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FCC Says No Rubber Stamp for AT&T / T-Mobile Merger

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Verizon

edzero

Mar 24, 2011, 11:11 AM
why was it ok for verizon to buy Alltel and jump past at&t as the nations largest wireless carrier...but at&t is getting such a hassle about this?
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Omagus

Mar 24, 2011, 11:13 AM
Alltel was not a national carrier, and buying it did not give Verizon 99% ownership of CDMA in the US.
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gldnhrtrblfst

Mar 24, 2011, 11:24 AM
this has been said many times why are people still asking the same stupid question
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lollipop

Mar 24, 2011, 1:42 PM
Alltel was a National carrier... their network was BIGGER then verizon's.

Also in the US it doesn't matter if the carrier is GSM or CDMA. The technology they use to give you a wireless signal doesn't matter.

If you want to make that argument then we must consider FiOS a monopoly because they are the only ISP using fiber.
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gldnhrtrblfst

Mar 24, 2011, 1:52 PM
wrong, wrong, and wrong.

Alltel was not a national carrier, it did not have coverage even in the northeast, which is one of if not the largest in terms of subscribers.

Yes it does matter what technology a carrier has in the USA it is one of the main arguements against this merger.


FIOS is not the only ISP using fiber, in fact their main competitor also does use fios.


Please stop making up facts.
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gldnhrtrblfst

Mar 24, 2011, 1:53 PM
^^

(main competitor meaning comcast uses fiber)
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lollipop

Mar 28, 2011, 11:17 AM
Alltel was a National carrier. to claim otherwise is vastly ignorant of the facts. As for your claims with are widely off base here is Alltel's coverage map and here is how much they covered with their North American Freedom plan.

www.cellularmaps.com/at/at_ww.shtml

That is a national carrier.. congrats on being an idiot.

No it doesn't matter what technology the carrier is using because here in the USA carriers are allowed to go with any technology they want. GSM is not classed as a market and CDMA and GSM carriers compete for the same customers. What arguement can be made against only having only one GSM carrier? Customers cannot leave with their devices to another carrier? You can't use GSM phones on CDMA networks and CDM...
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WiWavelength

Mar 28, 2011, 12:59 PM
lollipop said:
Alltel was a National carrier. to claim otherwise is vastly ignorant of the facts. As for your claims with are widely off base here is Alltel's coverage map and here is how much they covered with their North American Freedom plan.

www.cellularmaps.com/at/at_ww.shtml

That is a national carrier.. congrats on being an idiot.


Hold on. Before you call someone else an idiot, do you truly know the facts?

First, the Alltel North American Freedom coverage map included native + roaming coverage. Almost any carrier can appear to have national coverage if roaming footprint is included. While Alltel had extensive rural native coverage, that belied the fact that Alltel had relatively li...
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Azeron

Mar 24, 2011, 2:24 PM
*Giggle*

Verizon STILL should not have been allowed to break its agreement NOT to touch Alltel, but money talks. Also note that they made damned sure to get that deal approved while the FCC was still Republican controlled. There is nothing to suggest that this deal won't eventually pass muster even with the Democrats in control though. I've got my fingers crossed. We'll see...
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atandtrep

Mar 24, 2011, 2:57 PM
lollipop said:
Alltel was a National carrier... their network was BIGGER then verizon's.

Also in the US it doesn't matter if the carrier is GSM or CDMA. The technology they use to give you a wireless signal doesn't matter.

If you want to make that argument then we must consider FiOS a monopoly because they are the only ISP using fiber.



Not true, att uverse is a fiber network as well
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lollipop

Mar 28, 2011, 11:25 AM
And? Uverse isn't in many of the areas that Fios is.. Uverse is also a hybrid network because they use much of the copper infrastucture.



And still it doesn't matter as they are listed offering the same services as cable and satalite.
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Omagus

Mar 24, 2011, 9:09 PM
lollipop said:
Alltel was a National carrier.


How could Alltel have been a national carrier when it didn't have native coverage in at least eight of the 10 largest markets in the US?
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lollipop

Mar 28, 2011, 11:39 AM
You do realize that most carriers use roaming aggreements right? Verizon used much of Alltel's network to provide services in rural areas. Here is the thing T-mobile at the time of the Alltel-Verizon purchase was a national carrier with a smalling coverage map then Alltel...

A national carrier does not have to cover every market in the us. I suggest you read what a regional carrier and a national carrier is.
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WiWavelength

Mar 24, 2011, 1:52 PM
edzero said:
why was it ok for verizon to buy Alltel and jump past at&t as the nations largest wireless carrier...but at&t is getting such a hassle about this?


That the seemingly high school or community college educated call center reps, in/direct salespersons, and phone fetishists who populate this site cannot advance beyond posturing & cheering for their carrier of choice to beat the others and be #1 -- as if this were some sporting event -- continually disappoints me.

AJ
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Azeron

Mar 24, 2011, 2:30 PM
Especially when once "their carrier" absorbs another it will be their necks on the chopping blocks as those synergies are realized through elimination of redundancies. I remember when Verizon finally closed on Alltel, the reps in my center were cheering. I was thinking: This is insane. It would be like turkeys applauding their arrival at the chopping block before Thanksgivings.
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Caucasian

Mar 24, 2011, 3:13 PM
I'd hate to be working for a company that got bought out. I worked for a company that was purchased by Alltel, and the moment they paid my severance, I bailed and came to Sprint.

I can say that I am entirely for Sprint doing well, because they cut my pay check. If they make more money, then I can expect to see higher 401k payouts, bigger raises, and in general a happier company to work for and with.

I do not wish ill on any provider out there, I believe some ideas are misguided, and disagree with some of the changes the industry makes.

I'd like to think most people on here are that way.

There are a lot of people who would just love to see Sprint fail. That makes me a sad panda. I don't want to be out of a job.
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Still-At-Work

Mar 25, 2011, 2:22 PM
I completely agree with this post. I cannot say I do not have a little bit of "Brand Loyalty" for T-Mobile. Reason being, I work for them and they put money in my pocket and they have treated me better as a customer than Verizon or Sprint. No I didn't forget at&t, i just used to work for them and I know what goes on and how they are told to treat customers. Regardless, I am not going to sit here and cheer T-Mobile on and bash on other providers like a little cheerleader.
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lh1031

Mar 26, 2011, 8:25 AM
I have said it before and I will say it again:

For the record, I do work in a call center. I also have a degree from a Top 25 Private Liberal Arts University. Times are just hard. dont make assumptions about the people on the other end of the phone.

I work for one company and have service with another. That doesnt mean my opinion on this merger is any less valid than anyone else's. It is people like you who judge and act as though you are above the rest of us, and know how to do our jobs, who create disgruntled and unhappy customer service representatives, which only results in what you call "bad" customer service.

Im sorry, I sit for 8 hours a day 6 days a week listening to you complain about how you went over your minutes or we ...
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Still-At-Work

Mar 26, 2011, 8:28 AM
It really sounds like you work customer service for at&t. Everything you said just sounds so familiar.
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lh1031

Mar 26, 2011, 8:34 AM
No, but I imagine all call centers are similar.
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Still-At-Work

Mar 26, 2011, 8:37 AM
Eh, not all as bad as that. Where I am if you cannot assist the customer for example, they would rather you transfer them to someone who can. We USED to have internet but people could not stop playing games online while they were on the phones, used to have books too but same thing. 😡
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WiWavelength

Mar 27, 2011, 10:41 AM
You misconstrue my words. Yes, you are a call center rep. And that alone does not qualify you to speak knowledgeably about the technical, regulatory, and macro economic aspects of the wireless industry. But you do claim to possess a strong education, otherwise. And you do not seem to be cheerleading a wireless carrier or merger like this were a high school football game. As such, you meet some but not all of the conditions set forth in my post. So, do not take it personally. I was not referring to you.

AJ
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lh1031

Mar 29, 2011, 4:04 PM
It doesnt bother me that you wanted people to be more educated before posting. I concur with this because some people on here irritate me at times as well. It just annoys me when people make assumptions that call center reps are dumb, uneducated, and low class. We work hard.
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ygbhen

Mar 24, 2011, 2:35 PM
The Verizon acquisition was scrutinized and they had to make concession to get the deal approved. The same thing will happen with ATT. You have to look past the fanboys on this site and others because most are just sore about the fact that their carrier is going to one upped. Hopefully this will also be an eye opener for the government as well. They are going to have to make spectrum available so that these company's can grow and improve service. I don't think ATT is trying to buy TMobile to become number 1 again, just trying to pick up a hoard of spectrum so that they can offer the best level of service as possible.
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Caucasian

Mar 24, 2011, 3:23 PM
As pointed out by WiWavelength, they have already hoarded a ton of spectrum in recent auctions, but aren't using it at all.

It's not just about spectrum, maybe in the top 3 reasons, but definitely not number 1.
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Slammer

Mar 24, 2011, 3:43 PM
No. It is about spectrum. They want t-mobile for the spectrum. They have already professed this to the FCC claiming they need it to attain their goal.

AJ's highly educated point was to utilize what they have efficiently before asking for more. Not one bit of of thier massive purchase has been used to reach this.

Their intent is to suck dry every little bit of viable spectrum so no other competition ever enter the domain.

John B
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Caucasian

Mar 24, 2011, 5:21 PM
I agree the spectrum is important, but not for what they're trumpeting it for to the Government.

They're telling the Government it is to improve quality of service, that's total crap. They have the spectrum already. So if anything it can't be the number one reason, that's a blatant lie.

That's what I was meaning.
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Azeron

Mar 24, 2011, 4:40 PM
T-Mobile wasn't serious opposition, but it was opposition. This will remove their culture of lower prices, unlimited Internet feature with no caps from the game. One down...one to go.
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lollipop

Mar 28, 2011, 11:50 AM
T-mobile wasn't opposition. The fact that they are getting sold because the company didn't turn a profit and was living off of DT subsidizing them proves otherwise.

T-mobile was a dying company and that is a fact. The fact that DT previous to the merger told them to make a profit or all funds are cut speaks volumes to where t-mo was.
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Slammer

Mar 24, 2011, 3:26 PM
Since I'm NOT an employee of any carrier, I feel quite at ease to say this:

Anyone that treats this as some football game, is a detriment to themselves in a consumer publicly funded market. These are the same people that complain that gas at the pumps go up at will and when they do slowly come down, it is never at the lower level it was prior to the rise.

Is this how we want our communications industry to end up?


John B.
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6xstheshrimp

Mar 28, 2011, 6:18 PM
😈
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