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AT&T to Acquire T-Mobile USA for $39 Billion

businesswire.com

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Re: AT&T to Acquire T-Mobile USA for $39 Billion

#51

Post by SkyMarshal »

dres wrote: post #7

This is complete bullshit, and would give AT&T an effective monopoly on GSM based wireless communications in a number of key markets. I say we collectively work to lobby against this deal, as it will be bad for all of us who are based in the US and looking to do ANYTHING in mobile. Imagine if Apple had tried to get their iPhone AppStore arrangement in a single-GSM carrier world? It's 2011, folks. We can't let oppress…

I'm in. I've been a happy Tmobile customer for years. Not looking forward to ATT ruining it all.

Re: AT&T to Acquire T-Mobile USA for $39 Billion

#52

Post by georgieporgie »

amock wrote: post #20
dres wrote: post #7

This is complete bullshit, and would give AT&T an effective monopoly on GSM based wireless communications in a number of key markets. I say we collectively work to lobby against this deal, as it will be bad for all of us who are based in the US and looking to do ANYTHING in mobile. Imagine if Apple had tried to get their iPhone AppStore arrangement in a single-GSM carrier world? It's 2011, folks. We can't let oppress…

Why does it matter that they're the only GSM provider? Why aren't other technologies competition?

Technology lock-in. Admittedly, it's rather pointless for me to argue this, thanks to phones locked to specific carriers, but competition is severely hindered by the fact that I can't just pop in a new SIM from a different GSM carrier. Instead, I have to buy a new handset and, as phones become mobile computing devices, I'll have quite a lot of setup and data porting to do.

Re: AT&T to Acquire T-Mobile USA for $39 Billion

#53

Post by tptacek »

nerfhammer wrote: post #49
tptacek wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if you could simply swap your SIM card to swap providers in the US, the majority of customers would not suddenly become portable; people don't want to pay $500 up front for a phone, even though they're paying more down the line.

Most people do not own smartphones. So the majority of customers don't need a large upfront investment to get a portable phone.

That's a good point. Thanks. But featurephones are also subsidized, aren't they?

Re: AT&T to Acquire T-Mobile USA for $39 Billion

#54

Post by ryanclemson »

cheald wrote: post #12

Ugh. This might finally get me to leave T-mobile. I left ATT after a horrible experience and vowed to never go back. I am not happy.

Agreed. Do you think T-mobile will allow termination of contracts without a early termination fee? I'm guessing probably not, but I'd jump ship if I could avoid the fees.

Re: AT&T to Acquire T-Mobile USA for $39 Billion

#55

Post by miah_ »

I will not give AT&T my money. As a happy T-Mobile user I am strongly against this purchase. I really hate that the US Cellular system is split by Wireless technologies and that my only options for GSM are basically AT&T and T-Mobile. Where will I go? Credo is great, but my phone isn't based on CDMA and I don't want to switch phones just because I switched vendors.

Re: AT&T to Acquire T-Mobile USA for $39 Billion

#57

Post by tptacek »

dangrossman wrote: post #29
amock wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does it matter that they're the only GSM provider? Why aren't other technologies competition?

It matters because it increases the switching cost for anyone that wants to go to a competitor. You can't bring your phone with you, so you MUST make an upfront commitment of either buying a phone or signing a 2 year contract to get the phone without an upfront cost. When there are multiple companies that provide the network type your phone uses, you can move between them at no cost.

But with only two providers of GSM, you already have emerging cartel pricing dynamics. It's not even as good as airlines (which are also somewhat collusively pricied), where you usually have 5-6 choices for any trip.

More competition is good, but, from a pragmatic perspective, the loss in competition (such as it is) might not outweigh the gain in efficiency for AT&T and T-Mobile subs.

Re: AT&T to Acquire T-Mobile USA for $39 Billion

#58

Post by nerfhammer »

tptacek wrote: post #31
nerfhammer wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

20 cent text messages both ways is competitive?

So, buy a Sprint phone with unlimited texting? (Wait a minute; I don't appear to be paying $0.20 for text messages either, and I'm AT&T.)

It costs an additional $19.95 a month for unlimited texting on the (at&t) iphone plan last I checked.

Re: AT&T to Acquire T-Mobile USA for $39 Billion

#59

Post by bjelkeman-again »

cletus wrote: post #30

It's a natural fit for AT&T to buy T-Mobile. They both 3G GSM (UMTS) technology. T-Mobile is probably better in some key markets than AT&T, most notably New York (City). The one issue with T-Mobile is it uses the fairly nonstandard 1870 MHz frequency. I don't know of any other carrier that does (anywhere). I assume this is because AT&T has the rights to the more common frequencies in the relevant markets? I wonder wh…

> Wireless really is a mess in the US. Europe and Australia have really benefited from choosing one technology (GSM).

How are pricing plans in the US when you are roaming beyond your state? I live in Sweden, where I have a decently priced data and call plan.

However, as soon as I go outside of Sweden, which is a small country (9M people), I have to pay roaming charges. I don't mind so much the call charges, but they want €4/MB ($5.60/MB) for data. Which essentially means that I don't use data roaming at all when out of town unless on Wifi, and I don't travel much in Sweden. Ok, so I can get calls when I travel, but I hardly use the phone for calls, I use it for the data access.

Yes, I can get another SIM, but then I have to tell everyone who may call me that I have changed number for that week, which is not really workable.

Re: AT&T to Acquire T-Mobile USA for $39 Billion

#60

Post by jedbrown »

greattypo wrote: post #13
dres wrote: post #7

This is complete bullshit, and would give AT&T an effective monopoly on GSM based wireless communications in a number of key markets. I say we collectively work to lobby against this deal, as it will be bad for all of us who are based in the US and looking to do ANYTHING in mobile. Imagine if Apple had tried to get their iPhone AppStore arrangement in a single-GSM carrier world? It's 2011, folks. We can't let oppress…

Imagine if Apple had tried to get their iPhone AppStore arrangement in a single-GSM carrier world? Apple still had to choose between Verizon or AT&T. From what I've heard, Sprint, T-Mobile, etc. were never in the running.

Verizon was not a GSM carrier.
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