AT&T Mobile is buying T*mobile.
Granted, AT&T (Cingular) is not the same company it was 10+ years ago, but I will be shopping for a new provider. Shame there aren't any other decent GSM providers near me. :-/
amazing what a difference 40 miles makes. I've been with att since the cingular days and have been happy the entire time. Lucky coverage in my area I guess. 4 of us on the family plan.
Quote from: Statler on March 20, 2011, 02:48:10 PM
amazing what a difference 40 miles makes. I've been with att since the cingular days and have been happy the entire time. Lucky coverage in my area I guess. 4 of us on the family plan.
I was never with Cingular, I was with AT&T before they were bought by Cingular....that's why I said it's a different company.
That being said, I'm more pissed with Tmobile lately than anythign else and ... well.. my contract expired... awwww
Quote from: ducatiz on March 20, 2011, 02:33:51 PM
Shame there aren't any other decent GSM providers near me. :-/
just wait for everybody to roll out their LTE network and then pick a company.
Quote from: derby on March 20, 2011, 03:01:14 PM
just wait for everybody to roll out their LTE network and then pick a company.
yeah, i guess. i'm kind of married to gsm though as i travel a lot overseas. i don't know enough about LTE/advanced -- is that separate from the GSM standard??
Glad I have Sprint.
UMAD T*mobile!?!?!
I've had Cingular/ATT for over 10 years now. Never had an issue and very very rarely do not have service. They are a great company. In fact when I tried to switch to Verizon, they could not get close to my current price so I stayed with ATT.
39 Billion though?
guess its all about spectrum and more/denser cell grid
Slightly on-topic. Over the weekend I ported my ATT number over to Google Voice, formally severing ties with the carrier and my personal phone. This is a recent feature (link (http://googlevoiceblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/port-your-existing-mobile-number-to.html)), up until a couple months ago, you had to pick a new number for your Google Voice number. I love that I was able to do this, because for $20 (LNP charge) I get to park my number forever and direct all personal calls to my work phone (with my employer's blessing) or any other phone of my choosing. Otherwise, it is nice not to to feel tethered to a cell plan to keep my number.
Quote from: il d00d on March 21, 2011, 09:43:08 AM
Slightly on-topic. Over the weekend I ported my ATT number over to Google Voice, formally severing ties with the carrier and my personal phone. This is a recent feature (link (http://googlevoiceblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/port-your-existing-mobile-number-to.html)), up until a couple months ago, you had to pick a new number for your Google Voice number. I love that I was able to do this, because for $20 (LNP charge) I get to park my number forever and direct all personal calls to my work phone (with my employer's blessing) or any other phone of my choosing. Otherwise, it is nice not to to feel tethered to a cell plan to keep my number.
any monthly charge?
No monthly charge.
I like that.
However, it really doesn't solve a problem for me. My problem is that AT&T scares me a little and I don't like becoming a "customer by acquisition."
I wouldn't want to try to be an employee by acquisition...
If I was working for T-Mobile I would be updating my resume right about 5 hours ago
ATT (really SBC) wants the assets and spectrums....
they will dump responsibility for the infrastructure on top of their existing over-extended Network Operations staff
Sack the T-mobile sales and work forces and offset some of the 39 billion expenditure
Quote from: RAT900 on March 21, 2011, 11:16:50 AM
I wouldn't want to try to be an employee by acquisition...
If I was working for T-Mobile I would be updating my resume right about 5 hours ago
ATT (really SBC) wants the assets and spectrums....
they will dump responsibility for the infrastructure on top of their existing over-extended Network Operations staff
Sack the T-mobile sales and work forces and offset some of the 39 billion expenditure
It's not a flat-out acquisition. Deutsche Telekom is getting a share of AT&T and a seat on their board among other things, on top of the 39B. I don't see the T*mobile structure going away. More likely, AT&T is going to dump its crappy support and weave its spectrum into T*mobile's.
Quote from: ducatiz on March 21, 2011, 12:01:48 PM
AT&T is going to dump its crappy support
i SERIOUSLY doubt at&t will ever dump it's crappy support..
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/03/21/3492173/att-t-mobile-3g-phones-will-need.html# (http://www.sacbee.com/2011/03/21/3492173/att-t-mobile-3g-phones-will-need.html#)
i would say with 99% certainty, the tmobile users will be paying atleast a portion of the cost for the new phones...
The best thing about T-mobile was the customer support when you called, and their low prices
I'll bet you can kiss both of those good-bye.
I switched to ATT a couple years ago after I moved, and T-mobile had zero coverage in my new town. I've hated every second of my time on ATT. I feel for all of you who just became subjects to the death star :-[
Overheard on the internet: "T-Mobile and AT&T have announced their wedding. There will be no reception afterward."
www.instantrimshot.com (//http://)
The T-mobile commercial was still running last night of the hot girl (tmobile) and the dorks (att) with some music theme. I thought that was funny - slamming your new employer.
mitt
Quote from: mitt on March 22, 2011, 06:39:58 AM
The T-mobile commercial was still running last night of the hot girl (tmobile) and the dorks (att) with some music theme. I thought that was funny - slamming your new employer.
mitt
I have every confidence that the new owners will replace the red dressed cupcake with something that looks like Nikita Kruschev's wife
Quote from: mitt on March 22, 2011, 06:39:58 AM
The T-mobile commercial was still running last night of the hot girl (tmobile) and the dorks (att) with some music theme. I thought that was funny - slamming your new employer.
mitt
new ad should be the camera seeing sets of bare feet under the covers in bed, and when it pans up, there are the geeks and the cute girl together.
Except that she's drugged and the geeks are in a 69
Quote from: ducatiz on March 22, 2011, 11:07:15 AM
Except that she's drugged and the geeks are in a 69
[laugh] [laugh]
AT&T is buying T-Mobile simply because of its LTE network. T-Mobile employees are screwed. It will take a while to convert all the customers to AT&T, but you will get the same crappy service, but the plans are probably going to be grandfathered in. Remember that you "signed" a contract. They can't force you into another plan that you did not approve of.
In the end, they all suck.
Quote from: ducatiz on March 22, 2011, 11:07:15 AM
Except that she's drugged and the geeks are in a 69
Great. Now I have to go wash my brain. [roll]
Quote from: duccarlos on March 22, 2011, 03:36:13 PM
AT&T is buying T-Mobile simply because of its LTE network. T-Mobile employees are screwed. It will take a while to convert all the customers to AT&T, but you will get the same crappy service, but the plans are probably going to be grandfathered in. Remember that you "signed" a contract. They can't force you into another plan that you did not approve of.
In the end, they all suck.
t-mobile
doesn't have an LTE network.
In any event, it is strictly about the network infrastructure assets, the spectrums and cell sites...and to some measure the user base
You can be confident that it was NOT because ATT-SBC needs more people on their payroll or more phone stores
the Poland 1939 Lebensraum Model will probably be employed after approvals are secured
and all identified "redundancies" will be eliminated....S.O.P. for any business
Quote from: derby on March 22, 2011, 07:59:26 PM
t-mobile doesn't have an LTE network.
They already have HSPA+
HSPA/HSPA+ and LTE/etc are not the same thing.
http://3g4g.blogspot.com/2008/01/comparison-hspa-vs-lte.html (http://3g4g.blogspot.com/2008/01/comparison-hspa-vs-lte.html)
HSPA+ is really a 3g+ technology, it's not really 4g, but it's a semantic difference now since the 4G group has apparently changed the definition to allow HSPA to be considered 4g.
LTE is not even 4g. LTE = 4g Lite.
The point I'm trying to make is that T-Mobile is ahead in that they have already at least started upgrading to HSPA+ where as AT&T, as always, is lagging behind. This merger allows them to take out a competitor, become the largest wireless company in the US and get a boost in the race to LTE.
gotcha, but my understanding is that HSPA+ will just delay their entry into real 4g.
Either way, I am counting on the FCC to block the merger. The only people happy about this are AT&T and Deutche Telekom
They won't block it. They will simply force AT&T to split some of the subscribers with Verizon.
Quote from: duccarlos on March 23, 2011, 08:27:19 AM
They won't block it. They will simply force AT&T to split some of the subscribers with Verizon.
I don't think they'll block it due to market share alone. AT&T and Tmobile are the only GSM players. If AT&T takes that over, then they'll be the only GSM retailer.
I don't know how strong that argument is though, I am pretty sure it would be novel.
The "required 3g upgrade" for Tmobile users would be scrutinized as well as long as someone brings it up. the original AT&T gave users 3 years to upgrade from AMPS phones, a whole 2 years more than required.
Unfortunately, this is a 2 horse race. I'm sure that AT&T will play the "patriotic" card. You know, buying it from the Germans.
I've seen quite a few of these "mergers" and the only public stipulation the FCC has applied has been the split of the subscribers. That's not to say that they are not forced to do additional things that are not made public.
Quote from: ducatiz on March 23, 2011, 08:45:59 AM
I don't think they'll block it due to market share alone. AT&T and Tmobile are the only GSM players. If AT&T takes that over, then they'll be the only GSM retailer.
i think that as verizon and at&t both move to lte, this becomes less of an issue.
Quote from: derby on March 23, 2011, 09:02:20 AM
i think that as verizon and at&t both move to lte, this becomes less of an issue.
How about for people that travel a lot? Verizon LTE phones won't work in Europe right? How about AT&T LTE phones?
mitt
Verizon has never really played nice outside of the US.
Quote from: mitt on March 23, 2011, 09:29:49 AM
How about for people that travel a lot? Verizon LTE phones won't work in Europe right? How about AT&T LTE phones?
mitt
lte is the evolution of the gsm technology path. iirc, lte was designed to be backwards compatible so you should still be able to travel.
Quote from: duccarlos on March 23, 2011, 09:34:17 AM
Verizon has never really played nice outside of the US.
...as a consequence of adopting a technologically-superior-but-not-widely-adopted wireless standard. seeing as most americans never leave the county, the trade-off of having the widest-coverage and best-sounding network was a good one.
verizon does, however, have a program that will keep you connected should you plan to travel outside of a cdma area and not have a (cdma+gsm capable) "world phone":
http://b2b.vzw.com/international/Global_Travel/index.html (http://b2b.vzw.com/international/Global_Travel/index.html)
I have never had a GSM phone I have attempted to travel with, but I have always counted on having a spare GSM phone that I could pop a cheap Euro pay-as-you-go SIM in to. I haven't looked at rates recently, but it always seemed like a cheaper and easier alternative to the usurious US carrier roaming rates.
Quote from: il d00d on March 23, 2011, 11:36:48 AM
I have never had a GSM phone I have attempted to travel with, but I have always counted on having a spare GSM phone that I could pop a cheap Euro pay-as-you-go SIM in to. I haven't looked at rates recently, but it always seemed like a cheaper and easier alternative to the usurious US carrier roaming rates.
+1 You can always buy a cheap GSM phone either on eBay or even in Europe. Pop in the SIM card and you're good to go.