at all.
Click to expand...

witness said:
I wish I could get out of T-Mobile since I just signed up with them because we were escaping from ATT and paid the early termination fee. Fucking early termination fees.
Click to expand...

http://www.cellswapper.com/
 
J

JCX

Member
I switched to Sprint from T-mobile last year because of their spotty service. Would have rather seen the two merge than what is happening now.
 
M

Matt

Member
Shed_a_Ninja said:
First, Cingular buys out ATT and then becomes ATT.

Then, Verizon buys Alltel.

Now, ATT buys T-Mobile.

What's next, Verizon buys Sprint?
Click to expand...
Actually Cingular bought AT&T Wireless, then a few years later SBC bought AT&T and changed their name to AT&T, then the new AT&T bought Cingular. So it's even more convoluted then you initially proposed.
 
I

Ignatz Mouse

Banned
So I want to have my phone as a tether/hotspot and I don't want to rack up ridiculous fees (even if it means a data slowdown cap or whatever like T-Mo has now). And I don't want to pay a fortune.

Prefer Android.

Verizon have this option?
 
B

BlackGoku03

Member
Unknown Soldier said:
Yes it is. It really is.

Just look at the yawning technical canyon that now stands in between Verizon and AT&T-Mobile. Verizon has rolled out LTE successfully in 22 markets, with plans to overlay 75% of Americans with LTE coverage by 2013. AT&T-Mobile combined still have no strategy in place for LTE rollout nor enough spectrum to do it on a single band. Let's not mince any words here: AT&T paid $39 billion for T-Mobile because they were desperate for more infrastructure and spectrum, because at this point they haven't even finished 3G overlay over their much tinier 3G footprint and now they have to chase after Verizon for LTE overlay, and they just lost the only thing that forced people to stay with AT&T all these years when iPhone went to Verizon.

The good news is that $39 billion is basically chump change in global telecom. Deutsche Telekom was pretty desperate to sell off their money-losing T-Mobile USA operations, as the infrastructure investment necessary to make the T-Mobile network competitive with Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T would have amounted to hundreds of billions and DT didn't want to keep losing money for another decade while also investing possible hundreds of billions of dollars to build out the network. AT&T got a lot of value for $39 billion, but now they have to deal with all their phones needing to support a minimum of 4 bands just for covering the US home markets, which will make testing new devices fun.

In general, T-Mobile only covered major US cities where AT&T already had infrastructure. So they won't increase the overall size of coverage. They'll get more capacity in cities though, and most importantly, they now have T-Mobile's extra spectrum for when they start rolling out LTE. Although God knows when that will be at this point. If you have any interest in LTE you should be switching to Verizon ASAP regardless. They've rolled it out, they have a plan in place, and by 2013 if you live anywhere near a major city you should be covered by Verizon LTE.
Click to expand...
To say AT&T has no plans for LTE is entirely incorrect. They have been quiet up until CES this year. They announced their plans to have hspa+ to tie us over until they completely upgrade to LTE by the end of 2013. They said they would start theupgrade at the middle of this year.
 
F

foodtaster

Banned
Sprint would be dumb to allow themselves to be bought out by Verizon. If anything:

Sprint should buy MetroPCS and Cricket and become THE leader in "cheap phone service." With oil prices going up, people are going to have to downsize on luxuries. Perfect time to switch. Sprint will be by far the cheapest now. Checkmate.
 
R

Retrocide

Member
Until all are one. It's sad state when splitting At&T up has resulted in only two major companies.

MetroPCS and Cricket need to merge at this point to fill the void that will result from T-mobile going bye bye.
 
G

Gallbaro

Banned
foodtaster said:
Sprint would be dumb to allow themselves to be bought out by Verizon. If anything:

Sprint should buy MetroPCS and Cricket and become THE leader in "cheap phone service." With oil prices going up, people are going to have to downsize on luxuries. Perfect time to switch. Sprint will be by far the cheapest now. Checkmate.
Click to expand...

Great Idea! Except for the fact that Sprint is burning money already.
 
R

RBH

Member
foodtaster said:
Sprint would be dumb to allow themselves to be bought out by Verizon. If anything:

Sprint should buy MetroPCS and Cricket and become THE leader in "cheap phone service." With oil prices going up, people are going to have to downsize on luxuries. Perfect time to switch. Sprint will be by far the cheapest now. Checkmate.
Click to expand...
A+ plan, except for the fact that Sprint is already losing money left and right.
 
L

Lo-Volt

Member
Which leads me to ask, are Boost and Virgin Mobile USA a benefit or a drain on Sprint right now? I don't know that I would sign up to either, but the idea of value smartphone deals is still an attractive one. And if Verizon actually decides to write a check for Sprint, where do those two brands and their plan structures fit in, anyway?
 
F

foodtaster

Banned
RBH said:
A+ plan, except for the fact that Sprint is already losing money left and right.
Click to expand...
That's because they are competing with Verizon and AT&T. They need to stop that, they will lose. They're trying to fight against companies 4 times larger then they. 75% of people who have cell phones have dumb phones. If they can get some money/investments and get some dirt cheap smartphones with dirt cheap plans they would do fine. Not to mention that oil prices ARE going to go up. But yeah, they are losing tons of money. Buying Nextel was retarded.
 
K

Kodiak690

Neo Member
Ignatz Mouse said:
So I want to have my phone as a tether/hotspot and I don't want to rack up ridiculous fees (even if it means a data slowdown cap or whatever like T-Mo has now). And I don't want to pay a fortune.

Prefer Android.

Verizon have this option?
Click to expand...


I've been looking into this. Just talked to customer service. All they offer is a 2GB plan.

Seems like the only options for tethered unlimited data are Sprint or T-Mobile(for now).

AT&T has a 4GB plan, but if you go over it's $10/GB over.
 
I

Ignatz Mouse

Banned
Kodiak690 said:
I've been looking into this. Just talked to customer service. All they offer is a 2GB plan.

Seems like the only options for tethered unlimited data are Sprint or T-Mobile(for now).
Click to expand...

I'll have to see what my actual usage is like, then. :p


Or go Sprint.
 
S

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
FantasticMrFoxdie said:
This can't be good. If this improves AT&Ts service then i'm cool with it, chances are it won't because AT&T dont give a shit about its customers
Click to expand...


Well it should be illegal. It's a monopoly. And think of the jobs they'll cut when they merge.
 
K

Kodiak690

Neo Member
Ignatz Mouse said:
I'll have to see what my actual usage is like, then. :p


Or go Sprint.
Click to expand...

I think I'm giving up on the idea. I was thinking about T-Mobile until today. Can't find anything decent. The Sprint service where I would use it most of the time is pretty bad. I'm on it right now, cuts out all the time and runs slow. Plus it's kind of pricey.
 
J

J-Rzez

Member
Those worried about AT&T shitty connectivity and spotty coverage, I'm sure if you were T-Mobile you can get out of contract here now. Go to Verizon or Sprint. Sprint isn't bad, but Verizon's network is superior stability/connectivity wise from reports. I've used Verizon forever now, and even in my backwards ass area I always get my calls in/out, their speeds are pretty solid and will increase to match the others (though they're more solid/steady now).

I think it's inevitable at this point what's going to become of Sprint anyways. Either being bought out, or just snuffed out of the market.
 
B

br0ken_shad0w

Member
Ether_Snake said:
SAVE US GOOGLE GOD!!!
Click to expand...

schmidternet_11cmn.gif
 
L

loosus

Banned
This is bad for everybody. It's not going to be long before there are seriously only two major, nation-wide carriers with their duopoly.
 
W

Weenerz

Banned
OuterWorldVoice said:
Well it should be illegal. It's a monopoly. And think of the jobs they'll cut when they merge.
Click to expand...


Pardon my ignorance, but how is this a monopoly? They aren't the only cell company in the country, they aren't forcing anyone to go with their plans. Is it a monopoly because they would essentially be the only carrier with GSM in the US? If anything, I think this would energize people to go to VZW or Sprint, just to spite AT&T.
 
T

tino

Banned
Ignatz Mouse said:
So I want to have my phone as a tether/hotspot and I don't want to rack up ridiculous fees (even if it means a data slowdown cap or whatever like T-Mo has now). And I don't want to pay a fortune.

Prefer Android.

Verizon have this option?
Click to expand...

Virgin Mobile Optimus V
 
D

Dedication Through Light

Member
FantasticMrFoxdie said:
This can't be good. If this improves AT&Ts service then i'm cool with it, chances are it won't because AT&T dont give a shit about its customers
Click to expand...

I dont understand how AT&T people would benefit doesnt AT&T already subsume all locations where T-Mobile has coverage and not vice versa? If anything service should get rockier I thought 130mln people on one carrier...well... thats half the US ignoring children.
 
P

Pctx

Banned
It's about damn time AT&T did this!!

Having had T-mobile and Voicestream (yeah, it was a long ass time ago) for almost 7 out of the 8 1/2 years of cell service, I have to say, this makes me a happy person.

Couple of reasons:
1) GSM and LTE are the future. A phone that can hop on any GSM band worldwide & w/ AT&T and their LTE band is solid in my book and as far as I'm concerned, Verizon and Sprint can go get married and merge but I will always want a GSM based phone.
2) AT&T now has a chance to beat Verizon to the LTE punch and call their 4G service actual 4G. Verizon having announced LTE back in what... May of 2010, rollout teasers for November '10 and an actual 2011 launch is pretty sketch. I don't care if you call it America's fastest 4G network--- when 10 people can get it, there's not much to brag about it. With that, Verizon isn't getting LTE into my market fast enough for me to care and/or jump ship.
3) T-mobile people complaining about AT&T. Really? Have you any reason to do this? Sure... one could bitch and complain but having had T-mobile's service for 7+ years, AT&T's network is night and day difference in coverage and speed. If anything, people should be thankful this happened.
4) AT&T has a chance to take T-mobile's approach to customer service and make their service about the customer... instead of the marketing slogans, speed or even the phones. If there's one thing that caries over, I hope its this line of thinking.

Anyways, glad this is happening and I'm happy that it's AT&T and not Sprint or Verizon.
 
T

tino

Banned
Lo-Volt said:
Which leads me to ask, are Boost and Virgin Mobile USA a benefit or a drain on Sprint right now? I don't know that I would sign up to either, but the idea of value smartphone deals is still an attractive one. And if Verizon actually decides to write a check for Sprint, where do those two brands and their plan structures fit in, anyway?
Click to expand...

Sprint wont get rip of VM and BM for now because they lost alot of post-paid customer recently and relid heavily on the two NVMO to pickup the prepaid customers.

Worst case scenario, if Verizon buy Sprint. You can use Verizon's prepaid carrier, Page Plus. Or port you god damn number to google.
 
P

Puddles

Banned
Isn't the government supposed to prevent things like this from happening?

We need a new Teddy Roosevelt ASAP.

Pctx said:
3) T-mobile people complaining about AT&T. Really? Have you any reason to do this? Sure... one could bitch and complain but having had T-mobile's service for 7+ years, AT&T's network is night and day difference in coverage and speed. If anything, people should be thankful this happened.
4) AT&T has a chance to take T-mobile's approach to customer service and make their service about the customer... instead of the marketing slogans, speed or even the phones. If there's one thing that caries over, I hope its this line of thinking.
Click to expand...

LMAO. AT&T just came out with the 150 GB cap and the tethering charges in the last week. They're about as anti-consumer as any corporation could ever be.
 
N

NomarTyme

Member
Pctx said:
It's about damn time AT&T did this!!

Having had T-mobile and Voicestream (yeah, it was a long ass time ago) for almost 7 out of the 8 1/2 years of cell service, I have to say, this makes me a happy person.

Couple of reasons:
1) GSM and LTE are the future. A phone that can hop on any GSM band worldwide & w/ AT&T and their LTE band is solid in my book and as far as I'm concerned, Verizon and Sprint can go get married and merge but I will always want a GSM based phone.
2) AT&T now has a chance to beat Verizon to the LTE punch and call their 4G service actual 4G. Verizon having announced LTE back in what... May of 2010, rollout teasers for November '10 and an actual 2011 launch is pretty sketch. I don't care if you call it America's fastest 4G network--- when 10 people can get it, there's not much to brag about it. With that, Verizon isn't getting LTE into my market fast enough for me to care and/or jump ship.
3) T-mobile people complaining about AT&T. Really? Have you any reason to do this? Sure... one could bitch and complain but having had T-mobile's service for 7+ years, AT&T's network is night and day difference in coverage and speed. If anything, people should be thankful this happened.
4) AT&T has a chance to take T-mobile's approach to customer service and make their service about the customer... instead of the marketing slogans, speed or even the phones. If there's one thing that caries over, I hope its this line of thinking.

Anyways, glad this is happening and I'm happy that it's AT&T and not Sprint or Verizon.
Click to expand...
You must work for them.
 
N

Noshino

Member
tino said:
Well getting their "3.75G" network up and running without pimping it like mad was their mistake.

BTW the biggest loser in this ordeal are Sprint and TMo customers. There was rumor of Sprint and TMo merging, which would have provided enough money for the whole network to move to LTE. Now Sprint is fucked.

Verizon likely won't be hurt by it so much. It will pick up alot of current TMobile customers. I hang out in TMo forum in howardforums. There are a lot of rapid ATT haters. I am not a T Mobile user but I use TMobile prepaid's data service.
I get it for free due to TMo's incompetent network policy.
I expect the free ride to end in a year. Time to try the boost mobile ESN swap tricks.
Click to expand...

uh, Sprint is moving to LTE...

http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/16/sprint-project-leapfrog-rumors-claim-lte-network-upgrade-is-un/
 
A

andymcc

Banned
BlackGoku03 said:
Don't know how that would work out with AT&T's employees being mostly unionized.
Click to expand...

they've already been closing down call-centers and outsourcing those. it's only a matter of time.
 
I

Ignatz Mouse

Banned
Pctx--

dunno where you live, but in Chicago, T-mobile is solid and AT&T is not.

Further, when I had AT&T prior, I used to get all sorts of weird unexepected things in my bills that would piss me off. never with T-mobile.
 
K

kIdMuScLe

Member
I miss America of old.... fuck i can't imagine how much my phone bill is going to go up... =(

I have a family plan (5lines) with 750 whenever minutes. Line 1 and 2 has unlimited data, tethering and texting. Line 3-5 has unlimited texting. all for the low price of $109 + tax. No contract either... fuck you everyone who is supporting this stupid buy out!!! >:|
 
K

kehs

Banned
I love how everyone is acting like if it's ATT and Verizion Merging when bringing up FCC and regulations.
 
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