Contemplating whether or not to just pay my termination fee and bounce out of this newly combined abortion of a company. I tether and T-Mobile has always been good about this. Now with AT&T calling the shots seems not only tethering is over but who knows on my grandfathered rate plan, messaging plan and data plan. Who knows about corporate discounts too? AT&T's network gives me a tad more calling range but data coverage outside metro areas is just as weak. Who knows how this will go but I am not positive at all now in the outset. Maybe worth it just to pay that fee and head over to Sprint, the last remaining unlimited (and tether-capable) data company.
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It'll take around a year or so for the deal to go through, if the FTC approves it. I'm hoping they don't.
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They'll probably have to sell off some assetts like Verizon did when they bough Alltel.
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Sell to whom?
Verizon? Sprint?
I am not aware of any markets where AT&T and T-Mobile both have coverage but Verizon and Sprint do not.
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Your not aware of any markets where both ATT & Tmo have coverage? Umm, lots of places! I live in Las Vegas, Tmo has coverage here and so does ATT.
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..I know right !!! some people don't take their time to read.
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I could have worded it better....let me reword it....
I am unaware of a market in the US where at&t and T-Mobile are the only service providers....
That is the reason why the VZW acquisition of Altell lead to the divestment of 104 Altell markets to at&t, because there were a number of markets where Verizon and Altell were the only providers, so they divested to AT&T to prevent Verizon from having a monopoly in those markets.
Similarly, when AT&T bought Centennial Wireless, they had to divest several markets to Verizon, because in those markets at&t and Centennial were the only providers.
Divestiture will be required only if there is some market where at&t and T-Mobile are the only providers and the acquisition will result in at&...
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epikMar 20, 2011, 8:36 PM
There were also markets where VZW had NO presence beyond roaming agreements, and they were still required to divest.
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Where is that exactly? After the Verizon acquisition of Altell there are now very few markets where Verizon doesn't offer coverage.....I know they have zero coverage in Alaska for example...
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It's not an issue of who has coverage where. It has to do with competition. For example, if there is an area that Sprint doesn't own spectrum in, they could buy the market if the FTC determines that AT&T's absorption of T-Mobile would make for unfair competition (read: too little competition).
There will be a lot of divested markets...
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When did VZW stop giving unlimited data and tethering?
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VZW has made it clear for nearly a year that when the 4G data plans are announced they will be tiered and unlimited will not be an option.....of course, Sprint has talked about eliminating the unlimited option as well.
As far as it goes, I regard the demand for 'unlimited' data plans to be yet another example of the entitlement mentality run amuk. No one can possibly promise anybody an 'unlimited' amount of anything.
Let's assume, simply for the sake of argument, that a customer decides to take this 'unlimited data' stuff seriously, and in month he uses 150 terrabytes of data, thereby overloading all the towers in his area and completely shutting down the network in his area. You think ANY company in this country is not going to st...
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When people rack up sat 5,7, or 9gigs in a month it's not like it's a constant, constant stream from the tower to the smartphone. Plus people are mobile, so it's not always on the same tower.
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You couln't have put it better. It was only a matter of time, that companies were going to put some sort of limis on data plans. Considering all the new internet friendly cell phones out, thanks to google and Iphone and now WP7, it was bound to happen. Between streaming videos, music and online gaming, too much data is being used when you consider about 80 percent of people who own cell phones have smart phones, I'm guessing, who frequent internet access quite often. I would even imagine that at some point and time in the future, those of us who have grandfathered unlimited data plans, that too may come to an end. I hope not but, it's a good chance it could happen. Not to mention, you have people who have managed to find creative ways to tet...
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epikMar 20, 2011, 8:33 PM
4G data plan was announced. It's unlimited. Maybe in the future that will change, but if it does, they'll announce that to NEW 4G smartphone customers.
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