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Not looking forward to this merger and luckily I switched to Verizon this weekend before the storm happens.

The Storm? What storm?

Nothing will happen for over a year and you were lucky to get switched to Verizone this weekend? LOL!:p
 
Vistied tmobile.com

Is it just me or has T-Mobile already changed their plans to align with AT&T?

Looking at their plans, they seem a tab more expensive than they used to be.

Or, did they get rid of their "specials" and will revamp after the buzz settles down?
 
T-mobile plan was so cheap because they were losing customers on AT&T and Verizon.

Same thing for Sprint... they used to be just as expensive as AT&T and Verizon about 5-6 years ago. As soon as iPhone and Android phones exploded in the market, many users just went to Verizon and AT&T. In order to keep users, they had to lower their monthly pricing.

T-mobile is bleeding and struggling in US. AT&T will benefit from this merger and so will many users. Lack of competition makes less sense to me...

As long as there is still Verizon in the town. The competition will continue.
 
For those thinking this will be a quick process it wont... it wont even take shape for probably a year a more.

The way it works is this. They've announced their intent to buy. Now they have to submit it to the FCC to get regulatory approval for the merger.

Inside of that submission is going to be a HUGE list of properties they're going to divest (both on the TMO and ATT side) as part of the merger. Most of these are overlapping area's where one or the other already has superior service and they're going to dump off the overlap to keep it from being a monopoly, among other things.

Most likely the FCC will reject that, and give them some more stuff to divest. They'll counter propose, and it will get approved.

Then they'll actually complete the merger a short time later as far as "we now own TMO", but neither company will change... yet. They will operate completely independent and a "merger rollout" will be planned, and market by market they will bring customers who have not been divested into ATT's system. This doesn't happen at once, but over a period of time. Also until your area is "officially" migrated to ATT (as a TMO customer) you cannot just switch over. The companies operate independent until the merger is complete in your area so you can't skip ahead.

They will then put up those Divested area's into auction, and companies will buy them and start a similar process to bring those customers (when an area is divested both the network and ALL customers in that market area go with it to the new company) into their systems.

So, because of the above, you can't really see what either area will look like yet because A LOT of TMO and ATT's customers/markets will be divested off. ATT isn't doing this for the network they're doing it for the customers most likely, and because of that it's going to be a longer process since they have SO many major overlapping area's.

I spent over 5yrs in the cellular industry, and the company I worked for at that point both bought a company and was purchased by another so I've seen it from both sides.

It's a long process.

Really Gordon Gekko? Is the process as long as your post? Honey Badger doesn't care..
 
Inside of that submission is going to be a HUGE list of properties they're going to divest (both on the TMO and ATT side) as part of the merger. Most of these are overlapping area's where one or the other already has superior service and they're going to dump off the overlap to keep it from being a monopoly, among other things.

I don't believe that there will me a monopoly issue as, as there will already by Sprint, Verizon, Virgin, Cricket, etc. in the area. Will at&t + T-Mobile even be as large as Verizon?

Also, from the press release, it appears that at&t is doing this for the network assets (towers and additional 4G LTE deployment) as much as the additional customers. I doubt that at&t will sell off any customers or markets. They may decide to drop some tower locations if the coverage is denser than needed.

For the customer with a "Cingular" plan... I don't really see an issue here, as the current at&t is just Cingular renamed. I don't recall the plans having changed at all. Now, I would be more impressed with someone that still has an ond AT&T plan.

-jt2
 
you can't be really asking this....AT&T is #1 now

From the L.A. Times:
"If the merger passes regulatory muster, a combined AT&T and T-Mobile would have about 130 million subscribers, vaulting past Verizon's 94 million customers. Sprint would be a distant third (and a probable takeover target for Verizon)."

From the Atlanta Journal Constitution:
"AT&T is now the country's second-largest wireless carrier and T-Mobile USA is the fourth largest. The acquisition would give AT&T 129 million subscribers, compared with Verizon's 102 million, making the company the nation's biggest wireless carrier."
 
From the L.A. Times:
"If the merger passes regulatory muster, a combined AT&T and T-Mobile would have about 130 million subscribers, vaulting past Verizon's 94 million customers. Sprint would be a distant third (and a probable takeover target for Verizon)."

From the Atlanta Journal Constitution:
"AT&T is now the country's second-largest wireless carrier and T-Mobile USA is the fourth largest. The acquisition would give AT&T 129 million subscribers, compared with Verizon's 102 million, making the company the nation's biggest wireless carrier."

This is what I was thinking... Seems to be a little confusion about the numbers, though... I can't remember who Verizon bought to become #1, though. Been a few years.

Either way, seems clear to me that at&t would have less than 50% of the market share, and very likely that they won't have a true monopoly anywehre that anyone is going to care about, rural North Dakota not withstanding...

-jt2
 
I think it's a good thing for At&t subscribers and T-Mobile subscribers. It will broaden the current reach of both networks and help implement 4G signal a lot faster than it would have been capable without the merger. I don't personally don't think At&t's plans will get more expensive, but I could obviously see T-Mobile's rates increase to the current At&t rates.

Either way, its gonna be a good thing. I think...
 
I think it's a good thing for At&t subscribers and T-Mobile subscribers. It will broaden the current reach of both networks and help implement 4G signal a lot faster than it would have been capable without the merger. I don't personally don't think At&t's plans will get more expensive, but I could obviously see T-Mobile's rates increase to the current At&t rates.

Either way, its gonna be a good thing. I think...

Eh, I would be surprised if either saw actual coverage increases within the next few years.
 
I think this is great...Just a few questions...will att adapt tmobiles wireless plans? Also can someone make a map with tmobile and att coverage map combined so we can see how itll be looking for both data and voice? Now the next iPhone should be 4g capable.

You have no idea how bad this is going to suck for consumers if it passes federal regulation
 
You have no idea how bad this is going to suck for consumers if it passes federal regulation

What will be so bad about this?

As for expanding coverages, I definitely think coverage will be better. I personally don't have many issues with At&t in the Dallas area, but I know friends with T-Mobile that have issues. So, theres will surely be better. I think it will most likely help with 3G coverage as well as help alleviate tower over-loading issues.

Anywho, just my $.02
 
Really Gordon Gekko? Is the process as long as your post? Honey Badger doesn't care..

I know it's hard to read with your hooked on phonics education. Take your time, and eventually you'll be able to hit that 6th grade reading level. Then the post will make sense, and low and behold knowledge of the process ATT/TMO will go through will be absorbed into that brain.

I don't believe that there will me a monopoly issue as, as there will already by Sprint, Verizon, Virgin, Cricket, etc. in the area. Will at&t + T-Mobile even be as large as Verizon?

Also, from the press release, it appears that at&t is doing this for the network assets (towers and additional 4G LTE deployment) as much as the additional customers. I doubt that at&t will sell off any customers or markets. They may decide to drop some tower locations if the coverage is denser than needed.

-jt2

ATT will be required to divest some area's. Any cellular acquisition that has overlapping area's has some divesting. When Verizon acquired Alltel (due to the fact they had a decent customer base, but mainly because they had the largest cellular footprint at the time) they had to divest off about 20% of the customers and markets. This won't be any different. What will be interesting to watch is what area's they choose to divest, and what ultimately it takes to get FCC/DOJ approval.

No matter what it's going to skyrocket ATT's customer base, and footprint (especially for 4G as you mentioned).
 
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