AT&T set to Acquire T-Mobile USA from owners Deutsche Telekom

By Jared DiPane  | Mar 20 2011 | 3:33 pm  | 138 Comments

att heart  tmobile

Earlier today AT&T and Deutsche Telekom entered a deal for the acquisition of T-Mobile, which between cash and stocks is a deal valued at 39 billion. Part of the deal also gives Deutsche Telekom an equity stake of the company, which is about an 8% of ownership in the company. While this news is rather stunning, and customers of both networks probably have many questions, keep in mind that it will take at least a year to finalize, and faces regulatory approval, but either way this is pretty huge news. With the joining of the two networks, they certainly hope to build one super network, which they put as:

AT&T’s acquisition of T-Mobile USA provides an optimal combination of network assets to add capacity sooner than any alternative, and it provides an opportunity to improve network quality in the near term for both companies’ customers. In addition, it provides a fast, efficient and certain solution to the impending exhaustion of wireless spectrum in some markets, which limits both companies’ ability to meet the ongoing explosive demand for mobile broadband.

As the deal continues to develop, we will continue to bring you the news. All we can hope for is one super competitive true 4G network that is ready to compete with Verizon. For all the details currently available be sure to check out the press release here. [Business Wire]

Jared DiPane Contributing Writer

"Jared DiPane is a Jersey guy who is all about GTL. Gadgets, Tech & Laughter that is."

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There are 138 comments. Add yours.

rjeftw says:

Bye bye unlimited plans... :/

Baconator says:

I am positive we will be able to keep our plans.

jarobusa says:

Why? You will now be on AT&T, not T-Mobile.

Baconator says:

Because I was on Alltel and then AT&T took over. Everybody kept their plans. AT&T didn't make them switch. I am sure it will be the same with T-Mobile. I hope I get to keep my unlimited data.

Ayon82 says:

Ah, I hope you realize that Alltel went to Verizon, not AT&T. Going to be a completely diff situation.

FreakNasty says:

AT&T acquired a portion of Alltel also.

skatejake says:

on tmobile's q&a, they said that you will continue to be billed by tmobile and you will keep your current plans.

uranidiot says:

AS LONG AS U DON'T RENEW THE CONTRACT. ONCE U RENEW OR WANT A PARTICULARL PHONE U R SCREWED! THIS IS BAD 4 US, FCC NEEDS 2 SQUASH IT!

trevx says:

The Darkside just got bigger.

Officerpolabear says:

But then again, this will expand at&t's android lineup even more

angryGTS says:

ATT kisses Apples ass too much to get any good Android phones and that just means any other Android phone that is released with be locked down which means you will have to root just to download apps from other places, this really sucks for Tmobile users, oh well at least its GSM and we can still get international phones.

trenen says:

You know, that would probably held up better if at&t still had a monopolistic hold on Apple products...but being that Verizon now offers both the iPhone and the iPad and will continue to do so in the future...I really don't think "at&t kissing Apple's ass too much" has much of anything to do with them getting better or 'unlocked' Android devices. If anything, it's poor management at the top levels.

angryGTS says:

ATT kisses Apples ass too much to get any good Android phones and that just means any other Android phone that is released with be locked down which means you will have to root just to download apps from other places, this really sucks for Tmobile users, oh well at least its GSM and we can still get international phones.

Duffin says:

Yeah extend the line-up so they can disable a bunch of built-in features. No thank you...

EDIT: Really? Why are every single one of my posts considered SPAM?

dabaum says:

Now Verizon needs to buy Sprint and we will be back to two major carriers again!

rjeftw says:

Then let the unlimited plans fade entirely away??

bigtime2 says:

Then let everything fade away. There will be no competition and we all get screwed.

Andr3w says:

Sprint is gone :/

Ecoteric says:

why is that? you think you need to a company as big as that to compete? you just need superior devices and really good coverage. i.e. Evo 3D and Sprint 4G... both better than ATT/TMobile respective flagships

ATT users shouldn't think that their network will double in size... ATT was already everywhere T Mobile was.

bipoler says:

it wont DOUBLE but 2 is always greater than 1 so quality should be better more reliable !

ls377 says:

It's all bandwidth. All the places where AT&T fails will get better with an extra 3G band.

Ecoteric says:

If ATT currently isn't there, I doubt T Mobile is! TMobile users roam onto ATT's network, not usually the other way around.

icebike says:

Network won't double, but network expertise may quadruple.

This tells me at&t needs help with their 4G, and tmo needs money.

Maybe together they can Finally drive a stake thru the heart of CDMA.

Ecoteric says:

agree 100%, but not on the CDMA part...

Jerry Hildenbrand says:

Getting rid of CDMA is the best thing that could ever happen to the US consumer. Take device choice out of the hands of the carrier, and let them be the dumb data pipe they really are.

trenen says:

Because replacing CDMA with an inferior voice-quality technology is a great idea. CDMA with LTE is a very potent mix, and now that Verizon's network supports simultaneous voice and data over 3G, GSM doesn't have much going for it over a speed boost in some areas.

evomaster says:

Makes more sense than Sprint. GSM to GSM.

FatMikeNJ says:

This is not good.....

Chris Parsons says:

Remember, FCC has to allow this first.. and FCC has been rather hard on AT&T; lately.

MowDownJoe says:

If the FCC allowed Comcast to buy out NBC, they'll likely allow this.

uranidiot says:

NOT EVEN REMOTELY THE SAME!

datimmerman says:

I think the FCC is likely to allow it.

From the press release, they either got pre-approved, or they are making a gamble by completely pandering to the FCC/Obama admin:

With this transaction, AT&T commits to a significant expansion of robust 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) deployment to 95 percent of the U.S. population to reach an additional 46.5 million Americans beyond current plans – including rural communities and small towns. This helps achieve the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and President Obama's goals to connect "every part of America to the digital age." T-Mobile USA does not have a clear path to delivering LTE.

Rolled eyes.

shibumi says:

Wow! And we had been seriously considering jumping from Sprint to T-Mobile (T-Mobile's "4g" actually works in our area [Tampa Bay] compared to Sprint's. I very rarely pick up 4G on my Evo here).

BUT - not if they're soon to be ATT. I've done my time w/ ATT and I'll *never* go back.

This is really too bad...

evomaster says:

If you can afford it, Verizon is the way to go. Their 4G gets in buildings great too.

fullofsecrets says:

My experience differs from yours. I am in Atlanta, and received poor service from Verizon despite their premium price. I was astonished to have better connectivity on Sprint when I finally switched, but it's the truth. At my workplace, there's the Elevator of Doom where everyone's cell reception dies ... guess what? After moving to Sprint, I stay connected in that elevator!

I suppose it's one of those "your mileage may vary" sort of things, and maybe Sprint just has unusually good coverage in Atlanta or something, but I'm now paying less and getting better service, so I'm happy.

crabjoe says:

Based on what you're saying, you're experience is NOT with 4G, but CDMA voice. What you're saying happens from time to time, but in general, Verizon has the best voice coverage of any of the providers in the US.

fullofsecrets says:

It counts for 4G as well, as I'm on 4G with my Evo in that location since I don't use work's wifi. I should add that when I say service, I'm not limiting that to voice/data connectivity, but also customer service / corporate conduct, where I have found Sprint to be superior as well.

Like I say, you may have a different experience in a different part of the country.

brobertsleo says:

You're not understanding him. He said that your experience with VERIZON wasn't with VERIZON's 4G network. Basically what he is saying is that if you were on VERIZON's 4G network you're experience likely wound have been better because LTE has better building penetration.

fullofsecrets says:

Ah, I see. Thank you for clarifying that, as the previous poster did not specify that it was Verizon's LTE to which he was referring - s/he just said 4G, and I thought s/he thought that I wasn't a 4G customer.

I will gladly acknowledge the technical merits of LTE (though I've had a good experience with Wimax - been great streaming Slingbox), however, as I stated in my second post, when I mention service, I'm not only referring to voice/data connectivity. During the six years or so that I was with them, I experienced mediocre customer service from their store personnel, and I do not approve of a number of their corporate activities, such as the following (note, the following excerpt is part of a blog post I made some time ago, so some of the information may no longer be current):

  1. Verizon's shady CPNI policy, covered here. I'm a customer, and I would never have known about this were it not for the New York Times. There was no visible notification. I refuse to support a company that engages in such unethical activities.
  2. The addition of advertising to Mobile Web in the midst of my contract. There were no ads when I signed up, yet I still paid the same fee. Again, no notice from the company on this. They did something similar recently to their smartphone users with Bing. They made an exclusive deal with Microsoft, and BlackBerry users on Verizon's network lost options for other browsers on their Start and Go to pages. In other words, Verizon can change things on you at any time with no notice, and you're still stuck in your contract without recourse. More here.
  3. Verizon has a history of crippling their phones, such as their past treatment of Bluetooth.
  4. Neither my friends nor family members are on Verizon now (several were when we started), so I get no benefit from calling in-network.
  5. I got sick of paying way too much. After going with Sprint, we got two Evos with full data access for less than we paid for one Palm with slow web access and one "dumb" LG on Verizon.
  6. Verizon's anti-competitive practices in Pennsylvania.

Additionally, they were one of the companies that just rolled over and said, "How high?" when the Bush administration said, "Jump!" regarding their request for handing over consumers' voice and data information. I'm sure there are numerous other activities in which the company has engaged of which I would disapprove, however, the reasons listed above were more than enough incentive for me to migrate.

I'm sure Sprint's far from perfect, too, but for those reasons, Sprint seems like a lesser evil than Verizon to me.

BobbyPhoenix says:

Just because AT&T is buying T-Mobile doesn't mean T-Mobile will become AT&T. I think it will be like Sprint and Nextel. Both owned by the same company, but they keep their respective names and brandings. If anything we will still see the Magenta in more places with better service, and see the big Blue with more reliability. I'm all for that as my traveling to places now only sees AT&T in some places I go, so now I will have good T-Mobile coverage everywhere. You will have an end result of a MEGA POWER network.

datimmerman says:

Just like when AT&T bought Cingular, right? The difference is that Nextel's customers were by and large businesses, so they kept the distinctions.

trevor83 says:

The reason why they kept two different types of networks was two fold. They didn't have an acceptable replacement for PTT on Sprint's network. And Nextel is iDEN and Sprint CDMA.

TMob and ATT are both GSM just with different frequencies and blocks. Much easier to integrate.

olorin says:

Actually, Cingular bought ATT... ended up keeping the name ATT after realizing ATT had the bigger name recognition. It's all about the brand... which is why ATT won't keep the t-mobile brand, unless its a value marketed sub-brand.

Maestro1 says:

Actually the whole thing with nextel and sprint when it came to name and such has been a mess. first they wanted to get rid of it except or keep it in the name of the corp.(sprint-nextel inc.) Then they wanted to keep it just for iden phones, then they wanted to keep nextel for all walkie talkie phones, and now it will be gone. all this happened because the nextel network was its own unique iden network which was in compatible with sprints. However ATT and Tmobile are both GSM, and the fact that its all goin to LTE anyways, i dont think they will allow Tmobile to be seperate.

i thought it would be cool to change the wireless service of the ATT corporation to T mobile (it fits) and ATT remains as the corporate name, with whatever names they want to use for tv/internet/phone. But that would probably not happen, because it would seem that their is a connection to deutch telekoms european t mobile.

Jerry Hildenbrand says:

Per terms of the agreement --
DT gets 8% of AT&T stock
DT gains a seat on AT&T's board
AT&T will maintain a significant operational presence in Seattle/Bellevue
Combined entity will be branded AT&T

osutuba says:

Now, just keep T-Mo's customer service and I'll stay after my contract runs out ...

uranidiot says:

MONOPOLY! FCC NEEDS TO STOP THIS! Sprint and t mobileis ok but 2 gsm carriers NO NO NO NO!

bigtime2 says:

Write to your representatives, everyone!

Don't bitch about it a year from now when everything is screwed up if you don't let your congressman know about what this may do.

MOTOX2 says:

Ok now all verizon has to do is buy sprint and combine their plans into mid-high priced but less than before plans....they'll have more 4g....and the biggest spectrum plus an evo 3d :) *hopes raise* lol

cookooclock says:

My thought EXACTLY! HTC seems to love sprint alot more than Verizon, why else would they save their dual-core phone for sprint instead of putting it in the TB

KSChris says:

Probably because the Thunderbolt was in the works far longer than dual-cores have even been around..

mikieelmo says:

I have not read the bible in years,but I am pretty sure this is one of the signs of the Apocalypse .

FatMikeNJ says:

The fcc has been funky lately.... they allowed sirius and xm to merge..... now that's a monopoly !!!

trevor83 says:

Don't be foolish. That is not a monopoly. They are competing against free radio. And now they even compete against the likes of Pandora and Slacker.

calibur says:

could this be the reason why AT&T hasnt flip the switch?

MIster Fluffy says:

I'm entering my 11th year with T-Mobile. If the FCC approves this, I'm leaving T-Mobile for either Verizon or MetroPCS.

jarobusa says:

Why not Sprint? Verizon is just as bad as AT&T.

Jerry Hildenbrand says:

or worse

brobertsleo says:

Because despite Verizon having very high prices, they have the BEST network around in most of the country.

uranidiot says:

MetroPCS WHAT R U SMOKING. FEWER TOWERS HELLO!

miller7796 says:

And I'll be terminating my T-Mo account tomorrow.

bigtime2 says:

No you won't.

miller7796 says:

I will take a picture of the receipt. AT&T screwed up my billing so many times as both a wireless and uverse customer that I refuse to pay them for anything anymore. Combine that with their piss-poor customer service that will certainly trickle down to T-Mo and you will see a lot of people leave.

trevor83 says:

Why do people react so foolishly and quickly? The deal isn't done. The deal hasn't been approved. They are saying it will probably take 12 months. Why wouldn't you ride it out and then do it when its finalized? Look how long the Verizon/Alltel deal took? This is even bigger and will probably take longer.

Jerry Hildenbrand says:

I'm certain the FCC will allow this. Because Verizon and AT&T used their "virtual monopoly" to purchase all the available wireless spectrum, this is the only way for DT stockholders to profit from T-Mobile USA's future.

If this gets blocked, T-Mobile USA goes out of business, jobs are lost, and more foreign investment leaves the US economy.

icebike says:

Exactly.

Financially, t-mobile is on the ropes.

There is nothing to lose in approving this. If at&t doesn't buy them, Rogers likely will. Either that or they go belly up and nobody wins.

GuyverV says:

this stinks. t-mobile had the best phones. at&t will mess that up.

lonnydub says:

Regulators will allow it. When was the last time they did to "big" players. It's all about $. They will be fed will if passed. They will starve and be gone if the deny it.

jdm4u says:

Even if current T-Mobile customers get grandfathered in with unlimited data plan, we would probably be forced to give that up if we want to upgrade to a 4G LTE device in the future.

McParty says:

Please FCC... do not let this happen! if you have ever watched the FCC meetings where they have AT&T, Verizon up there... I get the impression they do not like the big two. Maybe they will say NO!

Maestro1 says:

There are too many T's in this story. ATT might have to do some corp. restructuring here; possibly the name of the corporation will now be AT&T, and their wireless division T mobile, kinda works out perfectly.

Almost seems like the name was set for this, too bad that ATT wasn't actually called AT before and then when they buy T mobile it turns in to AT&T...lol

Nirvana328 says:

Pretty sad really. T-Mobile is one of the few national providers with reasonable prices and flexible plans. AT&T on the other hand is the antithesis of this with their outrageous pricing, Draconian restrictions on their Android phones and poor selection of phones and plans.

Mostly this is a sad day for consumers when an inflexible and careless company like AT&T takes over a consumer friendly and fair company like T-Mobile. Regardless of their coverage, I for one love T-Mobile and I'm sure many other TM customers would agree.

ps: can we do something about this captcha? either enable it all the time so it's one less window to load, or turn it down or something. Thanks

trevor83 says:

Maybe you people will start to realize you CAN'T give everything away AND stay profitable AND continue to deploy new technology. Hello! Sprint is also starting to realize this. Don't believe me? What about that new $10 fee for smartphones? Wake up, you can't have great coverage and emerging tech and pay next to nothing for it. Your reasonable plans translate to financial insecurity.

milk242 says:

Oh, so this is how AT&T plans to introduce 12 new android phones to their line up

rekaviles says:

LOL !!!

izzydead says:

Yeah! Verizon buy Sprint , guess I would have too go back to, 2 cups and a string.

li2327 says:

I'm going to be heated if I have to give up my unlimited plan!

trevor83 says:

You do realize Verizon has unlimited 4G plans, right?

evomaster says:

Hopefully this will also allow this "HSPA+ is 4G" thing to die and they can get their @sses working on LTE.

cj100570 says:

There Goes The Neighborhood! T-Mobile customers can expect to pay higher bills but at least AT&T customers may finally be able to use their phones as phones now that the coverage will be increased

soccerfon711 says:

Wow, definitely did not expect this to happen. I don't really know how I feel about it either! Lol. In shock.

icebike says:

Anyone watching the financials has been expecting this for the last two years. T-mobile has been shopping itself around for quite a while and another GSM carrier is the only thing that made sense.

808dee says:

wow the carrier that had the best out of android will now be choked with limitations this will hurt android.

DarkainMX says:

Am I the only person worried about what will happen to my phone features like UMA/Wifi calling after this merger?

jpricesd says:

One awful carrier buys up another awful carrier.

vishal18793 says:

Ok guys enough about more payment.
Think about what will happen when 34 million more customers will not have access to installation of non market apps.

Jerry Hildenbrand says:

33.9 million won't know or care, and the rest will use the sideload wonder machine :p

nickus1982 says:

This is disgusting.. I loved tmo and now it looks like big red here i come.. They are my #2 after tmo. I just don't wanna have to pay their prices.. grrrr... I guess I will have to see who gets the next pure google phone..

moonoverparma00 says:

that would be sprint.

MarkMcCoskey says:

Perhaps i will finally get 3G for my myTouch 4G phone.

DNicolasL says:

Holy balls. I can't believe it. FCC and Congress will probably deny this merger.

BKNY4G says:

LOL all those rocks T-Moblie was throwing at AT&T on commercials. AT&T say now ya azz is mine

Simer03 says:

well since itll take a year or so before anything is final, that gives me time for my dealer line with Tmobile to expire and get one for Big Red! I just have to hope Google makes a Nexus with Verizon eventually! :(

bipoler says:

No 1 saw this comming? DAH! it only makes since...NEXT you will hear Verizon & Sprint merging 2 verse 2 CDMA verse GSM! I predicited this back in freshman year 2003 !! now patiently waiting for verizon to buy Sprint ! DAH !

moonoverparma00 says:

if verizon buys sprint (wont happen) then I'll go to at&t. I did the verizon thing, they suck!!

pDoG says:

how is this such a terrible thing for tmobile customers? If anything the coverage is going to be insane. I personally don't mind. Customers are going to be taken care of during the switch, why wouldn't they? Its going to be a super GSM carrier. The question is, are phones going to be transferred over to AT&T and sold? Like top phones like the G2 or the mytouch 4g? How is that going to work? Those phones can't just die. Times are different now. Back when all phones were either a candy brick or a flip phone, it didn't matter. (Cingular to AT&T). I'm assuming that select phones will be transferred over.

font1975 says:

I guess T-Mobile users will benefit from the new coverage, but only on 2G. don't forget T-Mo's and ATT's 3G networks are on different bands.

Customers on existing contracts will probably be taken care of. Those of us on the "plus" plans, the month to month non-subsidy plans, are likely screwed.

I just switch to T-Mo precisely for that reason. I own my phone; why should I pay for someone else's phone subsidy?

I'm sure at&t will take care of us "plus" customers by automatically changing our plans to one of their higher cost, limited plans. You know, for OUR convenience.

At least I have at least 12 months of low rates left....

intheb0x says:

verizon and sprint would be the ultimate carrier to beat and in this economy i COULD see it happening in the future. but as a happy sprint user i DO NOT want it to happen,
]
if anyone was paying attention lately to the huge policy and pricing changes verizon has made leading up to them getting the iphone have been drastic.

they have high prices and spend way too much money on advertising the "best network" while sprint prides it self on the only big carrier still having unlimited at a competitive price.

sprint please stay solo, my bet is allot more ppl will be jumping ships for your truly unlimited pricing/plans and top notch android phones like the evo 3d and tablet like htc view.

TheOnlyMorgan says:

Enjoy your grandfathered data plans as long as you can T Mo users. At least this will help ATT increase their service and capacity a bit.

-IRON- says:

AT&T mobile

bigrey81 says:

No,sorry guys this is a monopoly ATT will become bigger than Verizon and won't care about t-mobile customers. They will impose they're prices on you just sit and watch.

trenen says:

It's not a monopoly.

JohnnyACE562 says:

AT&T & T.

I don't trust this. I guess you could say I anti-trust it.

{{-_-}}

brooklyn says:

I've got a bad feeling about this...

jasson197812 says:

What to when they said sprint was buying t mobile

strongfist36 says:

This makes me really sad. I wonder how the different manufactures will react to this. More carriers produced more phones which produced more options. So to see T-Mobile go is sad.

However, its not all bad. T-Mobile issued a statement regarding the acquisition.

In the statement they gave a few of the common questions they were asked and answer to them regarding the buy out. You can check it out here: goo.gl/hYN9u

_Zguy__ says:

well this should help me on att!
too bad for tmobile customers

jmelinte says:

I wonder what's going to happen to the 3G band that T-Mobile uses, since it's different from AT&T's (hence why there was a different Nexus One for each of the two carriers). Is AT&T going to start using that band along with their own, or will they phase it out, and completely screw over all the T-Mobile customers they acquire?

Also, T-Mobile was starting to implement wifi calling on all their newer phones, and a lot of people jumped on board for that feature alone. Do you guys think AT&T will start offering that same service now, or are they going to just do away with it and screw the customers over yet again?

ChanceWells says:

The big question is what happens to customers who don't have the best credit and may have had Flex plans to try to earn some credit with T-mobile and after 6 months switch to postpay? AT&T in my last check with friends had one of the most stringent policies to get a rate plan worse than Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile. Does AT&T offer a plan to convert prepaid customers who have been in good standing with them?

deaofly says:

Sprint would never sell out to Verizon. They have the upper hand on all of the carriers right now with the improving network, plans, phones, and of course prices. Sprint let's them know what true unlimited is and their prices can't be matched. Everyone saying Verizon needs to buy Sprint's needs to really pull their heads out of there @ss and see the T-Mobile and at&t have been failing for a while now with their bottled down networks and problems.

font1975 says:

AT&T is not failing; they "bought" T-Mobile for a $39 Billion. A failing company can't do that. Their network in some areas was poor, but they weren't failing.

T-Mobile had a higher customer turn-over than ATT and Verizon; and they couldn't seem to grow their business. Their German parents were losing patience with them.

Sprint is a little more solid that T-Mobile, but they're a distant #3 and while I wouldn't say they're in the SAME boat, their boat isn't much better than T-Mobile's. I hope they don't sell out, God knows we don't need fewer carriers in this country. But never say never...

crabjoe says:

How does Sprint have the upper hand? From where I sit, they are struggling to catch up.

Sprint's Network Vision will go from CDMA 1X to 1X Advance. Verizon is already there. Sprint's planning on going to LTE ... Verizon's already there and at 700mhz, which is better then any spectrum Sprint currently owns.

So tell me how Sprint has the upper hand again?

PTJunkie1975 says:

am I going to have to move from t-mobile? at&t is like an eternal curse...everywhere I got there it is...

font1975 says:

I'd stay put for now and see how it shakes out. If you're on contract, you're safe. Up until you want a new phone that is. Then see what the market is doing.

Remember, nothing's changing for at least 12 months.

(That said, if you were eying a new T-Mobile phone, now would be the time to get it!)

skatejake says:

exactly, on tmobiles site they said that current tmobile customers will keep their plans so its a good idea to stay put if you're happy with tmobile.

hotzb22 says:

If it wasnt for t-mobile we probably wouldn't have android phones right now

trenen says:

at&t mobility will now become...at&t mobile. Woooo more name changes for them. What does this make? 10 times?

Dark_Blu says:

That's the end of the best advertising campaign against the iPhone, ever. Wonder if they will just get renamed or if they will keep the separate names? Too bad. Maybe now Verizon will buy Sprint? May as well. They have an HTC EVO of their own. LOL!!

going_home says:

“The merger still needs US regulatory approval”
Lets hope the regulatory board ends our nightmare
by squashing this acquisition.
Sprint would have been a much better alternative
from a customer perspective.
:-(

tapfumam says:

Wait, so there will only be one GSM service provider in the US ?. I just really hate AT&T customer service and if this goes through, what does it mean for some of us who love the ability to swap phones without calling in and since AT&T is a FANBOY, where does that leave us Android lovers?.

Rcash says:

We need to make a stand so write to the FCC let them know not to let this thru!! http://www.fcc.gov/contacts.html

bhayden25 says:

This merger makes more sense with AT&T because they both use the same technology. Besides they might keep T-Mobile separate although they are both owned by the same company. Look at Sprint & Nextel. For AT&T customers this would be a good thing because better service and a larger coverage.

trenen says:

They will not keep them separate, I can almost guarantee that. I worked for AT&T during the Cingular takeover - they very much make sure AT&T is known. If anything, AT&T will become 'formally' AT&T Mobile. However, if DT only has 8% share, it could just be AT&T. We'll see soon though...

craigrn16 says:

Well look on the bright side both T-mobile and At&t will now have the largest 3G network. In a way I'm now kinda mad I re-uped with Verizon for 2 years. Now At&t has the fastest and the Largest. Now sprint is the only carrier left with decent pricing. T-mobile users. I'm sorry after your current contract expect your unlimited plans to disappear and your cheap plans gone but at least now you'll have LTE.

Genisis1966 says:

The only thing "good" I can see coming from this is that people will get mad enough if unlimited plans are eliminated that they will want to leave, giving Google the opportunity come out with their own phone service offering unlimited plans for a cheaper price. If this happens, I will jump on it.

jdm4u says:

I wouldn't be surprised if this happens. They already have Google Voice and you can transfer your current number to it for a small fee. I'm sure they're cooking something up. Plus They dont like the custom UI's that manufacturers have been putting on their products, which is why they are so strict on keeping honeycomb pure vanilla.

survivorevil says:

what worries me the most is if will i be able to keep my current plan? and what will happen will tmobile 3g network since they use different frequencies than Att

jdm4u says:

How I see it, once everything merges, we'll have access to ALL frequencies with either SIM card. I highly doubt they'll get rid of any frequency since it'll provide them with a larger coverage area. As for plans, we will most likely be grandfathered in, but dont be surprised if we have to change our data plan to theirs if we want to upgrade to a 4G LTE. again this is all speculations. We'll see what happens.

Toxikhiro says:

AT&T = The Empire.
Apple = The Sith
Steve Jobs = Emperor Palpatine
and now
T-Mobile Girl = Sexy, sexy Darth Vader.

As a Sprint customer, I'm thinking my next purchase should be an X-wing.

Cubfan says:

Maybe it's not great for Sprint, but it's good for Sprint customers. Now they'll work even harder to keep our business.

AndreaCristiano says:

HOLY SHIT GUYS can you READ!! the spectrum was the main reason AT&T bought tmobile. They will keep all the frequencies and future AT&T phones will carry all the frequencies!
700/850/900/1700/1900/2100 for 3G/ HSPA+ and LTE
This will increase coverage, strength and speed almost overnight once it goes through. Also grandfathered contracts will be honored

shhon75 says:

They will be honored until you want to buy a new phone. Then you'll be part of the darkside!

Tank076 says:

I think this just opened the door for verizon to but sprint just wait and see and then the cellphone race will be just two companys att and verizon. GSM vs CDMA

Tank076 says:

I think this just opened the door for verizon to but sprint just wait and see and then the cellphone race will be just two companys att and verizon. GSM vs CDMA

Tank076 says:

I think this just opened the door for verizon to but sprint just wait and see and then the cellphone race will be just two companys att and verizon. GSM vs CDMA

Tank076 says:

I think this just opened the door for verizon to but sprint just wait and see and then the cellphone race will be just two companys att and verizon. GSM vs CDMA

trenen says:

More like GSM vs LTE, really.

shhon75 says:

If this merger doesn't go through. I would hope google would purchase t-mobile. It would make sense, t-mobile was the first cartier to go out on a limb for google with android. It would be a prefect world. Customers would get pure android/google experience our mins would probably be very cheap with the use of google voice. I dunno about data rates but knowing google it would be fair. This would be win for google and customers. We wouldn't have to worry about one large gsm network, who will want to put bloat ware on your phone and raise the prices whenever they want to because the lack of a gsm Competitor.