AT&T to Acquire T-Mobile USA for $39 Billion

[tigres]

This is the stupidest things I've ever heard. The technology behind the phone doesn't matter and doesn't make them anticompetitive.

Ever take any Econ? Think your price and data will be cheaper and more in the future should this go through? I could care less about the spectrum.

 

[cvaldes]

I have yet to find a dictionary which contains the noun 'cite'.

If you add an acute accent to the 'e', you will find it in a French dictionary.

 

[Small White Car]

Indeed, they ARE worth billions. That doesn't mean they want to make manufacturers re-engineer all of their phones to use those extra bands effectively. It also doesn't mean they won't SELL those bands to another company for billions of dollars in a few years, effectively wiping out their competition while increasing market share at very little net cost to the company. In fact, I'd guess that is their plan.

Nah, my guess is they want to be in the position to eventually charge, let's say, $30 per month for 10 GB while Verizon is forced to charge $30 per month for 5 GB.

I'm making those numbers up, but the point is that they probably want to have enough bandwidth so that they can give more than the competition can at the same price.

Same as how Apple can sell the iPad for less than other tablets because Apple can get better prices on RAM since they buy so much.

I'm betting that's at&t's long-term goal.

 

[hushmartin]

Oh, you mean like lowes and home depot not hurting my local mom and pop shops. Got it.

And where do you shop? The mom and pop shops, or Lowe's? And what network do you have for your phone, hmm? Cricket? US cellular? I doubt it. Why don't you put your money where your mouth is, hmm?

 

[TMar]

I really hope this is not approved. We need more cell carriers not fewer. Personally I almost feel that they need to be broken up some more. US is already lagging way behind in terms of price vs services. About the only country worse than us is Canada.
Sadly I see AT&T killing off T-Mobiles UMA offerings instead of expanding it. UMA is much MUCH better than the microcell crap.
On top of that it is bad things for Android because AT&T will just lock it down even more and T-Mobile has been fairly open to it. Plus increase cost all around.

This is bad and I really do not want it approved.

The reason we lag behind is the vastness of the area providers have to cover here. This drives expense way up compared to companies that have to cover a smaller area. I'd like to see a break down of providers and the number of towers in their networks.

 

[RebeccaL]

Does anyone know how this will improve AT&Ts coverage and network?

Now every T-mobile tower will be servicing ATT customers and vice versa.

That means much better coverage. The combined coverage of both companies.

Here is ATT coverage:
http://www.wireless.att.com/coverageviewer/#?type=voice

And T-Mobile:

http://coverage.t-mobile.com/


This should solve the complaints of weak ATT coverage in SF and NY.

 

[wordoflife]

So cheaper plans for current AT&T customer, or more expensive plans for current T-mobile customers?

 

[DustinT]

So I guess there will be no more of those annoying att bashing tmobile ads from that chick in the pink dress with the shirtless iphone user?!

Those are pretty annoying

Lol, I guess not!

What I'm interested here is the frequencies used by the companies. Are we going to see T-Mobile towers also support AT&T 3G now?

Could AT&T now start adding T-Mobile frequency access on future phones? Will they remove the T-Mobile frequency all together and strengthen their network?

Probably won't do anything. Just enhanced edge coverage.

Hate to break it to you At&t bashers, but At&t does not compete with T-mobile. Att's competitor is Verizon; T-Mo is nothing but a discount alternative and has been for years. I'm betting that T-mo USA was about ready to flop and this was an effort to get out while they could minimize the damage to the parent company.

I foresee this raising prices for T-mo customers *eventually*, but those old plans will be grandfathered for a while. They'll have to select a new plan when they upgrade to a new handset, most likely. I don't expect it will make one whit of difference to At&t customers' prices. Signal might improve a whole lot on both networks though!

That's about right. Att's 3g and T-mo's 3g are on different bands, but they share edge data band, so anyone willing to go edge only and JB can use an iphone on T-mo.

I'm betting that Att will start broadcasting their signal on t-mo's towers to improve Att signal. Then they will either phase out t-mo's bands or use all of them... whichever gets the most bang for their buck. I'd put my money on phasing out the t-mo bands. It seems like it would require less change over all--change is expensive.

Those bands are worth billions of dollars.

They're not going to throw away the most valuable part of the company they just bought.

But yes, we don't know how they'll use them. There are a couple of different ways they could do this. But phasing them out won't be one of their options.




Well, yeah. Thought that was obvious so I didn't spell it out. But I guess it's good to explain it for people who didn't know.

ya, the frequencies Tmo brings to the table are worth a small fortune. At&t will likely keep what it needs and try and hold onto the rest. It would be a simple matter for existing At&t customers to start roaming on the compatible parts of Tmo's network. However, there are some pretty heavy logistical reasons that probably won't happen in the near term.

I wouldn't be surprised to see iPhone 5 support Tmo's frequency ranges. After all, anything to help performance in urban areas, right?

 

[hushmartin]

Nah, my guess is they want to be in the position to eventually charge, let's say, $30 per month for 10 GB while Verizon is forced to charge $30 per month for 5 GB.

I'm making those numbers up, but the point is that they probably want to have enough bandwidth so that they can give more than the competition can at the same price.

Same as how Apple can sell the iPad for less than other tablets because Apple can get better prices on RAM since they buy so much.

I'm betting that's at&t's long-term goal.

THAT is a definite possibility. Well reasoned idea, sir.

 

[F123D]

So I guess the company will be called AT&T-Mobile..?

 

[TMar]

Ever take any Econ? Think your price and data will be cheaper and more in the future should this go through? I could care less about the spectrum.

Didn't say that, read the post I quoted. AT&T having a monopoly on GSM in the US isn't going to allow them free reign to "jack up prices and cap users" because they are the sole GSM provider.

 

[shartypants]

I know some people with a T-mobile iPhone, so finally they will be legit

 

[CubusX]

Damn hot!!!

she's hot.

+1

 

[Small White Car]

THAT is a definite possibility. Well reasoned idea, sir.

Yeah, what people forget is that only a minority of Americans own smartphones.

So right there that's huge growth. Then add on iPads, Macbook Airs, and a number of other tablets and iPods (I'm sure, eventually) and you can see that it is impossible that anyone will own 'too much' bandwidth.

They're planning for 2025, not 2012.

So I guess the company will be called AT&T-Mobile..?

Nah. When Cingular bought AT&T they just changed their name to AT&T 'cause they liked it better. I'm certain they'll just stay 'AT&T' this time as well.

 

[cvaldes]

I wonder if this affects T-Mobile in Europe, they seem to be doing quite well for themselves here.

Probably zero effect on T-Mobile's subsidiaries in Europe.

T-Mobile USA was operated almost entirely as a separate entity, had very little connection to DT. After all, it was basically a buyout of VoiceStream and rebranded as T-Mobile. They continued buying smaller regional carriers to expand their coverage.

 

[goobot]

Unless you buy a new phone supporting a new band it doesn't mean much.

 

[kabapple]

What will this mean for the consunmer?

 

[velocityg4]

This stinks I suppose now the $60 a month I have been saving by using my unlocked iPhone on a contract free TMobile family plan with unlimited internet is going away. Actually I am quite pissed off at this prospect.

This is going to cost me $720 a year extra to keep using my iPhone or I'll have to switch to Sprint, replace all my household phones with used ones off eBay and get some POS Android device for business uses.

 

[akacaj]

So AT&T is adding another T to their name. AT&T&T because more Tee's means better service!

 

[imutter]

the shoddy service in the US is not because of the low population density and the large area. Because most people would understand that you get spotty reception in dakota or utah. but the shoddy service is actually in the middle of big cities. Cambridge/Boston comes to mind.

The reason why the service is spotty is because there is no government oversight and no consumer protection in the US. If I had that quality of service in Europe that I have in Boston then I'm sure they would fine the hell out of the carriers and you would be entitled to suspend payments.

Yeah right US is not a socialist country that is why I live here ( I am German) and I know how much they pay in EU WAY more for less

 

[aristobrat]

Oh, you mean like lowes and home depot not hurting my local mom and pop shops. Got it.

Where I live, the service and selection at both Lowes and Home Depot has created a need that several local SMART mom and pop shops have stepped in to fill (and are doing very well doing so).

The same thing will continue with local carriers.

The local cable company here just started offering wireless service (using Sprint's network). What sets them apart from the other major/local wireless carriers? They will refund you money every month for the minutes that you don't use.

IMO, local carriers that bring something unique to the market stand the chance of doing well. Very few people seem to actually like the big carriers.

 

[jp102235]

This will not go I prey. Ma bell takes over world?

Expect less even more. Sad

irony:
the "ma bell" you speak of is actually verizon -> if you follow the corporate lineage.
AT&T is Ma bell in nomenclature (and logo) only.
j

 

[Eriamjh1138@DAN]

T-Mobile users with plans that AT&T won't support will get to keep them until the contract expires. This is because if they changed you plans, you would entitled to quit without paying any cancellation fee, even if you signed up yesterday and the change went into effect tomorrow.

They may stop selling the plans, but you will get what you are signed up for. They know this. This is why AT&T kept the $30 unlimited plan for 3GS users when the iPhone4 came out. The risk to people switching is too great!

 

[Gasu E.]

I meant service on an options level. You still can't buy an unlocked iPhone without a contract. Rural areas in Scandinavia will be 80Mb/s by the end of the year (150Mb/s in urban areas), this is an area with less than 1/3 population density of California.

I just think the lack of choice will really hurt you guys.

I'm puzzled by this conclusion. The USA has four national carriers. i thought Germany had a similar number, so one would think the competitive factor would be similar.

Frankly, having watched the development of cellular in the USA and abroad, it has always seemed to me the difference has been that many other countries have had extremely pro-active government action driving cellular development and standards, while the US has been mostly laissez faire. There is a historical basis for this difference. When I traveled abroad in the 1970s and 80s, I was always shocked by the absolutely primitive landline phone service in Europe-- poor quality and far from universal availability. In 1973, over 99% of US households had phones. When cellular technology became available, it was a luxury in the US, but an absolute necessity pretty much everywhere else.

 

[mikeapple]

As an Unlocked iPhone 4 user, I guess I can kiss my

-Unlimited nights and weekends
-Unlimited data
-Unlimited SMS and MMS
for $80

Goodbye :'-(

now that there is only one GSM carrier in the U.S. watch rate plans get more expensive since they have more control now and WE consumers have less choice.