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AT&T to Acquire T-Mobile USA for $39 Billion
- pat2man 16y agoAnd then there were three...
- plusbryan 16y agoOh crap. There goes my unlimited tethering.
- tptacek 16y agoIn fairness, the likelihood of you keeping unlimited tethering on DT's T-Mobile was already pretty low.
- tesseract 16y agoPersonally I don't care too much whether my tethering is unlimited or not. I do care whether my provider tries to charge separately for tethering as if it is somehow different from using the same amount of data on the phone itself.
- epall 16y agoAnd for only $6/month! Best iPhone plan ever.
- dazzla 16y agoI'm really going to miss T-Mobile policy's like unlimited tethering and cheaper plans with no contract. This is a real shame. Maybe its time to get a contract to be grandfarthered in? A T-Mobile contract on the larger AT&T network may not be so bad. Edit: I forgot to mention the no fee for tethering or hotspot. I use that enough for it to be very helpful but not to pay an additional fee.
- mgcross 16y agoHave you checked out Simple Mobile (http://www.mysimplemobile.com http://www.mysimplemobile.com )? Cheap, but the CS gets horrible marks.
- mgcross 16y agoHave you checked out Simple Mobile (http://www.mysimplemobile.com http://www.mysimplemobile.com )? Cheap, but the CS gets horrible marks.
- X-Istence 16y agoI am certainly going to miss my awesome contract free plan I have right now. 500 minutes, unlimited text, unlimited data (including tethering!) for $60. So far AT&T still doesn't have anything that comes close, their closest would come to around $80-90.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- drzaiusapelord 16y agoYep, there goes my PDAnet tethering. There goes the unsubsidized phone pricing for those of us who buy our own phones. There goes the $49 data-only plan. There goes the HSPA+ roll out since AT&T will probably stop this and just move to LTE. Here comes added congestion from iphone users. Here comes a price increase (customers end up paying for most mergers in the end), etc. Hopefully by the time the deal goes through Verizon will have a full LTE roll-out and decent Android-based phones to take advantage of it. I'm a little surprised this move is going to even take place. In markets with only a few providers, cell phone prices and caps are terrible. Take Canada for an example. Now the US will follow in Canada's footsteps. I think the industry is set on killing competitive pricing. The dream of the mobile providers is to convince everyone that a $100-$150 monthly bill with 2+ year lock-ins is normal. Mobile data should be a commodity, not a premium service.
- greattypo 16y agoFrom Friday's HN post "Confessions of an Apple Store Employee": "We usually have to tell them that if they unlock their iPhone, it won't work. That it's going to be like a $700 paperweight, and that the antenna will fry itself on T-Mobile. Of course, that's not true, but that's what we tell them." Wonder how quickly their tune on that last part will change..
- Legion 16y agoThe whole thing will change - because what GSM provider in the US are they going to worry about people unlocking and switching to? The release says this will "enhance [AT&T's] network capacity". That means T-Mobile isn't likely to exist as a separate thing that's just owned by AT&T. It's pretty certain to be rolled directly into AT&T. It's Cingular 2.0.
- tptacek 16y ago... which is probably a good thing, from an efficiency standpoint.
- eli 16y agoI wouldn't read too much into that sentence. It's marketing speak and could mean just about anything. I don't know exactly what would be involved, but it's worth noting that T-Mobile 3G and AT&T 3G are not currently compatible.
- pitdesi 16y agoLink: http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/news/confessions-of-an-apple-store-employee http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/news/conf...
- meemo 16y agoOnly three big companies. There's got to be a point when these mergers hurt competition. I like T-Mobile because it offers cheaper postpaid plans without a contract. I don't think AT&T offers these and their plans are generally more expensive.
- henryw 16y agoHopefully AT&T customer will have better coverage now. 1 out of 3 calls gets dropped from where I live.
- dres 16y agoThis 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 oppressive regimes have their way.
- greattypo 16y agoImagine 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.
- epall 16y agoT-Mobile customer service has consistently been one of the best customer service lines I have ever dealt with. Back when I had a Sidekick, I would routinely end up connected to a Danger employee sitting _at_ Danger HQ, helping me through teething issues on the early Sidekicks. For over five years, they have been extremely polite, helpful, and available. From what I've heard, I won't get this kind of service as an AT&T customer. I'm sad to see T-Mobile go, but this merger always was kind of on the horizon.
- orblivion 16y agoI got T-Mobile because I refused to deal with the fustercluck that is the former SBC Wireless aka The New AT&T. Customer Service will send you to the wrong department sometimes. They keep acquiring companies and they can't coordinate them fast enough. I guess I'm going to have to move to Sprint, I don't care for the whole "doesn't know math" Verizon thing either.
- SwellJoe 16y agoI also had a Sidekick pretty early on, and was also pleased with the service. However, Sidekick service was a completely different process than for any other phone. I've not been quite as pleased with their service since moving to Android devices, though I haven't felt compelled to leave, even though the network is tiny (but very fast in many high density areas; I sometimes end up using it instead of my 4G from Clear, because 3G from T-Mobile is lower latency...this happened in Austin, for example, even though Clear has strong 4G coverage there), and I often end up roaming when I get off the beaten path. Since I travel full-time, I am often off the beaten path. Anyway, from a long-time T-Mobile customer perspective, I think AT&T is the worst possible place for T-Mobile to end up, though I guess I'll get a bigger network, eventually. I just hope they don't change the unlimited data plan I currently have. That would suck, and lead to me look for alternatives.
- whyenot 16y agoThis makes me sad. TMobile has the best (least restrictive, least expensive) prepaid plan of all the major carriers. AT&T has one of the worst.
- techsupporter 16y agoI wonder how they're going to harmonize all those 1700MHz-based (AWS band?) 3G phones that T-Mobile currently carries.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- cheald 16y agoUgh. 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.
- abhiyerra 16y agoI just moved to Verizon from T-mobile yesterday after frustration with T-mobile's service. And I loathe AT&T. The nice thing about T-mobile is it is/was the only company which charges less if you didn't have a contract.
- cheald 16y agoI have loved T-Mobile for the 5-odd years I've been on them, after terrible experiences with Sprint and AT&T. I'll be moving to Verizon, but I've heard plenty of horror stories about them, too, and I won't be able to take my GSM Nexus One with me, which is a crying shame.
- ryanclemson 16y agoAgreed. 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.
- state_machine 16y agoIf they change the TOS, you'll have a chance to jump for free. See article seven of the CTIA's Consumer Code for Wireless Service (http://files.ctia.org/pdf/The_Code.pdf http://files.ctia.org/pdf/The_Code.pdf): "Carriers will not modify the material terms of their subscribers’ contracts in a manner that is materially adverse to subscribers without ... allowing subscribers a time period of not less than 14 days to cancel their contracts with no early termination fee."
- rhizome 16y agoThat's right, Americans: take it and like it. Voting with your wallet may not be as foolproof a plan as previously asserted.
- alecperkins 16y agoAwesome. Now the US will have an even more competitive wireless market, (seriously: which is exactly what is necessary). I'm sure the wireless plans will only get better. edit: /sarcasm, obviously.
- ugh 16y agoIs that sarcasm?
- alecperkins 16y agoIt was supposed to be. Looks like it may have not come across completely. Should've known better.
- mirkules 16y agoWhoever figures out a way to convey sarcasm in text is going to make billions
- jedsmith 16y agoIn certain Ethiopic languages, sarcasm and unreal phrases are indicated at the end of a sentence with a sarcasm mark called temherte slaqî or temherte slaq (U+00A1) (¡), a character that looks like the inverted exclamation point.[1] Make the check out to my name. [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irony_punctuation#Temherte_slaq.C3.AE http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irony_punctuation#Temherte_slaq...
- ugh 16y agoWell, we have :) or ;) [archaic ;-)] – not that different from other proposed or existing sarcasm or irony marks. The problem is its bad image, using it feels at least to me like hitting people over the head with the sarcasm or irony. I think it shouldn’t be that way. Expressing sarcasm or irony in a text without any punctuation marks or any other obvious hints is hard and, if done right, brilliant. It’s an art quite unlike expressing sarcasm or irony in speech where we actually do hit people over the head with our delivery. We are just more used to it and it has a better image. We probably shouldn’t be all that ashamed of hitting other people over the head with our sarcasm and irony in text, at least in casual online discussions and when we don’t have time for brilliance.
- Cherian_Abraham 16y agoWhat does this mean to the T-mobile 4G ads with the cute girl from T-mobile and the Young guy (iPhone) with the AT&T network on his back? Awkward....
- HaloZero 16y agoMaybe I'll finally get a proper 3G signal in San Francisco now... Does anybody know the quality of T-Mobile's 3G Network in major cities?
- megaframe 16y agoT-Mobile 3G in San Francisco is fairly good. I tether with it all the time, but T-Mobile uses a different frequency for their 3G so your AT&T phone can hop onto T-Mobile Edge network but not 3G, unfortunately. Same thing in the other direction. I don't think any manufacturers make phones that can do both frequencies for 3G.
- SkyMarshal 16y agoFwiw, I just took my Nexus S on Tmobile to SF for about five days back in Feb and didn't have any problems with signal or dropped calls. I'm sure ATT will find a way to ruin it though. Too much redundant capacity, will shut down the Tmobile towers in SF.
- CrazedGeek 16y agoI've tried it across Oklahoma City and Dallas, and I got brilliant quality. (Except for a residential area in Farmers Branch (Dallas), but that's kind of a cell dead zone, as far as I can tell- Sprint gets horrible quality there too)
- danielayele 16y agoDoes anyone know if either the DOJ or the FTC have approved this? ed: FCC approval is probably kind of important too...
- jonknee 16y agoYes, just as in any other mega-merger all the various regulatory agencies will have their take at it. AT&T will likely end up making large concessions to get this pushed through.
- miah_ 16y agoConsider how much the large telecoms in the US fund our politicians. I'm sure this will go through without a hitch. Sadly :(
- nhangen 16y agoATT is damned if they do, and damned if they don't.
- bluegene 16y agoThis is a sad news for consumers and AT&T's competitors especially smaller players like Sprint
- cletus 16y agoIt'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 what technical and regulatory hurdles stand in their way for switching T-Mobile infrastructure to also do the "standard" frequencies. Wireless really is a mess in the US. Europe and Australia have really benefited from choosing one technology (GSM). In the US you pick your carrier then pick your phone. Elsewhere you basically pick your phone then pick your carrier. Don't like you carrier? Swap your SIM. Problem solved. The US really suffers (from the consumer point of view) by this lack of carrier mobility. It's my theory that US wireless is so expensive at least in part due to it being the most balkanized market in the developed world (and possibly the entire world). I was hoping LTE would help alleviate this problem as it seemed to be on the road map for 3 out of 4 of the carriers (all but Sprint). Now I guess it's still 2 of 3. Sprint is still the odd man out with the (basically failed) WiMax technology. I can see this acquisition facing some serious regulatory and legislative scrutiny.
- tptacek 16y agoEven 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.
- nerfhammer 16y agoMost people do not own smartphones. So the majority of customers don't need a large upfront investment to get a portable phone.
- tptacek 16y agoThat's a good point. Thanks. But featurephones are also subsidized, aren't they?
- yurylifshits 16y agoSpectrum is the real problem. There is just not enough space for 3-4 LTE providers in addition to all existing GSM/CDMA carriers. We are solving this problem in Russia too, but with a different solution. One carrier (Yota) is building a shared network of LTE base stations and allows all carriers to sell it. Other carriers have the option to buy 20% of Yota five years down the road. Also, Yota agrees to stop being a carrier itself by that time. It's like energy grid, GPS sattelites or highway system. You better have just one utility and regulate it well.
- maayank 16y ago"You better have just one utility and regulate it well." [citation needed]
- jmspring 16y agoFor the longest time when AT&T bought Cingular, plans that were entered into under Cingular were allowed to continue under AT&T on the same terms. Given how long ago this was, I didn't have data, so I can't speak to what would have happened with a voice/data plan. However, I can see the same thing not happening with this deal. AT&T really is the antithesis of T-Mo in terms of pricing, flexibility, and customer service. I've got both (an iPhone and a Nexus One). While 3G coverage is not as readily available on T-Mo as it is on AT&T, there have certainly been many times when it has been more reliable in call quality and drops. The only upside to this? It is very likely the US will end up with unified GSM frequencies. We will see. Seriously not looking forward to this.
- MatthewPhillips 16y agoThey likely won't take away your plan (and if they tried you'd have the ability to terminate your contract). All carriers have a policy of grandfathering in existing plans when they change theirs (as they did, for example, when they eliminated unlimited data last year). Of course that means you can't get a new phone or change a plan details without submitting to the new terms. If you're willing to live with that, it can be beneficial. Some people are on 5 year old plans and paying $10 or less for unlimited data. Carriers know this, and put up with it because they know the vast majority of their customers are going to re-up the contract regularly.
- melvinram 16y agoMy main questions as a T-Mobile custoemr: 1. Will I be able to keep the same plan I'm on now? I'm assuming the answer is yes unless I make any changes, at which point they'll try to force me into a new AT&T, which will suck. 2. When can I buy an iPhone for use on my T-Mobile plan? This will still probably a good year away, though I hope it'll be faster.
- miah_ 16y agoI 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.
- dbuizert 16y agoI was waiting for this to happen. TMUSA is such a weird egg in the basket considering it is totally different then the TMEU.
- joe_the_user 16y agoMarvelous... We have a company leveraging their government-granted-duopoly in the broadband marketplace to strengthen its market share in a closely related market (mobile phones). It's a good move for them ... They're stretching their net and once it's across the whole Internet, get ready to pay some real rent...
- sev 16y agoT-mobile has an excellent policy of easily unlocking phones if you just call and ask. In the worst case they make you wait 3 months into your contract before they do. This policy will be missed.
- jamesbritt 16y agoI don't want to do business with a company that so willingly spied on American citizens. I just renewed a contract on T-Mobile. Now I need to see if I can get out with no penalty, and see who is left to send my business.
- count 16y agoFYI, Tmob is a defendant named in the EFF suit for illegal wiretapping, along with Verizon and every other major carrier except Qwest.
- jamesbritt 16y agoWell, they could be lying, but T-mobile has claimed that they did not participate in the NSA program. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12745304/ns/technology_and_science-security/ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12745304/ns/technology_and_scien... Meanwhile AT&T was up front about rolling over. Since any telco can legally lie about this, I'm curious why T-Mobile was later added to the initial suit while Qwest was not. I looked around the EFF site but got tired of poking through PDFs and not finding anything to explain that.
- count 16y agoJoe Nacchio (former Qwest CEO) says Qwest refused to comply and spy on behalf of the NSA, and that cost them contracts: http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20071013/news_1n13nsa.html http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20071013/news_1n13ns... Granted, he's been convicted of insider trading and may be a biased source, but I'd say it's a good indicator that Qwest isn't named as a defendant in the EFF suits.
- jamesbritt 16y agoT-mobile issued a similar statement, that they did not participate and did not turn over any records. No mention of losing contracts over it. Hell, maybe AT&T wants to buy T-Mobile to ensure everyone gets spied on equally. Look for an attempt to buy Qwest next. :)
- zavulon 16y agoI guess I don't understand how anti-trust laws work. Didn't they break up "Ma Bell" a few years ago specifically to prevent monopolies? And since then, AT&T bought Cingular, now T-Mobile, and they pretty much have a monopoly on GSM, if not on all mobile phones.
- nickpinkston 16y agoI think it works out to the net lobbyist money between a company those on the other side. At least that's what it functions like...
- lutorm 16y agoThose laws were more enthusiastically enforced then...
- natnat 16y agoAnti-trust laws are enforced when and only when the political pressure from people who feel like they're being abused by a monopoly exceeds the political pressure from that monopoly's lobbyists.
- jsdalton 16y agoActually, Cingular Wireless acquired AT&T in 2004, and then opted to convert the Cingular brand to AT&T in 2005. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless
- cosmicray 16y ago> And since then, AT&T bought Cingular, now T-Mobile AT&T didn't buy Cingular per se. In late 2006 AT&T and Bellsouth each owned 50% of Cingular. AT&T got their 50% ownership via SBC. AT&T became sole owner of Cingular by acquiring Bellsouth. That deal closed about Dec 30, 2006 (after many delays getting approval from the FCC). The original iPhone was announced by Apple on January 9, 2007.
- credo 16y agoimo AT&T's exclusive iPhone deal was one of the reasons for T-Mobile's gradual decline. So it probably wouldn't be a stretch to say that Apple played a role (albeit unintentional) in this acquisition.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- gonzopancho 16y agoBy this logic, Sprint is now in a pickle.
- nextparadigms 16y agoI don't think this is a good idea for customers. Even Sprint acquiring T-mobile is a bad idea, but this is much worse. At least with Sprint buying T-mobile you'd have 3 equal sized companies, but in this case, I wouldn't be surprised if Sprint eventually gets bought by Verizon, and then Americans will really be in trouble.
- gonzopancho 16y agoWho is to say that Sprint won't get acquired by AT&T?
- prakashk 16y agoThat would be unlikely (or at least, less likely) considering that Sprint uses CDMA, while AT&T uses GSM. T-Mobile's network would be easier for AT&T to integrate.
- suninwinter 16y agoI wonder if this means that the percentage of Android phones that can't sideload direct from the carrier is going to go up. From what I understand, T-mobile doesn't block that, but AT&T does.
- nickbp 16y agoAT&T also blocks installation of non-market software on their Android phones, so if you wanted to install a recent build of ConnectBot or whatever, you were SOL. That is, unless your phone can be rooted/reimaged.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- iamdave 16y agoNOOOOOO.
- johnohara 16y agoMy AT&T service has three (3) main features, call waiting, call forwarding, and call dropping. Of those, the third feature works best. Oh, and unrelenting robo-reminders. Those calls never drop and they always leave a message.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- mwdev 16y agoSomeone at sprint is getting fired. Were they not just in the news talking about a network share with T-mobile?
- b3b0p 16y agoWe were Cingular customers, then AT&T bought them. It was the only wireless carrier that offered a good signal where we lived. Slowly over some time after that happened, the signal started to get worse and come and go like with the other carriers we tried previously. I'm not sure I'm trying to make a point, but I do not know what AT&T did with the Cingular. Did it use it's network? Did they just engulf it to remove the competition? Maybe someone else more knowledgable of this ordeal knows. How will AT&T use T-Mobile after they acquire them? What becomes of the T-Mobile network that will soon by AT&T's network?
- olegious 16y agoNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
- ajays 16y agoNow all we need is for Verizon and ATT to merge, and Ma Bell will be reincarnated.
- Osiris 16y agoAre there any chipsets out there that could support both AT&T (1900) and T-mobile 3G (1700) frequencies? Since one of the main reasons for the merger is for spectrum, it seems that AT&T must be planning on utilizing T-mobile's spectrum in the future to improve reach and reliability, so it would make sense for them to provide phones that support both frequencies.
- rbranson 16y agoAll of the T-Mo 3G phones are 850/1700/1900/2100.
- SeanLuke 16y agoI believe this is incorrect. Many T-mobile phones support old GSM (EDGE) on 850, 900, 1800, and 1900, which overlaps with AT&T. But UMTS (3G) support is on bands 1700 and 2100, neither of which AT&T uses. 2100 is common in Europe.
- nl 16y agoYes. Google Quad-Band phones.
- asnyder 16y agoAs a new T-Mobile customer who recently switched from AT&T this saddens me. I finally thought I found a decent provider with their Even More Plus plans. So much for choice and competition.
- tzm 16y ago"No matter how many pieces you break it into, it always comes back together" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsCp-1hgfxI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsCp-1hgfxI
- Hawramani 16y agoIn one way this is terrible. And yet, I'm thinking if the situation gets bad enough, we'll finally see some changes that will forever dethrone these oppressors. I'm thinking of a data-only phone that puts all of these evil companies out of the equation. All you need to provide data is wireless hotspots, and this can be done by small companies. The only problem is who owns the fast fiberoptics. These fictional small companies could create a cooperative where they all work together to create their own infrastructure. It has worked for the organic food industry (Organic Valley).
- superdude 16y agoThis is bad. In terms of freedom, T-Mobile was the only large carrier to oppose warrant-less wiretapping of Americans. In terms of cost, T-Mobile offered the best non-contract prices, and I could use my Nexus One or iPhone on their network for a reasonable price.
- jwcacces 16y agoWell, there goes my great rate, my unlimited data, and the great customer service. At least I can look forward to a larger bill.
- grammr 16y agoMy mom is a pretty senior manager at T-Mobile, so when I first read this post I texted her about the acquisition. She said that there were rumors in the company that Sprint was trying to buy them, but she had heard nothing about the AT&T acquisition. Five minutes later she got the news break from the CEO. HN ftw.
- dnautics 16y agoThis is terrible. I've had T-Mobile for 3 years now, and although I had terrible reception sometimes (granted expecting reception in an underground laboratory might not be so reasonable, but my sprint friends had it), the customer service and voice plans were A+. ATT screwed me seven years ago and I vowed never to take their business again (from what I hear their customer service is still not much better), so I guess if this goes through it's goodbye T-Mobile.
- ck2 16y agoThis should not be allowed to happen if there is any kind of regulation oversight at all left in this country.
- beedogs 16y agoThe US is slowly inching its way back toward telco monopoly. Bravo!
- watchpickwin 16y agoGood news for our YC project!
- mrinterweb 16y agoI guess this means that I am going to have to switch to Sprint. I really like T-Mobile. They are a great company and I loved their service and pricing. It is going to be sad to not have T-Mobile in the states anymore.
- mmatador22 16y agoit's a sad, sad day for the wireless industry and an even sadder day for us consumers...
- wfoster4 16y agoI might be in the minority but I just don't see this as a good deal. It reminds me of when Wachovia bought Golden West in a forced effort to seek growth. ATT's stated desire to catch up to Verizon while losing customers seems like an internal issue that just can't be bought away. On a personal note. I left Sprint for Nextel years ago to see it bought. And I left ATT in November for T-Mobile and well....
- kin 16y agoThis is devastating news to me. With TMO, my sister and I can add on my parents for free, get unlimited tethering, and unlimited family texting for $10. Knowing AT&T, I probably won't be able to keep this plan.
- marques 16y agoI wonder how AT&T acquiring T-Mobile is going to affect Mobile Marketing companies in the US. Will Mobile Marketing companies be required to abide by T-Mobile's double Opt-In software policy or will AT&T keep its own Opt In policy which doesn't require a double Opt In for SMS subscribers? This should be interesting to see how this merger unfolds over the next 12 months.