Sprint and T-Mobile Extend Merger Deadline to July 29

[4jasontv]

Wake me up when carriers stop capping landline broadband and stop charging for wireless by the gigabyte.
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That voting idea is terrible and impractical. But the rest seems like a good idea.

I only say voting because we can’t put it in the hands of people who receive payments from the telecoms. It should be decided by the people who are actual/potential customers of a carrier. This would mean screwing a customer over would have a small but potentially long term impact on your business.

 

[sw1tcher]

False narrative in such a competitive industry all about coverage and network. It's all about tower locations not handset rentals. One preceeds the other.

If it's about coverage and network, then there should be no merger. Just look at what Sprint has to say about their coverage and network

https://newsroom.sprint.com/sprint-...etwork-paired-with-best-value-in-wireless.htm

Sprint Launches New Campaign Highlighting Better-than-Ever Network Paired with Best Value in Wireless

November 06, 2018

Sprint continues to make significant progress on its network build, now providing its best coverage ever and up to 2X faster speeds than before with LTE Advanced, all while saving customers nearly $1,000 in the first year over Verizon and AT&T

Yes, the Sprint Network has come a long way! In fact, today Sprint offers 30 percent more LTE coverage and reliability customers can count on. Through its massive Next-Gen Network investment and roaming agreements, Sprint is helping customers connect in more places from coast to coast, with its largest-ever total LTE footprint.

By unleashing its deep spectrum holdings, Sprint is also dramatically enhancing network performance for its customers. Sprint LTE Advanced is now nationwide, offering customers speeds up to TWICE as fast as before for movie, music and game downloads, photo sharing and web surfing when connecting on the latest capable flagship devices.

Sprint Network upgrades helped the company have its best-ever showing with fastest average download speed in 123 cities in the latest quarterly data from Speedtest Intelligence® provided by Ookla®. Sprint also has the most improved network, outpacing competitors with national average download speeds year-over-year up 31.5 percent according to Speedtest Intelligence data5 and up 87 percent in PCMag’s 2018 Fastest Mobile Networks report.

 

[curtvaughan]

If it's about coverage and network, then there should be no merger. Just look at what Sprint has to say about their coverage and network

https://newsroom.sprint.com/sprint-...etwork-paired-with-best-value-in-wireless.htm

Sprint Launches New Campaign Highlighting Better-than-Ever Network Paired with Best Value in Wireless

November 06, 2018

Sprint continues to make significant progress on its network build, now providing its best coverage ever and up to 2X faster speeds than before with LTE Advanced, all while saving customers nearly $1,000 in the first year over Verizon and AT&T

Yes, the Sprint Network has come a long way! In fact, today Sprint offers 30 percent more LTE coverage and reliability customers can count on. Through its massive Next-Gen Network investment and roaming agreements, Sprint is helping customers connect in more places from coast to coast, with its largest-ever total LTE footprint.

By unleashing its deep spectrum holdings, Sprint is also dramatically enhancing network performance for its customers. Sprint LTE Advanced is now nationwide, offering customers speeds up to TWICE as fast as before for movie, music and game downloads, photo sharing and web surfing when connecting on the latest capable flagship devices.

Sprint Network upgrades helped the company have its best-ever showing with fastest average download speed in 123 cities in the latest quarterly data from Speedtest Intelligence® provided by Ookla®. Sprint also has the most improved network, outpacing competitors with national average download speeds year-over-year up 31.5 percent according to Speedtest Intelligence data5 and up 87 percent in PCMag’s 2018 Fastest Mobile Networks report.

This reads as a somewhat pro-Sprint slant on their coverage. As a longtime Sprint user I agree that their coverage and data offerings have much improved over the last five years, but they are heavily in debt and aren't likely to survive without the merger. If Sprint merges with T-Mobile there would likely be an orderly transition for current customers for services, coverage, and overall customer support. Denying the merger would, to the contrary, lead Sprint to finally go bankrupt, and their current customers would be forced to immediately migrate to one of the remaining three carriers. All of the remaining carriers have GSM / SIM authenticated hardware, so former Sprint customers would quickly find their CDMA devices inoperable. Customer migration directions would be contingent on which of the GSM carriers offered more bang per buck for both services and hardware. My point is that, given Sprint's survival probabilities sans merger, I'd prefer an orderly merger to a chaotic bankruptcy as a customer.

 

[Breaking Good]

Wake me up when carriers stop capping landline broadband and stop charging for wireless by the gigabyte.

Do you still pay for long distance by the minute? How much do you currently pay for each minute of voice you use or each text you send?

If I have a cap on Verizon Fios I don't know what it is. I just did a quick Google search and found an article on someone who got a warning after using 7 TB a month for several months straight. Apparently you would have to watch 222 movies per day to use that much data. So I think I'm safe for now.

 

[UltimaKilo]

If it's about coverage and network, then there should be no merger. Just look at what Sprint has to say about their coverage and network

https://newsroom.sprint.com/sprint-...etwork-paired-with-best-value-in-wireless.htm

Sprint Launches New Campaign Highlighting Better-than-Ever Network Paired with Best Value in Wireless

November 06, 2018

Sprint continues to make significant progress on its network build, now providing its best coverage ever and up to 2X faster speeds than before with LTE Advanced, all while saving customers nearly $1,000 in the first year over Verizon and AT&T

Yes, the Sprint Network has come a long way! In fact, today Sprint offers 30 percent more LTE coverage and reliability customers can count on. Through its massive Next-Gen Network investment and roaming agreements, Sprint is helping customers connect in more places from coast to coast, with its largest-ever total LTE footprint.

By unleashing its deep spectrum holdings, Sprint is also dramatically enhancing network performance for its customers. Sprint LTE Advanced is now nationwide, offering customers speeds up to TWICE as fast as before for movie, music and game downloads, photo sharing and web surfing when connecting on the latest capable flagship devices.

Sprint Network upgrades helped the company have its best-ever showing with fastest average download speed in 123 cities in the latest quarterly data from Speedtest Intelligence® provided by Ookla®. Sprint also has the most improved network, outpacing competitors with national average download speeds year-over-year up 31.5 percent according to Speedtest Intelligence data5 and up 87 percent in PCMag’s 2018 Fastest Mobile Networks report.

What else would they say? Sprint is not doing well, even with modest subscriber growth last quarter, they can’t sustain one positive quarter and three negative. They lack the capital to significantly reinvest into their network and really compete, so it’s only a matter of time before they go under. If they do, thousands of jobs will be lost, AT&T and Verizon will outbid T Mobile for most of the assets and the situation will get worse.

A T-Mobile merger is the best way to break up the duopoly, otherwise it could really worsen the situation.

 

[Dan Holmstock]

The status of Sprint, of which I've been a customer for 20 years, has become precarious enough that it needs this merger in order to survive. If the merger is denied Sprint will likely go belly up, and T-Mobile will be the weak sister to ATT and Verizon. The merger would create three strong competing carrier corporations; its denial would also eventually lead to three carriers, one at a strong disadvantage. As a Sprint customer, the merger likely would entail that my current CDMA devices would need to be replaced or altered to accommodate T-Mobile's GSM networks. I'm not sure exactly what would become of Sprint's current CDMA networks. In any case, by the time the merger finalizes and the technology changes I'd likely need new phone hardware anyhow.

or perhaps, one of the big Sat companies pick up the bones and build out, Comcast, Dish, etc. Since ATT and Verizon have media entities, one that does not may want to build up Sprint, if in its current state goes belly up a buyout or merger with Dish could benefit.

 

[ghanwani]

I hope it doesn’t get approved.
https://billmoyers.com/story/american-monopolies-problem/

 

[BuffaloTF]

Not at all. Prices are probably higher than they would have been if there had been more competition. Prices fell because of technology improvements. But we're almost certainly seeing higher prices than we would if there had been less consolidation.

Going from four to three major carriers will likely be the tipping point on competition, the point where prices start going up. It's an incredibly bad idea to allow this merger.

Yeah... no they aren't. Prices fell because of industry consolidation, right in front of our faces, through the 90s all on the same technology. Economies of Scale are at play. The users of the network bear the full weight of the technology improvements, and more people investing in it through their monthly bills means it costs less to do more. More people buying through a single source, given the resources are constrained as tightly as they are by spectrum, lowers prices. More competition raises that cost considerably.
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Source?

History that I've lived through. You can use google yourself.

 

[Wide opeN]

Yes, let's throw the book at the 2 half-sized carriers that can't truly compete against the 2 full-sized carriers that effectively have a duopoly going on in most markets/people's minds but allow every other company under the sun (especially the shill media, looking at you ATT/Time Warner, NBC/Comcast, Disney/Fox) to merge and actually corner the market.

Great job DOJ

SO MUCH THIS!!!!!!!!!!!

In all my years, I haven't seen a M&A be scrutinized so heavily. Which is leading me to believe, as I'm typing this that there other forces at play. I mean really, it's been a full year and still nothing.

Meanwhile AT&T, Verizon, Comcast , Disney continue to consolidate with impunity.

 

[BuffaloTF]

T-Mobile and their "Un-Carrier" initiative led to lower prices, among many other things copied by the other carriers.

No, industry consolidation led to lower prices. Today's prices are not any lower than they have been for the past 10 years, more likely 15 even. $70 is the exact same price 450 minutes (40 dollars) + unlimited data (30 dollars) was when Blackberries first hit. All you've gained is unlimited minutes, which we basically had with 450 minutes anyways given the "night time" free calling and same-network not being charged.

 

[TTTedP]

Typically, I would agree with your statement. However, Sprint needs this merger more than T-Mobile. Plus, it would create a third competitor in a two horse race. This merger would be good for consumers. Since Verizon and AT&T still have their "cooperative" grip on the US, T-Mobile and Sprint as they are now don't have an effect on the market as whole unfortunately.

If this deal doesn't go through, someone else will attempt to pick up Sprint and their frequency waves.

exactly. You need someone to legitimately challenge ATT and VZW. Sprint is DOA either way. When it comes to jobs, they (Sprint) are either laying off or outsourcing anyhow, so let the merger happen.

 

[alexandr]

so i'm sure this was explained in one of the earlier post about this, but if they do merge, would they still keep their separate brands, or would it become some kind of a sprin•t crap?

 

[Wide opeN]

so i'm sure this was explained in one of the earlier post about this, but if they do merge, would they still keep their separate brands, or would it become some kind of a sprin•t crap?

Get ready to kiss Sprint goodbye.

 

[alexandr]

Get ready to kiss Sprint goodbye.

word. don't give a damn about sprint, but happen to like the look of t.mobile very much.

 

[TTTedP]

Not at all. Prices are probably higher than they would have been if there had been more competition. Prices fell because of technology improvements. But we're almost certainly seeing higher prices than we would if there had been less consolidation.

Going from four to three major carriers will likely be the tipping point on competition, the point where prices start going up. It's an incredibly bad idea to allow this merger.

I can only speak from personal experience but my average ATT bill has dropped $30 since T-Mobile started being a threat. ATT has responded with cheaper bundles, perks and add-ons that they used to nickel and dime you for. You can't tell me ATT would have offered free HBO out of pure generosity prior to TMO's free Netflix. Verizon has responded to the market with their GoogleFi clone, Visible (Fi, btw is only possible due to T-mobile and Sprint support) and free media bundles as well. All the carriers are pushing their Tier 2 brands which are also very competitive. TMO supports a ton of small start up MVNO's.

When it comes to jobs, ATT has been laying off and outsourcing for years to backfill expenditures related to their media growth and expansion. Verizon is laying off by the thousands. Sprint is in a continuous cycle of using different outsourcing vendors and failed initiatives.

Everyone should agree that more competition is good. Without TMO and Sprint merging, ATT and VZW will be dominant. In this case, 3 competitors (ATT, VZW, TMO) in the market is better than 2 (ATT, VZW). We could also make an interesting analogy to the US auto market existing of Ford and Chevy only. Is TMO Hyundai and Sprint is Dodge? ;P
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All of the remaining carriers have GSM / SIM authenticated hardware, so former Sprint customers would quickly find their CDMA devices inoperable.

in previous mergers when some of the smaller Alltels of the world were being bought, they offered gaining subscribers purchase credits for their old devices that were no longer compatible. Unless you're ready to switch now, just ride it out.
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so i'm sure this was explained in one of the earlier post about this, but if they do merge, would they still keep their separate brands, or would it become some kind of a sprin•t crap?

my hunch is TMO/Sprint could offer to give up some of the combined spectrum and towers for a rural "competitor" to sweeten the deal. ATT was allowed to merge and grow unchecked so the precedent is there to allow TMO/Sprint.

 

[rjp1]

The argument that we are reducing from four to three carriers is silly. AT&T and Verizon are a lot larger than the other two. If Sprint goes out of business, then we reduce from four to three carriers anyways. That will just give AT&T and Verizon a chance to pick up their assets then and increase the distance between them and T-Mobile.

T-Mobile and Sprint both have coverage issues. Hopefully, this merger would help address that and they could compete with AT&T and Verizon on a national level. This would benefit everyone. The only people that will disagree are stockholders of AT&T and Verizon that want Sprint to fail.

 

[sw1tcher]

No, industry consolidation led to lower prices. Today's prices are not any lower than they have been for the past 10 years, more likely 15 even. $70 is the exact same price 450 minutes (40 dollars) + unlimited data (30 dollars) was when Blackberries first hit. All you've gained is unlimited minutes, which we basically had with 450 minutes anyways given the "night time" free calling and same-network not being charged.

11 years ago, to get unlimited with T-Mobile on a family plan, you'd have to pay $99.99 for the 1st line then $49.99 for each additional line.

For 2 lines, that'd be $149.98 + taxes and fees per month
For 3 lines, that'd be $199.97 + taxes and fees per month
For 4 lines, that'd be $249.96 + taxes and fees per month

Their Press Release from almost 11 years ago

https://www.t-mobile.com/news/t-mobile-frees-the-family-with-a-new-unlimited-family-plan-for

T-Mobile ‘Frees the Family’ with a New Unlimited Family Plan for Calling and Messaging

June 03, 2008

Continuing its efforts to give families the freedom to stay connected on their terms, T-Mobile USA, Inc. announced a new unlimited family plan that meets the wide array of communication needs for parents and young adults alike. An unlimited plan created especially for families, T-Mobile now offers unlimited nationwide calling (with nationwide roaming and long distance) and unlimited nationwide text, picture and instant messaging (SMS, MMS and IM), for a flat rate of $49.99 monthly access* for each line added after the first line.

To take advantage of this plan, new and existing T-Mobile customers would subscribe to the first line for $99.99 monthly access; customers can add up to four additional lines at $49.99 per line after the first line (plus taxes and fees).

Today, I can get 2 lines for $120 ($60/line) with all fees included. For 3 lines, it'd be $120 ($40/line) with all fees included. And for 4 lines, it would be $140 ($35/line) with all fees included.

I also now get unlimited 4G LTE data which we didn't have back then. And as a bonus (which I didn't get 11 years ago either), I get a free subscription to Netflix, freebies every Tuesday, etc.

So you're wrong that wireless plans are not any lower than they were 10 years ago. Prices are lower and you're getting more.

All these improvements were the direct result of T-Mobile's Un-carrier intiatives.

What industry consolidation happened over the past 10 years? We still have 4 major carriers then as we do today. The only difference is there are more MVNOs. But they still ride on either a Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, or Sprint network.

 

[blcamp]

Except the opposite is true. Consolidation in wireless has led to falling prices.

I strongly disagree. I've been a longtime AT&T customer, and have also been a frustrated shareholder for the past 3 years +/-. I've watched, like a frog in a pot of water, having the temperature increasingly and steadily being turned up in the form of ever higher prices for cellular and TV. As a customer I've seen my bill nearly triple over the past 10 years, and they aren't even trying to hide the fact that our prices are being raised to help fund their DirecTV integration with Time-Warner Cable... which is pi$$ing off so many customers that they are fleeing to cable, or just dropping the service and streaming instead... which is making the share price drop as a result. Obviously the shareholder side of me wants AT&T to make more money, but they need to do right by customers, and right now, that's not happening. So while on one hand I will benefit somewhat from a failed TMUS/S merger, I would prefer it succeeds because I believe in the long run this will help AT&T stop the subscriber bloodletting and focus them on retaining customers through improved service.

 

[macduke]

Do you still pay for long distance by the minute? How much do you currently pay for each minute of voice you use or each text you send?

Don't forget when you would accidentally click on a link while navigating some menu while using GPRS data and get charged 10 cents per kilobyte! Or pay the carrier a few bucks to download a wallpaper or ringtone for your flip phone and then get charged a few bucks extra in data just to download it. It's amazing to me that people don't see how far we've come. Must be kids! I remember ordering a special USB cable for my Motorola v400 on eBay just so that I could load my own ringtones and wallpapers to save money, lol. One time in 2006 I was lost in Chicago and only had my ROKR E1 and had to use some crappy GPRS mobile version of Mapquest or something. I think that ended up costing me about $35. The next year I bought the iPhone at launch and it changed everything.

 

[ghanwani]

All these improvements were the direct result of T-Mobile's Un-carrier intiatives.

"Hungry" carriers (Sprint, T-Mobile) will come up with things like this. Fat cats (AT&T, Verizon) will milk the customer. We need more hungry carriers, not fewer. The only reason we are not paying more for service is because of the hungry carriers.

 

[Justin Cymbal]

I wonder how much the stock price of both T-Mobile and Sprint will go down if they don’t reach an agreement by July 29.

As of right now, T-Mobile is trading near an all time high.

 

[BuffaloTF]

What industry consolidation happened over the past 10 years? We still have 4 major carriers then as we do today. The only difference is there are more MVNOs. But they still ride on either a Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, or Sprint network.

Over the past 11 years? Ok, easy.

-Verizon buys Alltel. That consolidation benefitted AT&T as well, as they filled in their massive Mid West gaps. This also increased their overall subscriber hold at the time from a combined 50% to 60%. (13 million subscribers)
-Pocket Communications was acquired by Cricket // Leap Wireless
-Cellular One PA was bought by Verizon Wireless
-Corr Wireless was bought by AT&T
-Element was bought by AT&T
-Metro PCS was bought by T-Mobile (10 million subscribers)
-Clearwire was fully bought by Sprint (11 million subscribers)
-Leap Wireless (Cricket) was bought by AT&T (5 million subscribers)
-Cincinatti Bell, all spectrum assets bought by Verizon
-Cellular One IL, bought by AT&T
-iWireless, bought by T-Mobile

Intentionally left off, but perhaps the most important one of them all. AT&T buys T-Mobile. Pulls out of the deal rather than press forward and potentially have to defend it in court, and hands over massive spectrum holdings and 4 billion dollars in cash... both of which allowed them to be as aggressive as they are today.

There are not 4 national carriers. There's 2 with a slowly emerging 3rd -- and that 3rd looks more like AT&T and Verizon 15 years ago than it does them today. There's also many many many other acquisitions during this time that I just didn't feel necessary to list that allowed AT&T and Verizon to be truly national carriers. The merger of T-Mobile and Sprint will create a 3rd. A 3rd mind you, that will still be considerably smaller than the other 2 -- Verizon and AT&T are 3x the size of Sprint and double T-Mobile. They'll still be 30 million customers shy of them after, but in a much safer financial position and able to threaten them even more.

Going back 15 years, we're now in Sprint buying Nextel territory and just 1 year outside Cingular buying AT&T. In that decade, prices fell 50% from what they were in 1999... after the wild consolidation of the 90s which is far too large to even write out here, you'll have to Google yourself to get all the ultra-regional carriers names.

 

[quietstormSD]

I'm a little torn on this one still, even with the above arguments. I don't think Sprint will go belly up. I think it's a choice between having 2 big carriers and 2 mid-size carriers, compared to having 3 big carriers. I'm not sure which is better. I think all the mergers throughout the 2000's really hurt any hope for meaningful competition in the wireless/broadband industry.

 

[Guda.FL]

I had the pleasure of using Spring few months back. I would not consider them in the top US carrier conversation...maybe by size, but their quality and service is on 2012 level maybe...though its not bad to have a $25 a month "unlimited HD" service on the market.

 

[shadowcatz23]

I'm a little torn on this one still, even with the above arguments. I don't think Sprint will go belly up. I think it's a choice between having 2 big carriers and 2 mid-size carriers, compared to having 3 big carriers. I'm not sure which is better. I think all the mergers throughout the 2000's really hurt any hope for meaningful competition in the wireless/broadband industry.

Sprint is going to go belly up for sure...for the reasons listed above. I don't want Dish to buy them because the whole ATT and Direct hasn't been good for customers of other services like Dish. In reality Dish isn't in a great financial spot either.