Since Apple and AT&T no longer have an exclusivity contract, this means nothing to the iPhone as far as potential customers. The extra coverage for voice will be a boost, but not for 3G data. Well, not for existing phones. Perhaps the iPhone5 (or 6) will be AT&T and T-Mobile 3G frequency compatible (if the chips exist).
Now, what would be really nice would be is the USA finally had a nationwide network under one standard. Enough of this compatible-phone-network crap. When does that happen?
This is horrible news for everyone including AT&T and Verizon customers. T-Mobile meant alternatives for people. I am on T-Mobile because the rates were better and the customer service was good.
My iPhone is happily running on T-Mobile. I have AT&T for my Internet Provider and dealing with AT&T is horrible.
Less competition is good news? I guess if you are a AT&T stockholder and aren't stuck using its services your view might be valid.
Further, all what is going to happen is Verizon is going to buy Sprint. Americans will have the choice of two companies. It will be like gas companies the two companies will wink at each other to keep prices high. T-Mobile is a european company. In Europe the laws actually benefit consumers, not the other way around like here. Some of that carried over here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Multimedia
So glad AT&T is pulling away from those dorks at Verizon. This is incredibly great news.
I was just driving down RT 17 North in Carlstadt where there are two large billboards. One for T-Mobile hawking their 4-G network followed by an AT&T billboard asking me to "rethink possible." I guess the merger will save the company on advertising with two billboards.
This is an utter disaster. I was alarmed by the rumors of TMobile merging with Sprint last week, but at least going from four to three major carriers involved consolidating two smaller carriers. This opens up the serious possibility of only two national carriers in the US — giving us a less competitive wireless market than any other major economy. Even Canada manages to have three. Sprint will have to absorb every minor carrier simply to be competitive, or they'll end up subsumed into Verizon. Will the FCC even require that phones on AT&T and Verizon support each other's frequencies on LTE, specifically the 1700 band of TMobile?
I think this is great news for both AT&T and T-Mobile customers. By combing both networks, which have compatible technology, coverage should improve for both carriers. A number of articles point out that this will increase tower density in many urban areas - particularly on GSM/UMTS technology where you have hard hand-offs between cell phone towers, it seems to me that this should eventually improve call quality and improve data transmission as well. I do think the FCC is likely to impose some conditions on this acquisition. I wouldn't be surprised if some of T-Mobiles assets will have to be divested, probably to Verizon (much like Verizon had to divest Alltel assets when it acquired Alltel). With the Obama administration's push to expand mobile broadband to rural areas, the FCC may require some additional commitments from AT&T to expand mobile broadband to rural areas it does not currently service (again, an improvement for customers).
I know some people have a knee jerk reaction of less competition being bad for consumers. This is true generally, but you also have to keep in mind the particularities of the wireless industry. Unlike Europe, a national wireless carrier in the U.S. has extremely large amounts of land to cover in order to provide effective service. If you are a smaller carrier (i.e., Sprint or T-Mobile) and you can barely keep from losing customers, it just doesn't make sense to expand and improve your network in any significant way. You will just run bigger and bigger losses, and that can't be sustained. Of course, AT&T and Verizon, as the two big players (and, now, going to get even bigger) can push their weight around as they get bigger, and refuse to improve service with the rationale of where are you going to go? The other big carrier that has no better service? There certainly will be a role for the FCC to play to ensure that America has a robust, improving national wireless network. However, I think Verizon and AT&T will continue to vye (much like Coke and Pepsi) for who has the superior network. And, because they are both very large, they will actually be able to spend money to improve their network, even where it doesn't make short term financial sense. Long story short . . . the wireless industry is complex, but I think an argument can be made that consumers will benefit from the AT&T/T-Mobile consolidation.
Nonsense! As soon as the deal is done, AT&T will start the process of phasing out T-Mobile and transferring all customers renewing their contracts to AT&T's network. In the process, old T-Mobile equipment will be upgraded to handle AT&T's network needs as T-Mobile customers disappear off T-Mobile's network.
In 2 years, you won't have anyone left on T-Mobile's old network and the brand name will be gone.
They're going to be a single network. There won't be a such thing as "AT&T's Network" or "T-Mobile's Network" ... the two are compatible with one another. This primarily gives customers access to more towers.
On the down side, AT&T's customer service and rate plans leave something to be desired. My current T-Mobile bill is probably going to double after this goes through. I'm not at all happy about it.
Good question. My guess is AT&T will change T-Mobile's 3G frequency to theirs and allow T-mobile customers to roam on their 3G frequency (like T-Mobile and Orange now do in the UK), therefore allowing T-Mobile customers to use iPhones on a 3G network.
AT&T doesn't have enough spectrum to merge T-Mobile customers onto the "AT&T 3G" frequencies. If you think there's congestion now, wait until they add many millions of customers onto the same towers they've been using. They'll keep the T-Mobile 3G frequencies... they're too valuable to not use them. And that network is already running equipment that can go up to 84 Mbps with software upgrades. It would be stupid to turn that off. T-Mobile owns a huge amount of radio spectrum in high frequency band, which allows really fast data transfer. The higher the frequency, the more data you can transmit.
What we'll see is AT&T phones released that can run on either 3G network. Most T-Mobile phones are already capable of using either one, but AT&T's can't.
So, Will Verizon buy Sprint Now?? If so, now we would have some fair data regarding IOS vs Android. Now that Oracle is going to sue the bloody pants off of Google, will Google still be able to give Android away for free while they pay big royalties to Oracle. This will be interesting.
Comments
Secondly, if you have a contract you'll be protected by terms in said contract
Until it expires in two years maximum. Then they can do whatever they want to you.
This article is a bit clearer.
http://arstechnica.com/business/news...st-carrier.ars
Are you kidding? The Ars article says nothing, is campy and lame, and doesn't provide any technical information. There is nothing "clear" in it.
Now, what would be really nice would be is the USA finally had a nationwide network under one standard. Enough of this compatible-phone-network crap. When does that happen?
So glad AT&T is pulling away from those dorks at Verizon. This is incredibly great news.
My iPhone is happily running on T-Mobile. I have AT&T for my Internet Provider and dealing with AT&T is horrible.
Further, all what is going to happen is Verizon is going to buy Sprint. Americans will have the choice of two companies. It will be like gas companies the two companies will wink at each other to keep prices high. T-Mobile is a european company. In Europe the laws actually benefit consumers, not the other way around like here. Some of that carried over here.
So glad AT&T is pulling away from those dorks at Verizon. This is incredibly great news.
Perhaps the iPhone5 (or 6) will be AT&T and T-Mobile 3G frequency compatible (if the chips exist).
The chip being used in the Verizon iPhone already supports all frequencies.
It is up to Apple to use that capability when they release an iPhone 5 using the chip.
SOOOO glad I have a viPhone!!
I know some people have a knee jerk reaction of less competition being bad for consumers. This is true generally, but you also have to keep in mind the particularities of the wireless industry. Unlike Europe, a national wireless carrier in the U.S. has extremely large amounts of land to cover in order to provide effective service. If you are a smaller carrier (i.e., Sprint or T-Mobile) and you can barely keep from losing customers, it just doesn't make sense to expand and improve your network in any significant way. You will just run bigger and bigger losses, and that can't be sustained. Of course, AT&T and Verizon, as the two big players (and, now, going to get even bigger) can push their weight around as they get bigger, and refuse to improve service with the rationale of where are you going to go? The other big carrier that has no better service? There certainly will be a role for the FCC to play to ensure that America has a robust, improving national wireless network. However, I think Verizon and AT&T will continue to vye (much like Coke and Pepsi) for who has the superior network. And, because they are both very large, they will actually be able to spend money to improve their network, even where it doesn't make short term financial sense. Long story short . . . the wireless industry is complex, but I think an argument can be made that consumers will benefit from the AT&T/T-Mobile consolidation.
Nonsense! As soon as the deal is done, AT&T will start the process of phasing out T-Mobile and transferring all customers renewing their contracts to AT&T's network. In the process, old T-Mobile equipment will be upgraded to handle AT&T's network needs as T-Mobile customers disappear off T-Mobile's network.
In 2 years, you won't have anyone left on T-Mobile's old network and the brand name will be gone.
They're going to be a single network. There won't be a such thing as "AT&T's Network" or "T-Mobile's Network" ... the two are compatible with one another. This primarily gives customers access to more towers.
On the down side, AT&T's customer service and rate plans leave something to be desired. My current T-Mobile bill is probably going to double after this goes through. I'm not at all happy about it.
Good question. My guess is AT&T will change T-Mobile's 3G frequency to theirs and allow T-mobile customers to roam on their 3G frequency (like T-Mobile and Orange now do in the UK), therefore allowing T-Mobile customers to use iPhones on a 3G network.
AT&T doesn't have enough spectrum to merge T-Mobile customers onto the "AT&T 3G" frequencies. If you think there's congestion now, wait until they add many millions of customers onto the same towers they've been using. They'll keep the T-Mobile 3G frequencies... they're too valuable to not use them. And that network is already running equipment that can go up to 84 Mbps with software upgrades. It would be stupid to turn that off. T-Mobile owns a huge amount of radio spectrum in high frequency band, which allows really fast data transfer. The higher the frequency, the more data you can transmit.
What we'll see is AT&T phones released that can run on either 3G network. Most T-Mobile phones are already capable of using either one, but AT&T's can't.
The chip being used in the Verizon iPhone already supports all frequencies.
It is up to Apple to use that capability when they release an iPhone 5 using the chip.
you first need an antenna and RF front end for all those bands, a capable baseband chip is necessary but not sufficient.
RLK
The FCC is a rubber stamp agency.
Corporate monopolies run the US now. Political parties are a front to keep the populace distracted.
Change monopolies to oligopolies and you're all set.
T-MOBILE said on its website; NO iPHONE.
When did they say that?
Could you supple a link?
T-Mobile posted that T-Mobile will remain an independent company am that they will not be getting the iPhone.
So this is largely a network expansion/consolidation issue. I guess that means that while TMo an AT&T will be separate, they'll be the same network.
Could you supply a link?