AT&T Buys T-Mobile

Bokeh

AT&T to buy T-Mobile from Deutsche Telekom - Business - U.S. business - msnbc.com

QHalo

May God have mercy on our souls.

jamesleecoleman

Good thing I didn't do another contract with T-mobile. I like T-mobile a lot because they're the cheapest for me but now, I will have to see. If the prices go up because of the take over, I'll be going to Verizon.

erpadmin

I guess that cute T-Mobile chick is out of a job now.....

ramirer

So what was the point of breaking up AT&T all those years ago? This is a virtual monopoly for AT&T for GSM users. FCC should not allow this.

AvidNetworker

Glad I left tmobile for sprint a few months ago. I fear we will soon only have 2 carriers in the country though.

erpadmin

ramirer wrote: »

So what was the point of breaking up AT&T all those years ago? This is a virtual monopoly for AT&T for GSM users. FCC should not allow this.

Anti-trust law isn't going to give a ---- about that. You have a choice to go to CDMA carriers if you want to. The argument then is that perhaps you're a world-traveler, but even then you have options.

I'm still waiting for Verizon to take over Sprint....

FWIW, I've had T-Mobile....I hate that there was a dead zone every couple of miles. The low price T-Mobile had just didn't warrant me staying with them. Verizon truly does have the best network, as you could be in the bowels of Hades and still get reception....every other carrier, Sprint included, just wasn't like that.

Dakinggamer87

It will eventually be just AT&T and Verizon at this rate

MentholMoose

erpadmin wrote: »

Verizon truly does have the best network, as you could be in the bowels of Hades and still get reception....every other carrier, Sprint included, just wasn't like that.

In the last 5 years I've had T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T, and they all have dead zones. At my previous office (a college campus) Verizon and Sprint didn't work at all, though T-Mobile worked great, and AT&T worked OK. At home (suburbs) I can't use T-Mobile at all, and Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T are equivalently mediocre (but usable).

So it really depends on your luck to some extent. Since Verizon didn't work in my office, and wasn't that great at home, the higher price (even after a nice discount through work) wasn't justified, so I switched to AT&T (obviously T-Mobile was out of the question since it didn't work at all at home).

Bokeh

Latest News | T-Mobile | Q&A: More Information About AT&T Acquisition of T-Mobile USA -

undomiel

My personal gripe with it is that I left AT&T to T-Mobile due to AT&T sending me to collections. Twice. For the same bill. That was paid on time. I'm still keeping all the paperwork around that years later just in case they randomly decide to send me to collections again. AT&T's customer service was pretty nasty and unhelpful as well. T-Mobile also had the best bang for the buck for what I was looking for. Verizon and Sprint were way too pricy.

poriggity

I have AT&T and now that they've put a tower up near my house, I have full service at the house, where I used to have NO service. I just picked up a HTC inspire 4g, and am not all that impressed with the speeds it's dellivering. I know right now, it's only delivering 3g speeds, since they have not rolled 4g out in my area, but even at 3g speeds, downloads are slower than I like.... My thought is, one mediocre company is buying another mediocre company, which will not do what I think they are hoping... which is to create one GOOD cell company.
Not gonna happen.
Scott

erpadmin

MentholMoose wrote: »

In the last 5 years I've had T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T, and they all have dead zones. At my previous office (a college campus) Verizon and Sprint didn't work at all, though T-Mobile worked great, and AT&T worked OK. At home (suburbs) I can't use T-Mobile at all, and Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T are equivalently mediocre (but usable).

You reminded me that at some point I gotta give my take on the college employment thread...I have to temper what I say though for a variety of reasons but at some point it'll get done.

Back to this though, it isn't so much luck as it is what part of the country you're at. I'm in the NYC-metro area, and there isn't anyone from here that would disagree with me on Verizon. I'll concede though that the network might be weak in other areas of the country, like Cali. The only bad thing about Verizon is price, but for the convenience of not having crappy reception, I'll pay it (and with my discount of 15%... ).

eMeS

ramirer wrote: »

So what was the point of breaking up AT&T all those years ago? This is a virtual monopoly for AT&T for GSM users. FCC should not allow this.

1. It's not really the same AT&T that was broken up in the 80's. A lot has happened since then, and the market is totally different.

2. The AT&T in the 80's wanted to use it's monopoly in local exchanges to fund the building and selling of computers. The AT&T of today doesn't have a monopoly, and is not attempting to use a monopoly in one area to fund another line of business.

As a point of general interest, the first Unix system I ever used was SVR3 on an AT&T computer back in the late 80's. The first Unix system that I became really familiar with and used a ton was SVR4. AT&T really used to be the big name in the corporate use of Unix back in the day.

MS

Monkerz

Now T-Mobile will have just as shitty service as At&t does. They should rethink the whole "we want to be faster, we have 4G" advertisements and fix all the service and dropped call issues they have.

I hate Sprint with a passion, but I would much rather have it than At&t again.

NetworkingStudent

I’m a t mobile customer and I stayed with them because they have some of the best customer service. Also, they have some of the best phone plans, when compared to other cell phone providers.
Here’s my take on this merger:

Now that AT and T & t mobile are one, you can now kiss unlimited internet good bye. Also, I have heard rumors that Verizon will drop the unlimited internet, and they will do a tiered similar to the AT and T plan. Supposedly, this is going to happen after the release of Iphone 5.

My biggest concern is that there will be a lot of layoffs.

Hearing this news really makes me consider switching to Simple Mobile. A lot of the guys at my work use Simple Mobile, and they say the coverage and prices are great.
Here’s the link:

OMG! Simple Mobile

SteveLord

I've had TMobile for years. Never experienced any serious issues that made me want to shell out an extra $15+ a month for. And the only time I can remember that I couldn't get a good signal was in the woods of Fort Dix, NJ.

+1 to their customer service as well.

Mike-Mike

erpadmin wrote: »

I guess that cute T-Mobile chick is out of a job now.....

first thing I thought of... at least that line of commercials..

Xcluziv

undomiel wrote: »

My personal gripe with it is that I left AT&T to T-Mobile due to AT&T sending me to collections. Twice. For the same bill. That was paid on time. I'm still keeping all the paperwork around that years later just in case they randomly decide to send me to collections again. AT&T's customer service was pretty nasty and unhelpful as well. T-Mobile also had the best bang for the buck for what I was looking for. Verizon and Sprint were way too pricy.

Verizon has the worst plan options Stellar service though.

I agree with Dakinggamer87 that soon, there may evetually only be 2 companies....the red pill or the blue pill...you decide...lol

AT&T + T-Mobile = BIGGER NETWORK

BIGGER NETWORK = $$$$$$$$$

it_consultant

I was sure Verizon was going to buy Sprint. I guess ATT beat them to the gun. I would still not be surprised if Verizon bought a wireless provider this year.

Don't confuse ATT with the ATT that was broken up in anti trust. Cingular simply bought the namesake and repainted all their signs and marketing material.

518

it was just a matter of time.

erpadmin wrote: »

I guess that cute T-Mobile chick is out of a job now.....

HAHA

chrisone

So does that mean we get free unlimited Data now and free tethering? Pardon me if i am behind the times lol

Bokeh

I think the ones who are going to get screwed are the T-Mobile folks. This does not look good. According to an article I read earlier, those on TM with unlimited data "may" be grandfathered in and allowed to keep that plan if the sale goes through.

Lemonade727

chrisone wrote: »

So does that mean we get free unlimited Data now and free tethering? Pardon me if i am behind the times lol

Nope, it means those features are going the way of AT&T and going bye-bye. I would imagine they would be legally obligated to grandfather in current t-mobile contracts, right? But then it's free game to force a plan change after the contract expires?

Devilsbane

I had a contract with T-Mobile. It was far from cheap and came with no real benefits. I found them to be a terrible service provider and would never go back. To me, this is just the second worst company buying out the worst in hopes of getting at the better competition.

varelg

Reading about the takeover on my BBerry on T-Mobile Unlimited All plan, I am thinking about all those "t-mobile chick vs. Iphone guy piggybacking on the att guy" commercials, lol, what's next from att: the "in ur face babe" commercial?
Folks that will suffer: IT staff at tmobile and consumers. Merger will translate in slashing personnel with overlapping roles in both companies and consumers will get the same (at best) for more $$. Price hike is expected.
Verizon won't hurry to take over Sprint, as the latter will suffer further from the att-tmobile merger long enough to become a real bargain on the market. If anyone looks for further mergers, it'd be Sprint with some smaller local carriers first.
Folks that benefit from this takeover: upper-tier financial staff, att shareholders and those who expected iphone on tmobile.

Psoasman

I've been with Verizon for 10 years now. They have the best coverage,though the pricing is higher. A 17% discount from work helps out.
On a side not, I saw that CenturyTel is going to buy Qwest. Seems like we are moving to having just a couple of giant companies providing services.