AT&T Does About Face On 700 MHz Rules

But you were basically saying we need more regulation because at&t is going to become a monopoly again if they don't.

The regulation will kick in if at&t tries to buy Verizon so I fail to see what necessitates more regulation or what benefit we will receive. The way I see it, more regulations will mean more fees and taxes which will mean a more expensive wireless bill for all!

Yeah and see what less government would do. Wal-mart would shutdown all the small businesses. No gov. grants to create small businesses, all big businesses would move overseas, less American jobs, the US is better with the regulation than without it. Now what we need is better leaders. There is a difference. Yes I agree with a free system, its worked for Hong Kong, but some government is better than no Gov. We need to prevent major company buyouts thats all I was saying.

Stoopered at least I can agree with you here 😎

Walmart is one thing because they have a lock on many profitable markets. The only market at&t has a lock on is the dying landline market in the Southern half of the USA. In the profitable wireless market, at&t is fighting tooth and nail with Verizon Wireless. Adding Dobson isn't going to make VZW any less competitive.

Spoke like a true liberal.
More government control = less privacy, less rights.

You must be a member of Green Peace and the AFCLU too.

Actually I've never stated whether I was a Liberal or not. I quoted the story. I do disapprove of our current leaders, but am not labeled as a liberal. See, I do something called thinking for myself. Maybe you should try it. People in this country are stupid. Just look at our school systems. I carry a 3.89 GPA in MIS while most people on this site have probably never stepped foot in college. So your saying that these huge companies are a good thing? What happened to competition? Your speaking like a true Reagan. Stimulate the economy don't just let big business run it. At least the Government has the ability to stimulate growth by restricting Big business and creating competition. Someone please take economics and business courses before ta...
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I do think for myself. I beleive that restricting business, people or anything else for that matter is a bad thing.

I dont care about your GPA. Book smarts do not translate into real world intelligence.

Well thats your opinion. I believe in being free, but in this case because we live in a civilized nation, we do need law and order. Unfortunately we all don't have the same beliefs. If we did than we'd end up being a communist country. I believe that a split government that relies on compromise is the best thing for our society right now. I do not however support large cooperations. For some reason a lot of people on this forum do. I went through all this ranting just to say that I don't think its fair that big business is shutting down all its competition, and that the government should at least do something to keep this from happening as often as it is.

I think in nature though, being completely free; only the strongest survive and survival of the fittest are true. But like I said we are in a civilized nation and we need regulation and law. I think the government should play a bigger roll in governing big business, but govern less in some other areas. People in this nation hear freedom and think they have the right to do anything and everything. This is the common thinking of a 13 year old. I'm not saying complete government control in all areas, just more than they have now in the big business department. You see what unions did to GM? GM went to the government for help, but received nothing, while Toyota, a Japanese automaker, is immune to some of the laws that give them the advantage. We...
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Well stoopered you have done a lil homework but still you miss the point. So i will say it slow for YOUR brain to understand. We live in a F-R-E-E
-M-A-R-K-E-T S-Y-S-T-E-M we are C-A-P-I-T-A-L-I-S-T not S-O-C-I-A-L-I-S-T . The type of crap your talkin im sure would work well in say like France or other socialist countries. It happends all the time. Companies get eaten by other companies all the time. In our system the consumer NOT GOVERNMENT will decide witch companies survive . AT&T though it has gained some of what it lost years ago, its a hole different ball game now. Back then there was no VOIP , and a very limited analog cell service. Now there are a ton of different technologies here and more on the way. That mono...
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That is hogwash. You seem to make a lot of assumptions based on a little information.

Tell us, what laws exactly are Toyota immune from that GM is not?

Toyota has very few union plants, and GM has a ton of union plants and existing union contracts, not to mention huge sunk costs. THAT is their problem, not these mysterious laws you mention to help the Japanese. That is silly.

Not really laws. They are more immune to unions. Here is a clip I found thought was interesting.

George Reisman, professor of Economics at Pepperdine University and author of the book Capitalism: A Treatise on Economics, attempts to answer the question of where would General Motors* be today without the United Auto Workers. Some of his ten conclusions include:

#1. GM management could fire inefficient employees without worrying about a strike, resulting in higher quality vehicles.

#2. GM would be able to use more efficient, lower-cost methods in building their products instead of negotiating it with the union to the point of creating 'phony' jobs to placate the membership.

#6. GM would not be paying $140,000 per employee to leave...
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07/24/2007 Detroit - This is a crucial week for U.S. automakers and their largest union, the United Auto Workers. The UAW and General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler Group formally kicked off what promises to be the most important round of labor negotiations in the industry's history.

After losing a combined $15 billion last year and shedding more than 80,000 hourly jobs, the companies are pushing for major concessions to close a $25-an-hour labor cost gap with their Japanese rivals. And signs are everywhere that the UAW is ready to profoundly change the way it does business in order to protect the 180,000 union jobs that remain.

In recent weeks, it has reached breakthrough labor agreements at two bankrupt suppliers. At Delphi (nyse: ...
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So you don't want big business handling wireless? Do you want to go back to the day when $39.99 only got you 200 local minutes without any nights, weekend, or mobile-to-mobile?

Any national wireless business is going to be a big business by nature. The only way for them to get any smaller is for them to become regional and that's going to create a whole slew of problems.

If you're going to be anti-big business that's fine as long as you can come up with a solution that won't be anti-consumer as well.

And your economics are flawed because you base premise is wrong. Because you went to school doesn't make you smart. Any one can prove a point when working backward from a predawned conclusion.

There are regional cell phone carriers. Metro Pcs and US Cellular are both regional. You people are idiots and I'm done after this post. You don't get the point of my messages. SOME ****EN GOVERNMENT IS NEEDED TO MONITOR BIG BUSINESS... PERIOD. IF THATS TO HARD FOR YOU PEOPLE TO UNDERSTAND THAN GO BACK TO COLLEGE. YOUR ALL MORONS AND DON'T NEED TO TRY AND LECTURE ME. I understand big business is necessary and will help benefit the consumer, but when they start buying all these regional carriers its not stimulating the economy. At&t is trying to buy a regional cellular carrier... Dobson Communications Corp. Thats the thing that pisses me off. And the U.S is hardly a F-R-E-E M-A-R-K-E-T S-Y-S-T-E-M. Hong Kong is a good example what a free mark...
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I said this in another reply but Dobson wanted to be bought out. Regional Carriers simply cannot survive trying to match the National No Roaming plans of the Tier 1 Carriers. Even their local plans have to become cheaper as a result.

Also, the top 2 national companies, VZW and at&t when they were Cingular formed as a result of the merger of many regional carriers. I'm sure more than 10 regionals combined when they formed Cingular. These small companies at the dawn of the millennium had the foresight to see that they would have no future unless they went national.

Companies like Dobson and Centennial thought they could survive by charging Cingular and VZW roaming fees. Of course this didn't work out and naturally, they are begging ...
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Then move out then if you don't like it. A more liberal system is better for you. Don't let thee door hit ya. Freakin Commie. The U.S IS A FREE MARKET SYSTEM. Thats what its called when the consumer decides who makes it and who doesn't. You don't understand because you look at the world through your Liberal glasses. San Francisco would be a ideal place for you to continue to enjoy the smell of your own gas. You will be with your own kind. Enjoy.

Like I've said in a post earlier, but forget that you can't read. I think that the government should be split 50/50 and based on compromise. If you don't think this would work than your and idiot. Look at Finland, it has the population of 5,282,583 citizens, but is considered the most competitive country in the world. It has the best school systems in the and is free-market (which I agree with, like I said earlier about Hong Kong, sure you missed that too). Add in that they are a very resource-poor country and they achieve this. Their government is split almost evenly by Secular Conservatives and Social Democrats. I know its hard for you to agree with me since your brainwashed by the current government. Are your kids deformed because you sle...
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If you hadn't used that word, your post might have been alright.

Back when AT&T was king, cable couldn't compete against them and wireless was in its infancy.

In order for there to be a true telecommunications monopoly, one company will have to control the cable, wireless, telephone, fiber network market, and possibly other markets.

I'm an ECON major. I've taken multiple classes that dealt with how monopolies work. There is more than enough competition out there.

Again, I said I was being sarcastic when I used that word. Just to make a point. I really didn't mean it. But no matter how many times I say it, people won't catch on. I just stated it because they are buying up all these companies. I just think its really unfair to the smaller businesses.

In that case, it's unfortunate that the word "Monopoly" took away from the good parts of your post.

Now as for Dobson, they wanted to be bought out. Alltel wants to be bought out too but so far, Verizon Wireless hasn't bitten.

I'm for the at&t Dobson buyout because it will save some customers from being victims of at&t's EON (Excessive Off Network) policy.

And as for the smaller carriers, of course they're suffering. When the big guys brought out National plans with no Roaming Fees, the small carriers were doomed.

I do see your points. I've never said you were wrong. I just want to get my point across that we do need a little more intervention, or the government needs to do their job and stimulate growth. Its not just in wireless almost all American companies are over or going over seas.

If your an ECON major then please tell us where you went to school . This way we could avoid sending our kids there.

people like you shouldn't have kids

Now you huh ? I haven't said anything to you or about you. So i guess you disagree with something i said. You wanna indulge in a lil convo about The topic or you gonna be a cheerleader for stoopered?

Fact is i do have kids. Love them very much. Managed to put all of them through 16 years of school. All four of them. I did something right cause like their father they are successful . Unlike those that look for a hand out from Government. Ive said my peace so you can be as insulting as you like.


Back on topic. The goods and the bads on More Government regs. If the laws were enforced then this conversation wouldn't be needed. To many times Things are overlooked when it comes to violations of Law. Adding more laws would slo...
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And i can see where it went wrong. It was my bad , i mistakenly took one of your post for stoopered. And for that i apologize.

Apology accepted. 🙂

About his views, I accept that Walmart needs to be kept in check. They go into small towns, open shop and kill all the surrounding businesses. They also don't tend to have the best labor practices.

Where he goes wrong is trying to compare Walmart to at&t. at&t is under stiff competition. There was even some hearsay that Stan Sigman put his job on the line by betting that VZW would never pass his company. That man is fighting tooth and nail to keep his job! If that's not competition, I don't know what is.

And at&t is #1 according to the CWA at being Labor Union friendly. That's a pretty stark contrast to Walmart.

Agreed! 😁 Walmart is a hole different animal all together. Walmart is allowed to Get its products from overseas at below market value then sell to the consumer here in the states at below market value. Thus killing all business around. I will get my Cleaning supply's from walmart you know Comet and clorox etc. But i will go other places for everything else.

AT&T, Sprint , T-mobile and Verizon really rob peter to pay paul in some cases. More and more regs would hurt The Smaller Carriers more than The main four. The main four attract outside investment where as the Smaller carriers one lil set back and they are done.

I attend Midwestern State University. Try looking it up. Its #1 in the US for best valued public university. I also attended Texas Tech for some Physics courses, and UTD for business. You got me so wrong and twisted and missed my point completely. It was stupid for me to use the Monopoly word seeing how everyone took it. Its actually kind of humorous how At&t was once a monopoly, and now own all the businesses that its created from the monopoly, and is suffering so bad. The whole reason for this post was to point out that At&t is still buying businesses out. All I was trying to say is that I think government should at least try stimulate competition and keep businesses like At&t from buying out everyone they can.

You can't treat Telecommunications the same way you treat retail businesses because Telecom has very high fixed costs. Not only do you have to buy spectrum, you have to build out.

Here, this pretty much sums up my reasoning about why at&t, Verizon Wireless, ect are different

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_monopoly »

I already know this. I never said they'd become a monopoly again, especially in the wireless arena. They are losing money as of right now. I never meant for this argument, it was just a sarcastic comment, that got way blown out of proportion, because one idiot decided to take it seriously than everyone jumps on board. I agree with Free-Market and letting businesses take care of themselves. When all these small companies keep getting bought out, its only going to leave the big businesses. I agree that their should only be a number of big cellular carriers, but we could use some of these smaller businesses who offer other services.

What about MVNO's? Don't you think they can fill the needs in areas where the big guys don't? Like Voce for those who need personal service along with their cellphones or 711 Speakout Wireless for those who never use their phones ($25/year in that case)