the feds blocked the AT&T - T-Mobile merger but let the AA & USAir go through, which will probably result in higher air fares for all... 
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Sprint Working on Potential T-Mobile US Purchase
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Oh, great. The crappiest of the already crappy Big Three wants to buy the only half-decent major carrier.
T-Mobile's new, fairly transpared "Un-carrier" stuff was what actually got me to switch from prepaid to a contract on my iPhone. Sure as hell not going to bend over for Sprint.
T-Mobile's new, fairly transpared "Un-carrier" stuff was what actually got me to switch from prepaid to a contract on my iPhone. Sure as hell not going to bend over for Sprint.
I honestly believe by 2020 the networks' bread and butter services, voice and text messaging, which are already in decline will be totally deprecated by the data messaging services like iMessage/FaceTime/Skype/Facebook etc. At least in the US the big 4 carriers see the writing on the wall and roll up voice/sms in all their current plans so they don't have to account for minutes and instead data usage. The data usage is where they see their future, that is less obvious to customers exactly how much they are using. I've been wishing for years the carriers would just become dump pipe utility companies. Well, if that's the way they go then we need to make sure they have reliable networks and hopefully a heaping serving of government regulation with it.
I agree with everything in the well said post with the exception of this:
The incumbent carriers now have very real competition from VoIP providers. VoIP technology has evolved to the point where it is a genuine alternative to the old PRI/PBX combination. Even AT&T is pushing their version, IP Flex.
While it hasn't fully been embraced in the mobile world, we're not that far off. The foundation is there, and hobbyists have been doing mobile VoIP for a while. Corporations have been pushing for "single number reach" for many years, and mobile VoIP is just reaching the point where they can realistically do it.
The new generation of VoIP providers have been innovating both on pricing and on technology. You can get features now that would have required dedicated staff and expensive equipment just a few years ago. Find me-follow me? Check. Call queues with a web-based GUI? Check. Least cost routing? Check.
This is the real competition in the world of voice over packet communications. The Bells have lost.
The incumbent carriers now have very real competition from VoIP providers. VoIP technology has evolved to the point where it is a genuine alternative to the old PRI/PBX combination. Even AT&T is pushing their version, IP Flex.
While it hasn't fully been embraced in the mobile world, we're not that far off. The foundation is there, and hobbyists have been doing mobile VoIP for a while. Corporations have been pushing for "single number reach" for many years, and mobile VoIP is just reaching the point where they can realistically do it.
The new generation of VoIP providers have been innovating both on pricing and on technology. You can get features now that would have required dedicated staff and expensive equipment just a few years ago. Find me-follow me? Check. Call queues with a web-based GUI? Check. Least cost routing? Check.
This is the real competition in the world of voice over packet communications. The Bells have lost.
Noooooooooo Thank You!!!!! I just paid my early termination fee to Sprint this month as I had moved to T-Mobile a few months ago. Where I live Sprint could barely get a connection (speedtest would get 0.09 / 0.01 Mbit when it could connect, and I had opted to drop my home phone when I moved here, so that caused a bit of a problem), and with T-Mobile I'm enjoying 26 / 15 Mbit everywhere and can actually make/receive phone calls. Plus from a service perspective, I've had nothing but great experience with T-Mobile, and I can't think of anything nice what so ever to say about Sprint in my 3 years of service with them.
I understand why consumers might not like it, but I don't see the antitrust concern. The #3 and 4 carriers merge to create... The #3 carrier. Market competition would remain very high.
Sprint is #4 for a reason. It's poorly managed, and their CDMA network has all the downsides of small size and CDMA itself. I can't imagine this improving T-Mobile's business. I don't care if they merge, and I doubt the new bigger business will be any better run than Sprint is now.
If they're doing this just to get T-Mobile's LTE network, why bother buying T-Mobile? I'm sure a T-Mobile wouldn't object to Sprint leasing their LTE towers, and it would be a lot less expensive for Sprint.
If they're doing this just to get T-Mobile's LTE network, why bother buying T-Mobile? I'm sure a T-Mobile wouldn't object to Sprint leasing their LTE towers, and it would be a lot less expensive for Sprint.
This.
The only issue is their long term plan to merge and unite their networks. T-Mobile is still a major market/sparse network that can barely be classified as a national network, while Sprint has much more coverage where T-Mobile doesn't. That's a bonus for both.
They both have slightly different plans from AT&T and Verizon, but you do figure one is going to have to win out (Unlimited vs. UnCarrier) in the mid-to-long term. Too many plans under one company would be overly complicated from a marketing standpoint.
Despite competition, Spring still blows chunks. What does that tell you? Jus' saying'.
I just switched to T-Mobile from AT&T and do NOT want this to go down. Get lost, Sprint!
I would have no problems with this as long as the combined carrier would be running a GSM network and maintain Tmobiles Uncarrier model. It would put enormous pressure on AT&T and Verizon.
NNNNNOOOOOO!!!!!
I just converted to T-Mobile after converting into the hell hole that was AT&T after being stuck in the hell hole that was Sprint.
DO-NOT-WANT
I just converted to T-Mobile after converting into the hell hole that was AT&T after being stuck in the hell hole that was Sprint.
DO-NOT-WANT
The only way I would like this is if Sprint bought T-mobile but turned the resulting company into something more "T-mobilish" for lack of a better term. It doesn't matter who buys who, but rather what the final company comes out like. Maybe Softbank wants to change Sprint's image/culture and perhaps integrating with T-mobile would help that change happen faster.
If the final company chooses to evolve into a GSM/LTE carrier (with LTE being where everyone in eventually going anyway), and if they continue to be bold and transparent with pricing (doing away with subsidy model and trying things like elimination of high international roaming charges and free limited data for tablets), then I could see this being a good thing.
But if they just want to fold T-mobile into Sprint's current model, I would be terribly unhappy.
If the final company chooses to evolve into a GSM/LTE carrier (with LTE being where everyone in eventually going anyway), and if they continue to be bold and transparent with pricing (doing away with subsidy model and trying things like elimination of high international roaming charges and free limited data for tablets), then I could see this being a good thing.
But if they just want to fold T-mobile into Sprint's current model, I would be terribly unhappy.
Competition claim is a myth.
We could have 50 carriers, but when they all set the price high there is nothing but a fairy tale called capitalism/free market consumer driven pricing.
Capitalism without a level playing field of enforced regulations produces nothing but large conglomerations who become `too big to fail' and thus produce nothing but the illusion of competition through their various subsidiaries.
We have no competition other than 5 tier1 vendors vying for a high price market offering gimmicks while robbing everyone blind.
We could have 50 carriers, but when they all set the price high there is nothing but a fairy tale called capitalism/free market consumer driven pricing.
Capitalism without a level playing field of enforced regulations produces nothing but large conglomerations who become `too big to fail' and thus produce nothing but the illusion of competition through their various subsidiaries.
We have no competition other than 5 tier1 vendors vying for a high price market offering gimmicks while robbing everyone blind.
Wait a minute wasn't the CEO of Sprint one of the most outspoken people trying to ban the AT&T - Tmobile takeover? But yet now he is trying to do the same thing? He even went as far as to say that if the government allowed this it would be an outrage and a disservice to consumers.
Yes, philosophically, it is hypocritical, since he was basically asking for the government to help him run a business. That said, from an anti-trust perspective there's a logic as to why they would prohibit AT&T or Verizon from buying T-Mobile but not Sprint. If Sprint buys T-Mobile, it creates a third carrier about the same size as the other two. If AT&T or Verizon buy T-Mobile, it gives that single carrier more than 40% of the market by itself.
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In a capital intensive industry such as telecom, 3 competitors is a fair amount. We have only 3 major car rental companies (Hertz, Avis, Enterprise - most the other brands are owned by one of those three), for instance.
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the feds blocked the AT&T - T-Mobile merger but let the AA & USAir go through, which will probably result in higher air fares for all...
The AA/USAirways merger resulted in 4 carriers each with about 21% of the US market. Also, American Airlines was in bankruptcy. While they could have emerged from bankruptcy without a merger (both bond and equity holders in the old AA got a LOT more than initially expected), the resulting airline would have been relatively weak. There was relatively little overlap between their two networks, so the antitrust concerns were addressed by selling gates in a few airports (LaGuardia and Reagan, for the most part).
1. Nobody wants Samsung "killed". Many people want Samsung to stop copying other people's products, which they did for phones, TVs, vacuum cleaners. Many people want Samsung to stop being dishonest, like cheating on benchmarks, paying for fake reviews and so on. But that doesn't mean killing the company.
2. If Samsung were killed, that would make Apple one of about 19 instead of one of about 20 phone or tablet manufacturers. No monopoly at all.
3. Apple is neither a TV nor a watch manufacturer.
I'm with Verizon right now and I plan to switch to T-Mo soon. I'll probably still switch, but I'm a little worried now since Sprint has a less than stellar reputation. Maybe a name change to T-Sprint or SoftBank is in order.
Oh come on, here aren't even that many $500s in the box!
/impliedlessonaboutevilsofcapitalism
Man Sprint just wants everyone under their wings, huh? Maybe if they put some of that money into their customers... Well, we won't go there.
If AT&T couldn't do it, why the hell does Sprint think they can do it? Especially with TWO DIFFERENT BANDS!!! More trouble than it's worth.