This makes me sad... rather sad. On the bright side, I should be able to get an almost-free iPad2 w/3G soon.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/20/atandt-agrees-to-buy-t-mobile-from-deutsche-telekom/

**BRENT**

AT&T is like a virus.* Mutates. Grows. Splits. Mutates. Grows.

*Said by old SBC/AT&T employee.

Wow! And I just got a MyTouch 4g. Probably doesn't have the ATT frequencies, though. And they'll probably jack up my price. And stop allowing UMA. And give worse customer service. But I can get an iPhone! But not for two years.

Ehhh, the fucking death star strikes again... I had heard that Sprint was going to buy them.

Can we say m-o-n-o-p-o-l-y?

Edited March 20, 201115 yr by Pars

I had jumped to T Mo from Nextel/Sprint after Sprint bought Nextel because I hated Sprint. This was after I had jumped from Sprint to Nextel because I hated Sprint. I sure hope I like ATT!

How are you getting such a cheap ipad

AT&T will exploit T mo's frequencies to increase their network, your phones will work just fine. More rural areas will benefit from HSPA+ that AT&T would not focus on for LTE 4G normally. In some ways its nice. But I expect that all carrier's cell phone plans will rise again and become more tight-assed on what you can do with data caps, etc. I was already feeling like the telco's were too monopolistic before and it was kind of obvious they were absorbing one another. I look forward to seeing the anti-trust investigation engines starting again. Slightly unrelated maybe, but I really don't see net neutrality happening anytime soon.

How are you getting such a cheap ipad

Yeah, why would that be a side-effect for you?

TMO employee plan. 500$ device credit per year. Just rolled over (waiting on G2x). Post merger, as long as that deal sticks around, 129$ 16GB iPad 4G.

**BRENT**

Is that with contract Brent?

Contracts are stupid. I don't touch them. Just deal with outright prices.

It will be interesting to see if the gov't goes after this deal. I certainly would. But I'd also love to defend it. This is smart timing for a merger like this.

Contracts aren't fun. Probably the saddest thing about seeing T-Mobile go is there prepaid month to month prices were some of the best.

I have been a T-Mobile customer since late 2007 (when I told Verizon to piss off), I am mortified by this news. A friend of mine tweeted about it last night (marking a rare instance when Twitter has provided useful and timely information.) I'm pretty sure this will mean higher rates and worse service in my future. T-Mobile's network is mighty patchy out here in W.Mass, but my UMA-enabled Blackberry latches on to Wifi hotspots quite well. This makes it usable in all sorts of spots where it wouldn't be otherwise. T-Mobile has really good customer service and tech support. I don't think I can deal with the Death Star, I remember dealing with them in the 90s.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/03/analysis-higher-prices-fewer-choices-once-att-swallows-t-mobile.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss

And without competition, why be competitive?

AT&T: 'Eat too much data and we'll strangle you'

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/07/29/att_throttling_plan/

press release

http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=20535&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=32318&mapcode=corporate

(with search down, this seemed like the most appropriate thread to post in)

Not surprising, considering Verizon and T-Mobile are already doing similar things.