ATT to acquire Tmobile

jocampo · 03-20-2011, 06:35 PM

Kind of a cellphone news, but with so many mobileread users buying tablets with cellphone service, they will be impacted as well.

http://www.androidcentral.com/att-se...oid+Central%29

So, hold on on your cheap and nice Tmobile deals and existing plans, lol ... that will change for sure!

kjk · 03-20-2011, 07:06 PM

That would be disappointing if it goes through-what next, Verizon buys Sprint, and we are stuck with just two major telecoms?

SCION · 03-20-2011, 07:36 PM

Bummer.

Worldwalker · 03-20-2011, 08:18 PM

I keep running away from AT&T. And they keep following me. T-Mobile is a good cellular carrier ... AT&T is going to loot it and screw over its customers, like they do everything. Seriously, does anyone actually like AT&T?

When I temporarily had AT&T DSL, they insisted that I had to use their STMP server and one, single, AT&T-provided email address, only ... well, unless I wanted to shell out a few hundred dollars a month for "business class" DSL. I didn't, of course; I don't rent a server to be tied to any one ISP, especially not a godawful one, and I'd pay a VPN proxy provider before I'd knuckle under to AT&T, but it ticked me off that they tried. I also ditched AT&T.

Now, after all these years, I'm losing my mobile phone company. I haz a sad.

All the corporate excuses in the world -- the best is "if companies make more money per customer, they can innovate more" -- won't make a lack of competition good for the buyer. Never have, never will. And this ... gods, why couldn't it have been the other way around? ... is going to be a perfect example.

Remember: a business's interest are diametrically opposed to yours. Customers want to pay nothing and get everything; businesses want to be paid everything and deliver nothing. Somewhere in between, driven by competition, a middle ground is reached that works for both buyer and seller. But there has to be competition; if there isn't, the only constraint is how much money the customers have to be squeezed out of them before they lose their ability to buy groceries.

wyndslash · 03-20-2011, 08:21 PM

gah, that's annoying. back then we also had just two major cellphone carriers, and they were really jacking up the prices. thankfully a new company entered the fray and began offering unlimited texts + other unlimited plans for a set price that is pretty cheap, and the rest had to lower their prices (and if they still had a decent profit margin even after lowering their prices, you can imagine how much they made before!)

well, people back then lived without cellphones...*sigh*

snipenekkid · 03-20-2011, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

I keep running away from AT&T. And they keep following me. T-Mobile is a good cellular carrier ... AT&T is going to loot it and screw over its customers, like they do everything. Seriously, does anyone actually like AT&T?

When I temporarily had AT&T DSL, they insisted that I had to use their STMP server and one, single, AT&T-provided email address, only ... well, unless I wanted to shell out a few hundred dollars a month for "business class" DSL. I didn't, of course; I don't rent a server to be tied to any one ISP, especially not a godawful one, and I'd pay a VPN proxy provider before I'd knuckle under to AT&T, but it ticked me off that they tried. I also ditched AT&T.

Now, after all these years, I'm losing my mobile phone company. I haz a sad.

All the corporate excuses in the world -- the best is "if companies make more money per customer, they can innovate more" -- won't make a lack of competition good for the buyer. Never have, never will. And this ... gods, why couldn't it have been the other way around? ... is going to be a perfect example.

Remember: a business's interest are diametrically opposed to yours. Customers want to pay nothing and get everything; businesses want to be paid everything and deliver nothing. Somewhere in between, driven by competition, a middle ground is reached that works for both buyer and seller. But there has to be competition; if there isn't, the only constraint is how much money the customers have to be squeezed out of them before they lose their ability to buy groceries.

There has not been genuine competition for a long time now. Sad but true I think. Every company that makes things buys the bits they use to make those things from the same company that makes the little things as their competition. And their competition buys from the same company that assembles the bigger things from the little things but under a different brand as in the bigger thing assembled from the smaller things for the competition leave through the north loading dock and rather than the south loading dock and sold to them by the guy with a desk across the hall from the other guy.

But they all ship UPS from China.

SensualPoet · 03-20-2011, 08:40 PM

AT&T and T-Mobile do not share the same spectrum, for the most part. This means AT&T cellphones do not (and can't) work on T-Mobile towers using existing infrastructure; and vice versa. So, interesting dilemma. Of course, the deal won't come to finalisation before mid-2012 which means "merging" services really can't start before 2013 and won't pick up speed before 2014 ... by which times, gosh knows, the entire industry landscape might look different.

queentess · 03-20-2011, 08:42 PM

This makes those T-Mobile anti-AT&T commercials even funnier...

jocampo · 03-20-2011, 08:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by queentess

This makes those T-Mobile anti-AT&T commercials even funnier...

True, hahahaha ...

snipenekkid · 03-20-2011, 09:01 PM

next thing you know Henry Ford will be found on road dead right beside a Chevy Chevette.

kennyc · 03-20-2011, 09:14 PM

I was happy with AT&T Cellular....many many years til I moved to Verizon due to getting a DroidX (not available on AT&T) ... I'm not seeing much difference between Verizon and AT&T... Mehh...

Ken Stuart · 03-20-2011, 10:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

Seriously, does anyone actually like AT&T?

In Northern California, AT&T bought SBC which was Pacific Bell.

Pacific Bell was/is one of the best companies in the world, for example, after every customer service event, you get a call or email asking if everything came out okay, etc. etc.

I have had DSL with them and it has been stone cold stable for years and years, the only Internet service (including dialup, cable, etc) that ever was so.

PS In regards to your email address - it is not like your only choice for email is your ISP - just get a Gmail address and you can send through their servers.

SteveEisenberg · 03-20-2011, 10:25 PM

Three competitors is usually the absolute minumum needed to keep prices down. (Generic drugs do not get onto that WalMart $4/month list until there are at least three manufacturers.)

This merger leaves just two major companies in the business, with Sprint a distant third. This is reason enough for regulators to turn down the deal, I am hoping.

Note that after this deal, the three companies America Movil (Tracfone, Net10, StraightTalk) can realistically ask to come in with bids (Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile) are now just two. I wonder if this isn't a move to reign in StraightTalk, the main US provider of low-cost, decent-quality, cell phone service.

It also could increase the cost of internet service built into the price of the Kindle 3G.

SensualPoet · 03-21-2011, 08:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

Note that after this deal, the three companies America Movil (Tracfone, Net10, StraightTalk) can realistically ask to come in with bids (Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile) are now just two. I wonder if this isn't a move to reign in StraightTalk, the main US provider of low-cost, decent-quality, cell phone service.

America Movil is controlled by Carlos Slim, the man considered the wealthiest man in the world. He could probably afford to bit on T-Mobile US, if he chose to.

Hellmark · 03-21-2011, 08:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SensualPoet

AT&T and T-Mobile do not share the same spectrum, for the most part. This means AT&T cellphones do not (and can't) work on T-Mobile towers using existing infrastructure; and vice versa. So, interesting dilemma. Of course, the deal won't come to finalisation before mid-2012 which means "merging" services really can't start before 2013 and won't pick up speed before 2014 ... by which times, gosh knows, the entire industry landscape might look different.

Not entirely true. I am using a Tmobile Mytouch 3G on AT&T just fine. While they do use some different frequencies, that only effects data speeds. You cannot have 3g work on phones between networks, but 2g Data, and all voice calls still work perfectly fine. If you have a quad band GSM phone, there won't be a problem at all.

03-20-2011, 06:35 PM	#1
jocampo Layback feline Posts: 3,034 Karma: 6980745 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: USA Device: Oasis 2nd gen, Sony DPTS1, iPad Pro 10.5"	ATT to acquire Tmobile Kind of a cellphone news, but with so many mobileread users buying tablets with cellphone service, they will be impacted as well. http://www.androidcentral.com/att-se...oid+Central%29 So, hold on on your cheap and nice Tmobile deals and existing plans, lol ... that will change for sure!

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03-20-2011, 07:06 PM	#2
kjk . Posts: 3,408 Karma: 5647231 Join Date: Oct 2008 Device: never enough	That would be disappointing if it goes through-what next, Verizon buys Sprint, and we are stuck with just two major telecoms?

03-20-2011, 07:36 PM	#3
SCION Séduisant Posts: 4,706 Karma: 2107018 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Texas, USA Device: Boox Note Air2+; Kobo Libra2; Kindle Scribe, Oasis3; iPad Mini6	Bummer.

03-20-2011, 08:18 PM	#4
Worldwalker Curmudgeon Posts: 3,085 Karma: 722357 Join Date: Feb 2010 Device: PRS-505	I keep running away from AT&T. And they keep following me. T-Mobile is a good cellular carrier ... AT&T is going to loot it and screw over its customers, like they do everything. Seriously, does anyone actually like AT&T? When I temporarily had AT&T DSL, they insisted that I had to use their STMP server and one, single, AT&T-provided email address, only ... well, unless I wanted to shell out a few hundred dollars a month for "business class" DSL. I didn't, of course; I don't rent a server to be tied to any one ISP, especially not a godawful one, and I'd pay a VPN proxy provider before I'd knuckle under to AT&T, but it ticked me off that they tried. I also ditched AT&T. Now, after all these years, I'm losing my mobile phone company. I haz a sad. All the corporate excuses in the world -- the best is "if companies make more money per customer, they can innovate more" -- won't make a lack of competition good for the buyer. Never have, never will. And this ... gods, why couldn't it have been the other way around? ... is going to be a perfect example. Remember: a business's interest are diametrically opposed to yours. Customers want to pay nothing and get everything; businesses want to be paid everything and deliver nothing. Somewhere in between, driven by competition, a middle ground is reached that works for both buyer and seller. But there has to be competition; if there isn't, the only constraint is how much money the customers have to be squeezed out of them before they lose their ability to buy groceries.

03-20-2011, 08:21 PM	#5
wyndslash Wizard Posts: 2,951 Karma: 3000001 Join Date: Feb 2011 Device: Kindle 3 wifi, Kindle Fire	gah, that's annoying. back then we also had just two major cellphone carriers, and they were really jacking up the prices. thankfully a new company entered the fray and began offering unlimited texts + other unlimited plans for a set price that is pretty cheap, and the rest had to lower their prices (and if they still had a decent profit margin even after lowering their prices, you can imagine how much they made before!) well, people back then lived without cellphones...sigh

03-20-2011, 08:40 PM	#7
SensualPoet Wizard Posts: 2,302 Karma: 2607151 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Toronto Device: Kobo Aura HD, Kindle Paperwhite, Asus ZenPad 3, Kobo Glo	AT&T and T-Mobile do not share the same spectrum, for the most part. This means AT&T cellphones do not (and can't) work on T-Mobile towers using existing infrastructure; and vice versa. So, interesting dilemma. Of course, the deal won't come to finalisation before mid-2012 which means "merging" services really can't start before 2013 and won't pick up speed before 2014 ... by which times, gosh knows, the entire industry landscape might look different.

03-20-2011, 08:42 PM	#8
queentess Reading is sexy Posts: 1,303 Karma: 544517 Join Date: Apr 2009 Device: none	This makes those T-Mobile anti-AT&T commercials even funnier...

03-20-2011, 09:01 PM	#10
snipenekkid Banned Posts: 760 Karma: 51034 Join Date: Feb 2009	next thing you know Henry Ford will be found on road dead right beside a Chevy Chevette.

03-20-2011, 09:14 PM	#11
kennyc The Dank Side of the Moon Posts: 35,872 Karma: 118716293 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Denver, CO Device: Kindle2; Kindle Fire	I was happy with AT&T Cellular....many many years til I moved to Verizon due to getting a DroidX (not available on AT&T) ... I'm not seeing much difference between Verizon and AT&T... Mehh...

03-20-2011, 10:25 PM	#13
SteveEisenberg Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,031 Karma: 39312118 Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: near Philadelphia USA Device: Kindle Kids Edition, Fire HD 10 (11th generation)	Three competitors is usually the absolute minumum needed to keep prices down. (Generic drugs do not get onto that WalMart $4/month list until there are at least three manufacturers.) This merger leaves just two major companies in the business, with Sprint a distant third. This is reason enough for regulators to turn down the deal, I am hoping. Note that after this deal, the three companies America Movil (Tracfone, Net10, StraightTalk) can realistically ask to come in with bids (Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile) are now just two. I wonder if this isn't a move to reign in StraightTalk, the main US provider of low-cost, decent-quality, cell phone service. It also could increase the cost of internet service built into the price of the Kindle 3G.

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