Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, David Ortiz thinking he’s still relevant, hiring Austin Aries as your personal bodyguard, or Charlie Sheen’s comedy tour, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
AT&T’s acquisition of T-Mobile USA for $39-billion is an enormous move that will change the landscape of the American mobile market. Longterm, it means less choice for consumers and less competition in an already tight market. That said, there are several facets to this deal that make is so fascinating. Let’s take a look.
I Love This Deal For AT&T
This is a brilliant move for AT&T on so many levels. Immediately it can claim to be America’s number-one network over Verizon by a large margin. Combining AT&T and T-Mobile USA subscribers adds up to roughly 130-million, while Verizon has around 100-million. Sprint would be left looking like a chump with 50-million subscribers.
In the near future — probably a year or so — both AT&T and T-Mobile customers can expect improved service. AT&T has been getting knocked for not spending its money on building towers to improve reception. It’s not nearly as easy as paying for a tower and building it. Local governments have to approve the placement of new towers (which takes longer than it ought to) and a lot of people don’t want them in their neighborhood. Buying T-Mobile USA was the quickest and easiest way to acquire several new towers.
Longer term, the acquisition jump-starts AT&T’s 4G initiatives. AT&T has committed to LTE, while T-Mobile USA planned to squeeze HSPA+ as long as it could before moving to LTE. AT&T’s 4G strategy prior to the acquisition seemed sluggish, especially compared to Verizon’s aggressive LTE deployment and Sprint’s dalliance with WiMax (all signs point to Sprint converting to LTE as well). In addition to buying a bunch of towers, AT&T also acquired a bunch of T-Mobile spectrum that will help the company accelerate its 4G plans. The initial idea is to use T-Mobile’s AWS spectrum as AT&T’s LTE channel.
I Love This Deal for T-Mobile…Should it Fall Through
A deal this size faces enormous scrutiny from the Justice Department and the FCC. Yesterday, I spoke with eight friends in the tech industry — analysts and journalists — and they were split on whether the deal happens or not. (Yes, I spent a large chunk of my Sunday talking nerd news with friends.) The good news for T-Mobile USA is that it will walk away with $3-billion and a chunk of AT&T spectrum, should the deal fall through. That’s a healthy “breakup clause” that would leave T-Mobile in a better position to compete.
I Hate This Deal as a T-Mobile Customer
Although nothing (much) will change for a few years, I completely expect T-Mobile’s value and customer service to decline as time goes on. T-Mobile’s plans are generous compared to AT&T’s and I expect the gap to close. Even if T-Mo is kept around as a value brand, I see things like unlimited data, free phone unlocking (for use with international SIM cards), free tethering, and top-notch customer-service being phased out.
The features I’ll miss the most are UMA and WiFi calling. In order to compensate for its small network footprint, T-Mobile allows its users to buy phones that use WiFi signal for calls and text messaging. This is also convenient for indoor locations that get poor signal (big buildings, basements, etc.) and customers that live in the boonies. As an international traveler, I love being able to use UMA and WiFi calling; it’s a “free” way to make and receive calls while in other countries (though I understand that was never the primary purpose of these features). The combined footprint of AT&T and T-Mobile makes supporting UMA and WiFi calling unnecessary. I fully expect these features to go away. When that happens, I’ll hug my phone and say, “I’ll miss you the most, Scarecrow.”
What to Do?!?
A lot of T-Mobile customers are panicking, erroneously thinking that their service will suck and their bills will double starting today. Get a grip people. It’ll be at least a year (and likely more) before any significant changes. As a T-Mobile customer, I’m ready to sign another two-year agreement with the company or perhaps buy my next phone outright and move to an Even More Plus plan. AT&T has already claimed that it will honor existing contracts. If it alters them in any way, that gives me an easy out to switch to Verizon.
AT&T customers have a bright future to look forward to. Existing services will improve some time next year and 4G services will arrive faster than originally scheduled. Of course that’s all dependent on government approval.
As always, I want to hear your thoughts on AT&T’s acquisition of T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telecom. Fire away (please)!
I'm jumping of the T-Mobile bandwagon now and I will switch to Verizon. I do not like this but I won't start panicking yet.
Why are you switching now as opposed to riding it out? Is it a phone on Verizon? Maybe the LTE network?
I like this deal as a att customer because it means i'll get more reception in areas i would get poor or no reception. My gf first loved the idea because she could finally get the iphone she thought until i broke the news saying that she probably wont be able to get it until next year or when the merger is finally over with. either way we both look forward to it.
T-Mobile won't be getting the iPhone any time soon according to T-Mo's FAQ: "T-Mobile USA remains an independent company. The acquisition is expected to be completed in approximately 12 months. We do not offer the iPhone. We offer cutting edge devices like the Samsung Galaxy S 4G and coming soon our new Sidekick 4G."
yeah i read that FAQ too as soon as i heard about the merger. Thank you. she also doesn't like that Galaxy S 4G because no front facing camera or flash and the Sidekick 4G because of her traumatic experience when the sidekick cloud storage or whatever outage they had back in 2007 that caused her to lose all of her data.
The Galaxy S 4G does have a front-facing camera. The HTC Pyramid is definitely worth looking into. That should be a hot, hot phone for T-Mo.
Really?? i didn't read that in the specs. Well it has no flash and that's something big with her now, since she loves taking pics and wants a good quality portable camera than her current gen ipod touch.
Samsung phones actually have a really good low-light mode, which can sometimes take better pictures than with a flash. That said, it's completely useless when you're drunk since you have get to that mode in the menus and be really careful about keeping the camera steady.
is there a way to preset it where the flash option is always on and then you can disable it while in camera mode. I don't think she'll have the same issue you have rpad, lol.
I'm not sure about the Galaxy S 4G, but I don't recall that being an option when I played with the Verizon Fascinate.
I doubt I'll be eating that sand. ATT has supposedly upgraded their network over the last few years. I have seen no improvements. Whether I be at home, in downtown NOLA, Baton Rouge, etc. Meanwhile TMo can launch HSPA+ and Verizon can launch LTE in my locations.
ATT is slow as hell and dishonest when it comes to their upgrades. I'll believe it when I see it as opposed to getting starry eyed based on their press release.
Those aren't comparable situations. AT&T needs more towers to improve service. T-Mobile and Verizon use existing towers for HSPA+ and LTE, respectively. The towers just have to be altered to broadcast those signals. Like I mentioned in the article, it's not like AT&T can prop up towers wherever and whenever it wants to.
I'm not getting starry eyed from the press release either. I'm being logical. Again, like I said in the article, it was easier and faster to buy T-Mobile's towers.
@Ray
No you aren't being logical. If you were then you'd look at the past work that ATT has done and see that they are mostly fluff. I agree in the perfect world this would make things move faster…but based on past trending, I'll remain in the wait and see mode.
ATT's problem is that their capital investments are mediocre compared to their competition. TMo with limited resources comparatively expanded their network faster than ATT ever did. Verizon launched LTE service in many locations at once. ATT said it would take 3 years to have the 7.2 service at towers…that was when the 3GS was released. I have never seen anything over 1.5 since then.
Them buying a rival network with infrastructure in place that operates differently and incorporating those billing systems will not be an easy transition. If this were to work out somehow beneficial to the consumer, it would be at least 5 years out.
Getting towers has been the biggest obstacle to AT&T improving its service. It just paid for thousands of additional towers. You're saying it's illogical to think that it will use those towers to improve service? I don't think so.
Also, I don't think you understand how towers work if you think that it would take five years to benefit the consumer. Changing the type of signal is the easy part. Why do you think Sprint is even considering changing from WiMax to LTE? It would be expensive, but the process would be a relatively quick transition.
@Ray
Of course I understand how towers work. ATT seems to get away with whatever they want. I find it difficult to believe that they can't push permits through when their competition has no such issues doing so.
In the past few years that I have been an ATT customer, no matter where I go the service is so so. Florida, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, DC.
Yeah to think that ATT will do anything productive with those towers in the short term is folly. I read the release and it says how this will help more rural areas receive services. ( i just received a call at 10:54 and it dropped) haha. TMo has no presence in those kinds of areas so I dont see this helping those people. Once again…their extra slow snail's pace behind the competition will just be horrible.
Sprint is considering LTE because WiMax was a bad decision. I thought so at the time and it still is. Poor penetration in buildings is a killer.
I don't see them doing anything productive with this acquistion in the short term or long term. Now they control more of the market and will dictate how and what you can do.
So you think it's logical that AT&T will do absolutely nothing with those towers. I disagree. Converting towers to dual-mode operation doesn't take much effort. I am absolutely not a fan of AT&T, but I don't believe it's just going to sit on all those additional towers.
Yes, I know why Sprint is considering the change, but if it wasn't easy to change WiMax towers to LTE then it wouldn't be considered at all.
@Ray
ATT sits on their money and sends dividends out instead of reinvesting. That 2gb cap was to help congestion and provide a better experience. Didn't happen. Nor did the service improve with the acquisition of those Alltel divestures. No I'm not seeing how adding TMo towers anywhere but a major city (which I can see the optimism there) will be beneficial. They service their towers with crap backhaul anyway.
ATT doesn't like to spend money on their network…if they did, then 6meg dsl wouldn't be getting capped.
According to an analyst I have been reading, ATT is sitting on a ton of spectrum they aren't using. Now they have a tremendous amount if this goes through.
I love AT&T. Their customer service is generally pretty good at making me happy (not always though). They have been steadily increasing speed in my area. I get to watch it spread out from the Dallas area. Dallas gets amazing speeds btw.
Huge gripe with AT&T currently. They keep killing my tethering. Found out when PC is tethered it sends and receives packets differently and they can tell an kill it it. So my phone can tether for around 3 minutes and doesn't work again until I install a new rom or flash the modem. Changing the kernel worked once. But if I flash back to stock 2.1 captivate it had tethering built in and I used it for several hours and never had an issue.
Back on topic. So T-Mos 4G was never going to be real 4G??? Just the faster 3G. How is it everyone is getting away with advertising 4G speeds???
Two things for you:
1) AT&T started cracking down on tethering last week. It looks like the company is going to get serious in trying to make people pay for data…that they already paid for.
2) T-Mobile's HSPA+ is just as "real" as Verizon's LTE and Sprint's WiMax, which is to say it isn't. None of those technologies are 4G as defined by International Telecommunication Union. So technically, nobody is offering "real" 4G in America.
@Slicky
ITU says 4G is 100 down and 50 up. just as a reference lol.
That's why I was wondering how they are all getting away with calling it 4G when 4G is not out at all.
It's just a marketing term. There's no way the ITU distinction can be enforced.
I'm going to ride it out and as soon as I see something I don't like I'm going back to Verizon. When I left the V their phones still sucked balls but no so much anymore.
@big blak
that's what she said!!!!
"I’m going to ride it out and as soon as I see something I don’t like"
lmfao Tokz. Tell me more about this drop box thing.
@BB
dude just go to dropbox.com and sign up. it's pretty self explanatory. i'll load up the panel as soon as i figure out how to extract a voice memo from my iphone.
does anyone know how to import a voice memo from an iphone. i seem to be stumped for the moment.
I don't know anything about the WD, does that contain any spoilers?
no it's pretty much spoilarz free. it just let's you know where they're going. how it came about. how the two actors they had, the one who plays Andrea and Grimes' partner i forgot his name. i thought it was pretty good.
*bah*
i'm having trouble synching the voice memo as suggested by some of the apple tutorials. anyone have any other ideas besides synching using the Music tab in the iphone option or consolidating the library under file = library = organize library.
I tried messing with it to no avail. It seems like dropbox only wants you to sync pics and videos from your iPhone.
thanks N8 but i never uploaded using the iphone app. Too late now i used one of the jb apps i forgot i had to get it. i'll upload it soon. i apologize in advance if the audio is too low, i unfortunately got there too late because the lay out made me race across the hall to get there in time for a closer seat but i thought it was a good panel for walking dead fans. oh and i had to leave early to try to get a wristband for a white lantern Batman and Flash but that didn't work out either lol.
If you sync it to a PC, I’m sure you can just drag and drop it from there.
I apologize for my recent silence, but I have been reading still.
My Mac took a huge dump. I turn it on and just get a blue screen. It has to be hardware related, and I already tested the RAM so it's either the HDD or the mobo. I pray it's the HDD because I have it all backed up but if it's the mobo… I'm looking at saving up for a whole new Mac.
It's a pisser for sure.
@N8
when you boot up, hold the alt button. Make sure it knows which partition to use. I had that problem with my windows partition once.
@ SG
Dude… It won't even go into safe mode.
It was freezing up alot before this too. I really think I finally wore out HDD like I did my SuperDrive or I popped a cap on my mobo.
@ update on my Mac
I tried Smartguy's suggestion to no avail. I have no partitions, just the Mac HDD.
A while ago, I talked about a friend of mine who fixed consoles and had more PS3's than he did 360's at his shop… Well, he's also an expert in out of warranty Apple products. I called him and he's coming over at 3:30 to run some diagnostics.
God I love being an active member in the geek community.
If it has been messing up and wont do anything now it does sound like a hdd failure. Do you have another computer you can plus the drive into to test it out? (That what I do on PC anyway)
And yes being geek has more advantages than disadvantages. Lol
Not really… hell, I'm not even exactly sure how to access the HDD on an iMac. It seems like it would be a bitch from looking at it, but it's probably MUCH easier than it seems. The RAM is accessed from a easy access clip on the bottom and there are even layman's instructions on how to upgrade the RAM drawn onto the base of it. Apple has a fairly healthy tradition of DIY attitudes. Their origins are rooted in such and all (the Woz being possibly the most advanced PC geek of all time, we might not even have color computers if it weren't for him). So… I assume the engineering is on point.
I'm getting the crash course (no pun intended) in an hour or 2 though. My boy has a diagnostic disc he's gonna run.
@N8
Yeah the HDD or the cable. It doesn't sound like it is failing to post so the HDD or cable would be my next thing to tinker with. Goodluck
The cable is a good call. Didn't even consider that. It's also very plausible that I wore out the HDD considering the work loads I've tasked on it in the past.
I'm still praying it's not the mobo though. I'll probably kill a few people during a bank robbery if that's the case.
@N8
Heat kills cables. Big reason I say that. I've had to replace SATA cables in other machines that had lots of heat in small enclosures.
Realistically if your buddy boots off of that disc somehow that def narrows it down lol
Anyone use a Roku media player? Please let me know as there is something I'd like you to test.
@ update on my Mac
My buddy came and left with my Mac. He thinks my HDD got corrupted somehow. That makes sense too.
He took my Mac and my Time Machine disk and is going to text me updates throughout the night. He suspects to have it back to me tomorrow morning with a clean install of Snow Leopard and all my files and software from my last backup.
I'm not surprised that it's the hard drive. After printers, hard drives are the most commonly recycled computer part/peripheral. I've actually wanted a Drobo for backup with redundant hard drives.
Hope your iMac is healed soon!
@Ray
Just had one of the longer Pokemon battles I've been in. 3 on 3 in the battle frontier, my solarbeam/synthesis/poisonpowder/leech seed Venusaur against a Gloom—making my poisonpowder and leech seed useless. They were the last ones left on each team, and we had to go through all of our moves to get to the point where we could use struggle. I won in the end though because I had Black Sludge attached and kept my HP at near perfect.
Ha! That's great stuff. Coming down to struggle shows how close the battle was. Glad you pulled it off.
looks like Amazong gold box deals are back. Dragon Age II is the all day deal for $39.99.
The 6am deal is De Blob 2 from 13.99-29.99
NFS HOT PURSUIT. 39.95
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