AT&T buying T-Mobile

[MikesTooLz]

AT&T has just bought T-Mobile, this means once ATT and T-mobile merge MetroPCS will be bumped up to the number 4 slot as far as carriers go.

Now the question is, those forums that refuse to help with Metro phone, saying that they only support the top 4 carriers. Will they now start looking at Metro phones or will they just say now they only deal with the Top 3 carriers.


Guess we will have to wait an see.

 

[Gus3300]

With the higher prices at&t will put (since now they have less competition), we can expect more people switching to Metro which may result in improved services for us.

 

[ickster]

I sure hope so Mike.
I'm guessing ATT will want to keep T -Mobile as it is. They want to compete in the low cost arena as well. IMHO.

 

[wagonis]

This may not go through if the US regulatory agencies do not approve which they might decide not to. Just because the 2 companies agreed to the deal doesn't mean this is done. This could be bad for the mobile industry in the US on several levels.

http://www.mobilizeeverything.com/home.php

AT&T-Mobile: AT&T buys T-Mobile USA for $39B - Google 24/7 - Fortune Tech

 

[MetroPOS]

AT&T just loves monopolizing any industry it can get its hands on. I hope they block those bastards.

Even if Verizon tried to counter this move by buying Sprint/Metro PCS, they still wouldn't be on the same scale...cause T-Mobile's current market value is worth about 11 times more than Metro's, and almost 4 times more than Sprint's.

 

[wagonis]

Oh hell yeah, this merger (if it goes through) will make AT&T the largest carrier subscriber wise. I wonder how they'll handle their 3G since they both operate on different frequencies even though they are both GSM. I'd also like to see how they handle Simple Mobile since they are an MVNO on T-Mobiles network. And lastly what are they doing with the new Sidekick? They just made a huge deal out of the new Sidekick being built by Samsung and running Android while replacing the old Danger based Sidekicks, but I guess that depends on how they handle the network merger.

 

[gamekid2k]

lets hope Sprint or Verizon will not buy MetroPCS...or we will all be chewing $120/month unlimited plan from those 2 devil as soon as April of 2012.

With 12 months of usage out of Indulge, Metro's true cost will be $60 + $33 ($400/12) cost per month. On a brighter side Indulge might get more attention for true rooting.

Just a theoretical question, since Metro is no contact service, if anyone buys them do they have to support our existing phone?

 

[MikesTooLz]

Just a theoretical question, since Metro is no contact service, if anyone buys them do they have to support our existing phone?

Not if they don't want to. They could buy the company and then shut it down and cancel all users services if they wanted.


But they normally let existing customers keep going with the same plans and stop new people from signing up with those older plans.

Like when ATT bought Cingular, ATT made there own higher priced plans and allowed existing customers to keep there current Cingular plans.

Also for a while I remember having my VoiceStream phone plan for a long time after T-Mobile bought VoiceStream.

 

[wagonis]

Agreed, if a carrier acquires another carrier they are not obligated to extend a plan to accommodate unless that is a term in the acquisition. They usually inform users that plans will no longer be available and offer them some form of exchange offer if a new device is required and give ample notice if users have to change plans. Perfect example: Virgin Mobile/Helio. All Helio users had to ditch their devices and switch to a VM plan/device. Damn shame about Helio, I was a subscriber for about a year and at the time had the original Helio Ocean. Since not many people heard of Helio they were always fascinated by the dual slide action on my Helio Ocean and were amused by the phone and it was pretty nice piece. Kept it in my "old phone" collection for some odd reason. LOL

 

[unnamedny]

I read an article 2 years ago which companies are in danger because of recession. Tmobile was on that list. I guess that was true. I don't think that metro is in danger according to some financial alalysts.

 

[MikesTooLz]

I read an article 2 years ago which companies are in danger because of recession. Tmobile was on that list. I guess that was true. I don't think that metro is in danger according to some financial alalysts.

the economy go's down, more people switch to metro.

 

[anabolina]

So true, despite being the lower-priced of the big 4 for a long time, they lost subscribers in Q4 of 2010. Still, there is no way I'm giving any of my business to ATT so MetroPCS here I come (as soon as my contract is up anyway or even sooner since I'm in a family plan that adds $5 to my sister's plan so I may give up my phone # earlier and simply pay my sister $5 a month for the remainder of the contract.)

 

[MetroPOS]

I talked about this with a couple people today...and they all have serious doubts that the regulators are going to allow this merger.

But two people I spoke to who are on T-Mobile said they will dump them immediately. So I guess people are likely to switch to Sprint since it's cheaper than Verizon. Maybe Metro will get a few to come over as well

 

[TRS-80]

Not if they don't want to. They could buy the company and then shut it down and cancel all users services if they wanted.


But they normally let existing customers keep going with the same plans and stop new people from signing up with those older plans.

Like when ATT bought Cingular, ATT made there own higher priced plans and allowed existing customers to keep there current Cingular plans.

Also for a while I remember having my VoiceStream phone plan for a long time after T-Mobile bought VoiceStream.

I remember many years ago (10-15?) when Aerial first came to this market (Tampa). I signed up for a $50 per month, traditional cell phone service plan (with credit check, etc.). That plan was for 1000 minutes/month, true per second billing, first incoming minute was free, and I forget what else now. Well, that was a really, really good deal, especially way back then! Then they were bought out by PrimeCo, then somebody else, then T-Mobile, then I forget who... well I kept that same plan through all those different carriers, up until 4 or 5 years ago, when I finally switched to Metro (and all that time, a better deal never came along, until Metro)!

Back on topic, I also hope Metro never sells to Verizon, or anyone else for that matter. The big cell phone companies have been screwing us for years! I love Metro, and hope they always remain an independent company! I don't understand why they would sell out now, they are really picking up steam and I only see continued success with the 4G and the much better phones they are getting now. I have been a vocal proponent of Metro for a long time now, I have been telling anyone who will listen that they are going to change the cell phone industry, and bring down prices.

BTW, that's why I don't complain when Metro's network has the occasional hiccup... because I am not going to change carriers, no way! I am going to vote with my dollars, and stick with the company that is lowering prices for everyone! They will only continue to improve and expand their network the more resources they have at their disposal. So why would I take my money away from a company like that, and give it to another company that would charge me an arm and a leg at every opportunity!

I am also very interested to see what the elitists will have to say, now that we are one of the "big 4"...

 

[tiede]

Did you know that was the VERY first thing I thought of when I heard of the merger? WE ARE NOW IN THE BIG FOUR! Lol

 

[moonlitwolf20]

Some people are saying that instead of MetroPCS becoming part of the big four the industry might go towards a duopoly and have verzion and the merged at&t and t-mobile be the only top, which is way some people saying that the merge is not going to go through and if it does than they are going to have to make a lot of changed regarding the agreement they came up with.

 

[nickrussel]

I don't think the merger changes anything in terms of metropcs being or not being one of the top 4 and here is why: tmobile users won't wake up tomorrow to find out they are now using AT&Ts phones. And it's all about phones at xda, not companies, really. That is to say that my HD2 on tmobile network won't turn into an AT&T HTC ***. It'll still be T-Mobile - at least for a while till all current tmobile phones are phased out and that's years from now... So, I'd like to share everybody's hopes but I'm real skeptical on this...

 

[gus4269]

Ma Bell's at it again.....

I know non of you have any idea what i'm talking about.....

Sucks getting old....

 

[dongemus]

Actually Ma Bell died and so did ATT... kind of? ATT did buy up most of the Bells, but about 10 years ago ATT was going bankrupt when Ameritech actually bought ATT and it was a big surprise when the Ameritech board announced that they would keep the ATT name over Ameritech.

Also, Sprint bought Nextel how long ago, and they still make "Nextel phones" (Motorola i***). I don't think much will change right away if the deal is approved except some bragging.

 

[MikesTooLz]

Actually Ma Bell died and so did ATT... kind of? ATT did buy up most of the Bells, but about 10 years ago ATT was going bankrupt when Ameritech actually bought ATT and it was a big surprise when the Ameritech board announced that they would keep the ATT name over Ameritech.

Also, Sprint bought Nextel how long ago, and they still make "Nextel phones" (Motorola i***). I don't think much will change right away if the deal is approved except some bragging.

ATT is after their wireless spectrum in order to re purpose it for 4G LTE.
This means they would begin phasing out T-Mobile 3G/4G phones and then cut it off completely at some point. This would give ATT the ability to give better speeds however it would be for ATT LTE phones.

If I was looking to buy a T-Mobile phone right now I would only expect to be able to use it for one or two years from when the companies merge.

 

[MikesTooLz]

sprint is now trying to fight this and keep it from happening.

I'm sure t-mobile could care less, they still make money if the deal doesn't go through and get better roaming contracts with ATT.

Heck they could be going along with this knowing it wont go through just to collect from ATT.

 

[Silvist]

Its going to take about a year for them to get this approved through the Federal Government. IF that even happens. It won't make At&t a monopoly, though it'll make them an Oligopoly. Meaning, verizon and at&t merged with Tmobile will control 75% of the entire wireless market. In fact lol they pretty much already control the market. Not sure where sprint falls into this, but looking at the last year numbers of wireless customers on those two networks is pretty massive. In case you guys didn't know as of the end of 2010 Metro had about 8 million subscribers. 8 Million, and there only number 5 lol.

 

[betsuni78]

And after the merger, congratz metro, you guys are number 4.

 

[ccnemrod]

att 95.5 million
tmobile 33.3 million
verizon 101.1 million
sprint nextel 49.9 million
metro pcs 8.16 million

as of january 2011

i thought att was #1, so you folks know not to ask me bout phones cause it'd b wrong