AT&T buys T-Mobile

[Paladin]

Agreed JW, but the free phones almost always come with a commitment. And yes, if your contract period has ended as has mine, you have MUCH more leverage with the carriers. Well, if this goes through (Fed approval), i may be able to get the wife a free i-phone or a newer blackberry (probably will get her an i-phone, since she has an i-pad already.

[PomonaCA]

Show me where I EVER said T-Mobile wanted to compete in LTE?!?
All I said was if you think the combo of AT&T/T-Mobile with LTE (something AT&T has been desperately trying to work on for months now) will compete with Verizon you're kidding yourself........

T-Mobile had no choice but to have an LTE offering IN ANY FORM. They don't have the spectrum since they were priced out of the bidding several years ago. Both Verizon and AT&T have been working on LTE for more than a few months, in fact, since at least 2009. Any non-MVNO carrier that doesn't go LTE is going to find themselves as a small time player, relegated to pre-paid and other low-tech markets.

This morning AT&T themselves proved me wrong in an earlier post saying they were going to adapt the 1700mHz spectrum and not abandon it in order to get a better network out to 95% of their customers (something they said until this merger was never expected to be possible) so I'll take credit for being mistaken about that, but not once did I ever say T-Mobile themselves was working on some form of LTE, they've been pushing HSPA+ for quite sometime.......
-JWBL

That HSPA that they've been trying to pass off as 4G? You mean that HSPA? Hmmm, why is TMobile trying to sell HSPA as 4G and not the fast 3G that it really is (A fast 3G)?

Your point with 1700 is small potatoes. In 10 years there will be very little 1700 in mobile usage, just as there is very little AMPS now.

[PomonaCA]

You don't get it. The reason their service is shitty is because their business strategy is to squeeze their technology so tight that the service becomes shitty. That policy is not going to change with the acquisition of t-mobile. In fact it's going to be worse since they have to bankroll $39 billion.

They "squeeze their technology so tight that the service becomes shitty"? What numbers do you have to support this because it simply isn't true. In fact, it's AT&T that has invested in the BILLIONS in LTE and other infrastructure upgrades.

If any carrier intended to "squeeze their technology so tight that the service becomes shitty", it was T-Mobile with their stop-gap pseudo 4G HSPA that they were trying to con us all into believing was really 4G. If you don't see through that ruse, you're simply in denial.

In the end, all of AT&T's customers and all of T-Mobile's customers are going to be left with AT&T's crappy quality of service, except, well, being slightly worse. That's what I'm talking about here.

I see. So your point here is that the nearly doubling of capacity that will come with the merger will lead to "being slightly worse"? Uhm, OK.

I suppose if your state double your freeways from 2 lanes to 4 lanes that you would consider morning traffic to be "slightly worse"?

3G, 4G, LTE, it doesn't matter.

It does matter. You just don't want it to matter so that you won't have to speak about the facts of the matter. It's easier for you to be angry and say "It doesn't matter".

The technology isn't the problem. It's the lack of competition and business practices.

There are more players in the wireless market now than at any time in wireless history.

The business wins and the consumers lose.

Weak zero-sum hysterics.

And, given few options (which is why antitrust laws are supposed to be enforced), innovation is discouraged, and we're stuck with garbage.

Still happy about this?

What do emotions have to do with this? Emotions have everything to do with the war you are fighting in your head, little to do with this acquisition.

[hwbs]

i was with tmobile to get away from the bigger companies....i have had no complaints with the service and my area was one of the first with 3 g and now 4g speeds ( gets 7dl and 2 up )...but the main reason was the customer service...now they going to be just like the rest...

[JohnnyWalkerBlackLabel]

T-Mobile had no choice but to have an LTE offering IN ANY FORM. They don't have the spectrum since they were priced out of the bidding several years ago. Both Verizon and AT&T have been working on LTE for more than a few months, in fact, since at least 2009. Any non-MVNO carrier that doesn't go LTE is going to find themselves as a small time player, relegated to pre-paid and other low-tech markets.

Thanks for admitting (you didn't but I know you meant to it's ok, calm down) that I never said that.........since you want to forget the fact that I didn't say that about T-Mobile and LTE......

nonetheless..............

the moment has passed, victory is mine

-JWBL

[PomonaCA]

Thanks for admitting (you didn't but I know you meant to it's ok, calm down) that I never said that.........since you want to forget the fact that I didn't say that about T-Mobile and LTE......

nonetheless..............

the moment has passed, victory is mine

-JWBL

Ok, you win. You didn't say that. Instead you took some ambiguous position about T-Mobile's future. Then you engaged in manipulative word play.

To be clear, T-Mobile doesn't exist in 7 years unless this acquisition happens or there is some kind of paradigm shift in the way that spectrum is owned by the carriers or administered by the FCC. The last option isn't going to happen and even if it does, prepare for 4 or 5 years of legal rambling by the ones who stand to lose the most.... the carriers and their partners.

The market will lose T-Mobile one way or the other. I prefer the way that will save 80% of the jobs at T-Mobile. The method you prefer will throw them to the wind or the bankruptcy courts.

[JohnnyWalkerBlackLabel]

Ok, you win. You didn't say that. Instead you took some ambiguous position about T-Mobile's future. Then you engaged in manipulative word play.

To be clear, T-Mobile doesn't exist in 7 years unless this acquisition happens or there is some kind of paradigm shift in the way that spectrum is owned by the carriers or administered by the FCC. The last option isn't going to happen and even if it does, prepare for 4 or 5 years of legal rambling by the ones who stand to lose the most.... the carriers and their partners.

The market will lose T-Mobile one way or the other. I prefer the way that will save 80% of the jobs at T-Mobile. The method you prefer will throw them to the wind or the bankruptcy courts.

Again mere speculation by you as no one knows what will definitively happen in 7 years..............

again, thanks for admitting defeat
-JWBL

[CORVETTEDUDE]

i was with tmobile to get away from the bigger companies....i have had no complaints with the service and my area was one of the first with 3 g and now 4g speeds ( gets 7dl and 2 up )...but the main reason was the customer service...now they going to be just like the rest...

With this statement...I completely agree!!!

[Paladin]

OK, when you all stop pissing on each other, can someone tell me what LTE is??

[PomonaCA]

Again mere speculation by you as no one knows what will definitively happen in 7 years..............

again, thanks for admitting defeat
-JWBL

Hey, the sun will come up tomorrow. But that's mere speculation.