03-20-2011, 06:35 PM | #1 |
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! |
03-20-2011, 07:06 PM | #2 |
.
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?
|
Advert | |
|
03-20-2011, 07:36 PM | #3 |
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 |
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 |
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* |
Advert | |
|
03-20-2011, 08:27 PM | #6 | |
Banned
Posts: 760
Karma: 51034
Join Date: Feb 2009
|
Quote:
But they all ship UPS from China. |
|
03-20-2011, 08:40 PM | #7 |
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 |
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, 08:53 PM | #9 |
Layback feline
Posts: 3,034
Karma: 6980745
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: USA
Device: Oasis 2nd gen, Sony DPTS1, iPad Pro 10.5"
|
|
03-20-2011, 09:01 PM | #10 |
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 |
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, 10:10 PM | #12 |
The Knight Who Says Nook!
Posts: 98
Karma: 10
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: California
Device: Nook Color ; dead Clie NR70 ; living Rocket REB1100 ; QY70 (pictured)
|
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. |
03-20-2011, 10:25 PM | #13 |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 7,032
Karma: 39379388
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. |
03-21-2011, 08:23 AM | #14 | |
Wizard
Posts: 2,302
Karma: 2607151
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Toronto
Device: Kobo Aura HD, Kindle Paperwhite, Asus ZenPad 3, Kobo Glo
|
Quote:
|
|
03-21-2011, 08:54 AM | #15 | |
Wizard
Posts: 2,549
Karma: 3799999
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: O'Fallon, Missouri, USA
Device: Nokia N800, PRS-505, Nook STR Glowlight, Kindle 3
|
Quote:
|
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
iPad Tmobile SIM card on iPad? | jocampo | Apple Devices | 14 | 02-22-2011 06:39 AM |
Classic Trook using non-ATT sim card | klay | Nook Developer's Corner | 4 | 02-19-2010 12:26 PM |
Amazon to Acquire Audible.com | Nate the great | News | 10 | 02-03-2008 01:28 PM |
Taiwanese acquire Philips' e-paper unit | Alexander Turcic | News | 6 | 08-27-2005 02:10 AM |
Palm to acquire rival Handspring | Alexander Turcic | Lounge | 3 | 07-07-2003 03:48 PM |