AT&T To Acquire T-Mobile From Deutsche Telekom

teh31337one writes "AT&T and Deutsche Telekom have entered into a definitive agreement for the sale of T-Mobile USA for $39 billion in cash and stocks. Press release here." Gripes one anonymous reader: "Americans will have even less choice now when it comes to cell phone carriers. Say good-bye to the one that had the best customer service and was most friendly towards Android and rooting."

Comments

Not gonna lie

[Anonymous Coward]

This is bad.

Don't worry Citizens!

[Haedrian]

The free market will save us!

Any minute now...

Well, POOP!

[IonOtter]

I have been a loyal T-Mobile customer for 8 years, and I've NEVER regretted the move for a single second.

I pay $50 a month for nation-wide no roaming coverage, 500 texts, IM, international calling, 600 free anytime minutes and free nights and weekends. NOBODY has a deal as good as that for what you get. Not Verizon, not AT&T, not Sprint...nobody.

I loved that T-Mobile would sign contracts with "small fry" to extend their coverage to areas previously untouched. When I moved, my cellphone said "Sun-Com" for nearly 2 years, but I never paid a penny more. They finally put a T-M tower in my area, and service has been outstanding!

Now I have to move to the Death Star?

And be lied to, over-charged and spied upon?

Fuck you, AT&T.

Maybe I should go pre-paid.

Re:Deal still subject to regulatory approval

[davester666]

AT&T is blowing $39 BILLION for the company. They can afford a few ten's of millions of dollars for "permission" to go ahead.

We used to break up monopolies.

[Beelzebud]

Now we celebrate them! All hail the invisible hand!

Re:Obligatory predictions.

[whoever57]

# T-Mobile annually won awards for their incredible customer service. Hopefully AT&T adopts their paradigms.

Yeah, good luck with that. Chance of that happening: 0%

# With AT&T being the only GSM carrier in the US, manufacturer agreements will be way easier and, thus, we'll finally be getting a vast selection of high-end phones. (T-Mobile has been steadily improving in this front.)

Again, good luck with that. AT&T offers iPhones, what else do you want? You don't want that commie Android system do you?

# HOPEFULLY AT&T customers will get UMA (GAN), probably one of T-Mobile's best and most exclusive features. They would be incredibly short-sighted to throw that technology away.

The main reason I like T-Mobile. I can travel internationally and pay for calls as if I were still in the USA.

Re:Ze Germans

[hedwards]

It's the abysmal telecommunications sector. Around here I've got 5 choices, 3 of them would require me to buy a new phone, and only T-Mobile and AT&T allow the use of random phones with a SIM. Sprint won't activate a phone that doesn't have it's logo silk screened on it, and none of the major providers competes for anything other than being somewhat less sucky than the others and depending upon inertia to carry them through.

It's been getting progressively worse over the years. Even with GSM, AT&T uses a different portion of the spectrum for 3G than T-Mobile does, meaning that there's going to be a lot of people without 3G or having to buy new phones prematurely if this goes through.

Re:Deal still subject to regulatory approval

[StarChamber]

Surely AT&T could fix up their own network for less than the cost of T-Mobile.

This acquisition isn't about subscribers or network equipment. AT&T is spending $39B to purchase T-Mobile's frequency spectrum in the US so that they can ensure that they have enough spectrum to roll out LTE and continue to upgrade their 3G HSPA+ network. Any subscribers that opt to stay with AT&T post merger is just an added benefit to them.

Big diff tween cell service and grocery stores...

[ibsteve2u]

Do ya get locked into a one-year contract at yer grocery store wherein if your vittles suddenly start reeking of rotting chicken and have shiny little worms crawling around in them too bad, ya gotta eat 'em anyway?