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Does this mean I will now have an additional array of cell towers to boost my otherwise crappy reception? Will this result in load balancing for AT&T's overwhel

Does this mean I will now have an additional array of cell towers to boost my otherwise crappy reception? Will this result in load balancing for AT&T's overwhelmed 3G network?

tsotha 16y ago
Yeah. That's where he's wrong. Existing AT&T customers are going to come out far ahead from this deal.
- SoftwareMaven 16y ago
  But our wallets likely won't.
  - tsotha 16y ago
    I disagree. As it stands both AT&T and T-Mobile are starved for spectrum. That renders them (especially T-Mobile) unable to compete effectively with Verizon. How can you compete on price when you can't deliver the level of service your customers expect?
gamble 16y ago
T-Mobile's phones operate on a different frequency than AT&T. I don't see them merging the two networks. Chances are that T-Mobile's network will be put in maintenance mode, with any new customers receiving phones on AT&T's frequencies, until the LTE transition is complete and AT&T can shut down the T-Mobile network. It may be a boon for existing T-Mobile customers, who will presumably be able to use multi-band GSM phones on AT&T without roaming fees.
- jarek 16y ago
  Putting AT&T-frequency radios on previously-T-Mobile towers is a relatively low-cost possibility that would help with AT&T reception/bandwidth, although that will probably have to wait at least a year or so until the back-end routing systems are merged.
  - gamble 16y ago
    That's true. I imagine the regulatory hurdles to add radios to existing towers is orders of magnitude lower than building new towers. Might be a win for AT&T in cities where T-Mobile has good coverage.
- bdonlan 16y ago
  I was under the impression that GSM phones support multiple frequency bands - why not just adjust the base station configuration so phones can roam between the two networks?
  - pantsd 16y ago
    The 3G bands used by T-Mobile and AT&T are different and generally not supported on the same device. For example there was a T-Mobile version of the N1 and an AT&T version of the N1. They both work on the others 2G network, but not on the 3G network.

Does this mean I will now have an additional array of cell towers to boost my otherwise crappy reception? Will this result in load balancing for AT&T's overwhelmed 3G network?

tsotha 16y ago

Yeah. That's where he's wrong. Existing AT&T customers are going to come out far ahead from this deal.

SoftwareMaven 16y ago
But our wallets likely won't.
- tsotha 16y ago
  I disagree. As it stands both AT&T and T-Mobile are starved for spectrum. That renders them (especially T-Mobile) unable to compete effectively with Verizon. How can you compete on price when you can't deliver the level of service your customers expect?

gamble 16y ago

T-Mobile's phones operate on a different frequency than AT&T. I don't see them merging the two networks. Chances are that T-Mobile's network will be put in maintenance mode, with any new customers receiving phones on AT&T's frequencies, until the LTE transition is complete and AT&T can shut down the T-Mobile network. It may be a boon for existing T-Mobile customers, who will presumably be able to use multi-band GSM phones on AT&T without roaming fees.

jarek 16y ago
Putting AT&T-frequency radios on previously-T-Mobile towers is a relatively low-cost possibility that would help with AT&T reception/bandwidth, although that will probably have to wait at least a year or so until the back-end routing systems are merged.
- gamble 16y ago
  That's true. I imagine the regulatory hurdles to add radios to existing towers is orders of magnitude lower than building new towers. Might be a win for AT&T in cities where T-Mobile has good coverage.
bdonlan 16y ago
I was under the impression that GSM phones support multiple frequency bands - why not just adjust the base station configuration so phones can roam between the two networks?
- pantsd 16y ago
  The 3G bands used by T-Mobile and AT&T are different and generally not supported on the same device. For example there was a T-Mobile version of the N1 and an AT&T version of the N1. They both work on the others 2G network, but not on the 3G network.