Opinions on AT&T's Merger with T-Mobile

Do you like the merger between AT&T and T-Mobile, and why?

  • Total voters
    77
Prodo123

Prodo123

macrumors 68020
SO, everybody's heard by now! AT&T's about to catch up to Verizon, now that in a year T-Mobile USA will be fully integrated into AT&T. I want to know if you like this move, how it benefits you, or just scream at AT&T about horrible signal.

I personally like this move, because apparently T-Mobile has decent coverage, and that combined with AT&T's coverage will be a lot better overall.
 
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Prodo123 said:
SO, everybody's heard by now! AT&T's about to catch up to Verizon, now that in a year T-Mobile USA will be fully integrated into AT&T. I want to know if you like this move, how it benefits you, or just scream at AT&T about horrible signal.

I personally like this move, because apparently T-Mobile has decent coverage, and that combined with AT&T's coverage will be a lot better overall.
Click to expand...

What do you mean "catch-up"? AT&T already has a couple million more subscribers than Verizon. Are you referring to coverage? Call quality?
 
I have to use a MicroCell at my house because I don't get signal. I opened this story up on MacRumors today, & I was so excited that I checked T-Mobile's coverage. I hope, I hope, I ho..... there is no T-Mobile coverage in my area. :|

I don't really care as long as my monthly bill doesn't increase.
 
I don't know how I feel mainly because no information was released about it. I don't know if I'll actually get faster data, or a lower bill, or a higher bill.

I'm on AT&T btw.

I guess competition is good though. Now we only have 3 "big" companies in the US now.
 
Prodo123 said:
SO, everybody's heard by now! AT&T's about to catch up to Verizon, now that in a year T-Mobile USA will be fully integrated into AT&T. I want to know if you like this move, how it benefits you, or just scream at AT&T about horrible signal.

I personally like this move, because apparently T-Mobile has decent coverage, and that combined with AT&T's coverage will be a lot better overall.
Click to expand...

Yup ... we heard

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=12210113#post12210113
 
Prodo123 said:
Coverage, call quality, "4G," phone variety.
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I don't know (for my area anyway) that Verizon has any "better" coverage than AT&T. There are several places here that Verizon simply has no coverage, where AT&T does, and vice-versa. T-Mobile however is by far the worst. Again, this is just simply in my experience in the areas I travel. Mileage may vary.

I've seen better call quality on the GSM iPhone over the CDMA version. There seems to be a notable "hollow" sound on the Verizon iPhone. It almost seems as if the party on the other end is further away if that makes sense. Hopefully the merger with T-Mobile will only make that even better. Again, the service on T-Mobile here is sporadic at best.

4G (since they are calling it that) is the gray area. Hopefully AT&T will start to actually push the speeds they claim they are capable of. Atrix users (don't crucify me) are complaining, by the hundreds, that the iPhone is DESTROYING the Atrix on speed tests. If true, AT&T has a problem, or they are simply misleading users and charging for it. All of the T-Mobile devices I've tried (G2, mT4G, Nexus S) are incredibly fast when it comes to data (provided I have some sort of a signal of course). The G2 and mT4G are obviously faster. I have yet to test an LTE device, but the Thunderbolt should be sitting on my desk when I get back from CTIA on the 28th. I'll post more then. But, even with LTE starting to "roll out", (IMO) if AT&T can actually begin to provide customers with the 4G service they supposedly have in place AND integrate that with T-Mobile's existing 4G network...Verizon should be VERY concerned.

Considering that T-Mobile were the first U.S. carrier to launch an Android device, and that has been their niche, as an Android user (hey, I love all devices) I'd be concerned about what AT&T is going to "lock-down". They already block the side-loading of applications, and honestly didn't seem to care about Android until they lost the exclusivity of the iPhone.

We'll see :)

Sorry for the long rant. It's only my second post. I'll learn to temper myself LOL.
 
my family is tied in for 2 years anyways, so it doesn't really matter. but according to t-mobile's hspa+ coverage map, it'll cover where i spend most of my time anyways, so i guess that's a solid + for me.
 
ItsMeCD said:
4G (since they are calling it that) is the gray area. Hopefully AT&T will start to actually push the speeds they claim they are capable of. Atrix users (don't crucify me) are complaining, by the hundreds, that the iPhone is DESTROYING the Atrix on speed tests. If true, AT&T has a problem, or they are simply misleading users and charging for it. All of the T-Mobile devices I've tried (G2, mT4G, Nexus S) are incredibly fast when it comes to data (provided I have some sort of a signal of course). The G2 and mT4G are obviously faster. I have yet to test an LTE device, but the Thunderbolt should be sitting on my desk when I get back from CTIA on the 28th. I'll post more then. But, even with LTE starting to "roll out", (IMO) if AT&T can actually begin to provide customers with the 4G service they supposedly have in place AND integrate that with T-Mobile's existing 4G network...Verizon should be VERY concerned.

Considering that T-Mobile were the first U.S. carrier to launch an Android device, and that has been their niche, as an Android user (hey, I love all devices) I'd be concerned about what AT&T is going to "lock-down". They already block the side-loading of applications, and honestly didn't seem to care about Android until they lost the exclusivity of the iPhone.
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Yes, really they shouldn't advertise it as 4G. At least go with the HSPA+ spirit and call it "3G+". Also, it's AT&T's fault that the iPhone users are pwning Atrix users in speed, because the load on the towers are already heavy enough with iPhone users. This is AT&T's way of taking the coward's way out; they buy themselves a pre-made cell network instead of building their own.
And T-Mobile has horrid coverage, albeit reliable when you're connected.
 
Prodo123 said:
Yes, really they shouldn't advertise it as 4G. At least go with the HSPA+ spirit and call it "3G+". Also, it's AT&T's fault that the iPhone users are pwning Atrix users in speed, because the load on the towers are already heavy enough with iPhone users. This is AT&T's way of taking the coward's way out; they buy themselves a pre-made cell network instead of building their own.
And T-Mobile has horrid coverage, albeit reliable when you're connected.
Click to expand...

AT&T limits speeds on all of its phones except a few including the iPhone because Apple does not allow AT&T to do any modifications to it (which makes sense considering it is Apple)
 
Prodo123 said:
Yes, really they shouldn't advertise it as 4G. At least go with the HSPA+ spirit and call it "3G+". Also, it's AT&T's fault that the iPhone users are pwning Atrix users in speed, because the load on the towers are already heavy enough with iPhone users. This is AT&T's way of taking the coward's way out; they buy themselves a pre-made cell network instead of building their own.
And T-Mobile has horrid coverage, albeit reliable when you're connected.
Click to expand...

I haven't seen the reliability here, except for data. I've dropped more calls on my Nexus S than I have on my AT&T and Verizon phones combined. Not to mention the random reboot issue the Nexus S experiences during calls; that's for another forum on another site :)

I will say that the iPhone does load data faster than the Nexus S (again, in my experience).
 
wordoflife said:
AT&T limits speeds on all of its phones except a few including the iPhone because Apple does not allow AT&T to do any modifications to it (which makes sense considering it is Apple)
Click to expand...

How is that a modification of the device? I'm not trying to "nit pick" so to speak, but I'm curious how altering the data speed on a device is "modifying the device".
 
As a Pac Bell DSL (AT&T) customer and a former AT&T wireless customer AND a former Cingular customer and a T-Mobile customer since 2002...

I hate this move. AT&T is like the ultimate billing circus and the company is already so bad that the left hand consistently doesn't know what the right hand is doing. T-Mobile has pretty good customer service - given they sometimes have the same problem. The part that disappoints me the most is AT&T will likely fire the T-Mobile CSRs and keep their useless reps that make Sprint reps look useful.

I mean seriously, the FTC should investigate AT&T - they are the worst company I've ever seen. There's an 80 page DSL thread on fatwallet about the disaster known as AT&T billing and I still have a 2+ year old "DSL" account that despite calling in and 'canceling' about a half dozen times, I'm still getting a "$28CR" bill for. Yea.. I hate them.

Seriously. I don't know how you Apple guys stand them.

T-Mobile has been pretty good to me - not perfect, I remember having to report them to the BBB to get them to respond to a tower issue at my college campus (and they did eventually fix it), but they've been decent otherwise.
 
ItsMeCD said:
How is that a modification of the device? I'm not trying to "nit pick" so to speak, but I'm curious how altering the data speed on a device is "modifying the device".
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AT&T installs their own crapware on most phones. They even disabled HSUPA on devices like the Atrix so some speeds are slower, even though those phones have the hardware for HSUPA. Apple doesn't allow AT&T to touch the iPhone.
 
wordoflife said:
AT&T installs their own crapware on most phones. They even disabled HSUPA on devices like the Atrix so some speeds are slower, even though those phones have the hardware for HSUPA. Apple doesn't allow AT&T to touch the iPhone.
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In exchange until last year, AT&T had a crapload of people paying way too much money for bad service:apple:...someone should sue this company.
 
wordoflife said:
I don't know how I feel mainly because no information was released about it. I don't know if I'll actually get faster data, or a lower bill, or a higher bill.

I'm on AT&T btw.

I guess competition is good though. Now we only have 3 "big" companies in the US now.
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1) I don't know if I would call Sprint "big" since it will have half the subscribers of AT&T and Verizon. But it's still much bigger than Metro PCS.

2) Giving you that, it's not surprising. Most sectors seem to have three big players. In domestic autos, you have Ford, GM, Chrysler. Foreign, you have Toyota, Honda and I'm guessing Nissan. Fast food you've got McDonald's, BK and Wendy's. I could go on for a while. So this isn't too shocking.

3) On a side note, it seems weird to me that NASCAR keeps wanting to be bigger and better yet its primary sponsor will be sorely lacking in subscribers and you can't get ANYTHING app-related on a phone that doesn't run Sprint. You've got 200 million people with AT&T and Verizon who can't spend money on some audio app like MLB At-Bat. I just don't know how long NASCAR can turn away that money nor how long Sprint can spend those bucks on sponsorship instead of making phones work away from big highways.
 
From a business perspective its a win-win situation for both organizations.

Deutsche Telekom AG has been increasingly frustrated by T-Mobile's lack of marketshare and growth, not matter they did. Heck even sprint was doing better then they were and look how messed up they were for years.

From AT&T's perspective, they get a huge increase in marketshare and for all intents and purposes its a compatible infrastructure. Both have GSM and HSPA+ networks. I know nothing is perfect and there's a lot of technical work that will need to occur.

I read about a week (or two) ago that sprint was rumored to be on Deutsche Telekom AG's short list of potential suitors to purchase T-Mobile and that didn't make too much sense. Sprint really failed and merging Nextel and their incompatible network. Even after all these years the Push to Talk network is still operating on Nextel's aging infrastructure. They've not been able to transition it over to CDMA.

This is not an over-night process, they'll have to go through regulatory approval and then the hard work of integrating the two organizations. I've been involved in a merger and its not fun, a lot of work.
 
Look at the bright side, no more stupid T-Mobile commercials dissing the iPhone and AT&T/Verizon.
 
More space for AT&T
More ability to get higher speeds
More access for AT&T

Thus, higher prices and the same coverage for consumers
 
Prodo123 said:
Yes, really they shouldn't advertise it as 4G. At least go with the HSPA+ spirit and call it "3G+". Also, it's AT&T's fault that the iPhone users are pwning Atrix users in speed, because the load on the towers are already heavy enough with iPhone users. This is AT&T's way of taking the coward's way out; they buy themselves a pre-made cell network instead of building their own.
And T-Mobile has horrid coverage, albeit reliable when you're connected.
Click to expand...

How is this AT&T taking the cowards way out? Adding new towers takes years and millions of dollars...they essentially added thousands of towers over night (once all of this merger is complete). This is a SMART move by AT&T...kinda sucks for Tmobile customers (but hey if you like the smaller company vibe then switch to Sprint or Metro PCS or something like it)
 
shelbymayer said:
How is this AT&T taking the cowards way out? Adding new towers takes years and millions of dollars...they essentially added thousands of towers over night (once all of this merger is complete). This is a SMART move by AT&T...kinda sucks for Tmobile customers (but hey if you like the smaller company vibe then switch to Sprint or Metro PCS or something like it)
Click to expand...

Not quite sure how T-Mobile customer loses anything here.
 
Until more details are announced about the merger, I'll still be on the fence. If anything, I would hope that it would mean better voice/data for us AT&T customers.
 
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