T-Mobile to be purchased by AT&T

[curiogeo]

AT&T Agrees to Buy Deutsche Telekom

 

[drshame]

I have both.
While the actual store folks may be a little more personal and less corporate at T Mobile...AT&T stands behind their people, products and service AS A COMPANY much better than TMobile, imho.
If you've ever needed to escalate an issue...AT&T seems much better to make an extra effort to help than TMO.

IPhones finally at Timo?????

 

[lexluthor]

This sucks for T-Mobile customers. Many people are on T-Mobile because of pricing and customer service. AT&T isn't known to be strong with either.

Will probably result in (eventually) huge price increases for T-Mobile customers, especially customers on loyalty plans like the $20 Android data plan.

In general, this probably will cause prices to rise in the market as well.

 

[flywatt]

This disgusts me. I switched to T-Mobile to get as far away from AT&T as I could. AT&T has horrible customer service. A few years ago, I put my plan on a 6 month military freeze with AT&T because I was going over seas. When I came back, I had a $500 bill waiting to be paid. I spent weeks trying to reason with AT&T before they finally cleared the bill.

Unfortunately for all of us, we can say goodbye to our unlimited data plans once we decide to upgrade our phones with AT&T. AT&T got rid of their unlimited data plans last year. I suggest you upgrade now, before the deal goes through if your considering it.

And you might want to look for a part-time job to compensate for the price-hikes we're going to see. With AT&T and Verizon being the only 2 major carriers in the country, its going to be wicked expensive with nowhere else to turn.

I wonder how long it's going to be before Sprint gets swallowed up.

 

[robo21]

Less competition generally means higher pricing. Not a good thing. Time will tell how all this washes out

 

[PinkFloyd]

Oh great !! AT&T now has monopoly of the US GSM market if this deal goes thru.

I hope this deal falls thru because of anti trust laws.

It seems splitting up AT&T way back was one big bogus because all the baby Bells aka RBOCs slowly and steadily ate up each other till they become one company. The only two significant pieces of Ma Bell now are AT&T (which is basically rechristened SBC which ate up most of the RBOCs). And some more new pieces like this TMobile deal.

On the bright side, we can haz IPhone on TMo finally. Not that it should be restricted just to one goddamn network (or two now) and should be available on every network like it is in Europe.

 

[Deleted User]

Great. Awesome.. AT&T doesn't have their grubby hands in enough pockets with their crappy services? They still think I owe them money from the last time I tried to deal with them. I have been screwed by them on several occasions and they are the main reason why I no longer have a land line. Pink Floyd says it all.. this deal sucks, they were broken up back when we actually enforced the anti trust laws and now that we don't anymore, they have been putting their empire back together. They wont be satisfied with phone service though. TV, cell, internet, home security... They want it all, and the more of the market they get, the more they can charge and the worse they can treat their customers. I think I hear crickets in my future.

 

[robo21]

Maybe the deal will not pass the "stink" test!
AT&T-T-Mobile deal may face antitrust test - Business - U.S. business - msnbc.com

 

[duc916]

IPhones finally at Timo?????

That's the light at the end of the tunnel... I'm done with Android... the fragmentation hell that was predicted is all too apparent a reality in the Market now... these days 9 out of 10 apps get a one star rating. Apps that do make their way from iOS to Android are castrated. I'll be able to upgrade this lagtastic Vibrant and be done with Android and its worthless apps for good without having to change carriers. Good bye battery/memory optimizers that don't work... time for a phone that "just works".

 

[mrsbelpit]

lol at Iphone on TMO. Tmo will cease to exist. So no, there will not be a TMo Iphone. If you wanted an Iphone why didn't you sign up with AT&T in the first place? I guess now your choice has been made for you if this goes through.

 

[MojoCP]

If you do any reading this deal will take over 1 year to get through government anti-trust regulation evaluation.

Even then, most analysts are saying AT&T is crazy to think they have this in the bag. It will probably fail.

 

[ParishL31]

Seriously, price is the driving benefit of T-Mobile. AT&T doesn't seem to have anything anymore since they lost the iPhone. Yeah Verizon has the best service by far and best phones, but it is so damned expensive. T-Mobile is cheapest, and the service is pretty good. AT&T falls in limbo right in the middle where it's not good in performance or price and only had the iPhone to push it and that exclusive is gone.

 

[w_bovine]

If you do any reading this deal will take over 1 year to get through government anti-trust regulation evaluation.

Even then, most analysts are saying AT&T is crazy to think they have this in the bag. It will probably fail.

Indeed...there is much speculation about the deal, even whether it will be deemed acceptable in any form by the regulatory powers. If the deal does fall through I wonder what the effect on T-Mobile will be? Is T-Mob doomed either way? Puny minds want to know!

As for me...Sprint might be the next phase of my cell phone journey. I'm hesitant to return to Verizon (dirty app-and-function-hobbling bastards) and certainly don't want to go back to the idiocy of AT&T. The Nexus S 4G isn't all that far off. I have a friend who swears by Sprint. And I swear at him when he tells me how happy he is with them.

 

[w_bovine]

Seriously, price is the driving benefit of T-Mobile. AT&T doesn't seem to have anything anymore since they lost the iPhone. Yeah Verizon has the best service by far and best phones, but it is so damned expensive. T-Mobile is cheapest, and the service is pretty good. AT&T falls in limbo right in the middle where it's not good in performance or price and only had the iPhone to push it and that exclusive is gone.

I've been happy with T-Mobile overall. Coverage in my area is very good and the download speeds put to shame what I was getting on AT&T. It appears that having a similar plan on any other carrier, notably Verizon & AT&T, will cost me at least $25/month.

 

[mrsbelpit]

Indeed...there is much speculation about the deal, even whether it will be deemed acceptable in any form by the regulatory powers. If the deal does fall through I wonder what the effect on T-Mobile will be? Is T-Mob doomed either way? Puny minds want to know!

As for me...Sprint might be the next phase of my cell phone journey. I'm hesitant to return to Verizon (dirty app-and-function-hobbling bastards) and certainly don't want to go back to the idiocy of AT&T. The Nexus S 4G isn't all that far off. I have a friend who swears by Sprint. And I swear at him when he tells me how happy he is with them.

If this falls through, Tmo is far from doomed, they get $3 billion from At&t, plus exclusive roaming rights and even more. This falling through could help a whole lot. The details are all over the net, and analysts are saying that ATT must be super confident because the breakup fees are unbelievable. Probably because they've already paid off everyone in DC.


ETA: If it happens, I will also be going with Sprint. But if this happens, won't it only be a matter of time before Verizon buys Sprint?

 

[mrsbelpit]

If you do any reading this deal will take over 1 year to get through government anti-trust regulation evaluation.

Even then, most analysts are saying AT&T is crazy to think they have this in the bag. It will probably fail.

Yeah, it will take a while. But what to do in the meantime? Buy a new Tmo phone? probably not. Even if it works w/At&t, why would I want my data capped at 2gb for the same price? Is the ATT signal in the places I am the most good at all? Are they going to continue to cap data speeds for Android and not for Iphone? It sucks all around whether it happens now or 2 years from now. I do hope you are correct and this gets nixed by the FCC

 

[Skyfather]

I for one am very happy with T-Mobile and am truly hoping this deal falls through! I Can't stand AT&T. I had their cell service before I went to T-mobile 6 years ago, and calls always dropped, customer service just sucked, I hated every minute I was with them. I was unhappy about AT&T getting T-Mobile but then when they released today that all T-Mobile customers would have to buy new phones to work on THEIR network, I lost it. THERE IS NO WAY IN BLOODY HELL I'M PUTTING UP WITH THEIR CRAP! I just bought my phone and even if in a year I "have" to buy a new one, they should buy me a new one, whichever phone I want, not some bulk $2 POS they want to give us.

If it goes though, long story short, I'm going to be one of the first looking to ditch service. I'd rather not have a phone then be stuck giving them my hard earned money.

 

[w_bovine]

I for one am very happy with T-Mobile and am truly hoping this deal falls through! I Can't stand AT&T. I had their cell service before I went to T-mobile 6 years ago, and calls always dropped, customer service just sucked, I hated every minute I was with them. I was unhappy about AT&T getting T-Mobile but then when they released today that all T-Mobile customers would have to buy new phones to work on THEIR network, I lost it. THERE IS NO WAY IN BLOODY HELL I'M PUTTING UP WITH THEIR CRAP! I just bought my phone and even if in a year I "have" to buy a new one, they should buy me a new one, whichever phone I want, not some bulk $2 POS they want to give us.

If it goes though, long story short, I'm going to be one of the first looking to ditch service. I'd rather not have a phone then be stuck giving them my hard earned money.

Tell us how you really feel...no need to hide your true feelings on the matter.

Teasing of course. I'll be keeping an eye on what Sprint has to offer in the near future. No reason to rush though...T-Mob won't disappear overnight and I'm not in a hurry to shell out another $250 for another phone.

I wonder if the value of Vibrants on places like Craigslist has gone down? I suppose I could check, but I'm just too damn lazy.

 

[LordBane00]

As for iphone on t-mobile no not even for the maybe 12 months they would have left after the 12 months t-mobile usa would cease to exist. All t-mobile 3g phones will be rendered obsolete and you will have to sign a new contract with at&t and get a new phone. So far 4g phones look to be immune to being turned off by at&t once the buyout is complete. So I do hope that at&t gets blocked from buying t-mobile.

 

[AndreaCristiano]

AT&T Says T-Mobile Can Keep It’s Current Pricing Structure

Huge news !!!

 

[colnago]

...All t-mobile 3g phones will be rendered obsolete and you will have to sign a new contract with at&t and get a new phone. So far 4g phones look to be immune to being turned off by at&t once the buyout is complete. So I do hope that at&t gets blocked from buying t-mobile.

How the company(s) deal with the band allocation for HSPA+ is the big question mark for me. T-Mo had concrete plans to build out the "3G" network to 168Mbs speeds, with the 42Mbs "MiFi" router due out soon. If the 1700 band gets used for "AT&T LTE only", it would be a shame for the compatible products getting such a short life span. That and I won't get to use the $10 web2go plan @ 84Mbs+.

 

[LordBane00]

How the company(s) deal with the band allocation for HSPA+ is the big question mark for me. T-Mo had concrete plans to build out the "3G" network to 168Mbs speeds, with the 42Mbs "MiFi" router due out soon. If the 1700 band gets used for "AT&T LTE only", it would be a shame for the compatible products getting such a short life span. That and I won't get to use the $10 web2go plan @ 84Mbs+.

So far i have not seen anything about t-mobile 4g phones being shut off but then again t-mobile 4g is HSPA+ which is 3g in away so yeah it looks like all phones will get shut off that really does bite.

 

[colnago]

So far i have not seen anything about t-mobile 4g phones being shut off but then again t-mobile 4g is HSPA+ which is 3g in away so yeah it looks like all phones will get shut off that really does bite.

FWIW:

Confirmed: AT&T wants to use T-Mobile's AWS spectrum for LTE buildout -- Engadget


"Flipping through the slide deck accompanying a hastily-arranged press conference this morning to talk up AT&T's planned acquisition of T-Mobile USA, it's now clear that the company is interested in augmenting its 700MHz LTE spectrum with T-Mobile's 1700MHz AWS airwaves -- a move that it says would help it deploy LTE to 95 percent of the American population. AWS is currently used by T-Mobile for its 3G services, but running LTE there isn't without precedent -- that's where MetroPCS is already set up, so there's some potential for consumer hardware and infrastructure synergy there. For T-Mobile customers, that means that the repurposed AWS spectrum will eventually leave them without 1700MHz HSPA+, rendering the carrier's current line of 3G / 4G phones stuck on 2G; AT&T's recognizing that there'll be an equipment swap required eventually, but that's not really a concern for at least a year (assuming the deal goes through)."