iPhone 2 drop.

Uhm...ok. VZ is not going to pay $28,000,000,000 because the iphone 2 is coming.

Thats just stupid.

Or would they? I personally think it's their idea to garner some attention and get back into the spotlight. Outside of Consumer Reports surveys, Verizon hasn't seen much of that since 2004. Name any groundbreaking events that Verizon has been responsible for making in the industry in the past four years. It's hard to do, I know.

On the other side of the coin, AT&T has kept it's customer lead for a much longer period of time than people had anticipated. They have won the rights to the iPhone and all of it's predecessors for five years (which is why Verizon is struggling to get the attention it wants...kind of kicking itself in the ass for passing on Apple's offer). They went through the largest telecom merger in history pretty much in flaw...
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I believe you're assumptions are probably more accurate than most would imagine.

This is a great month for wireless. Verizon nabs Allsmell, ATT gets iPhone 2 (hopefully), and Sprint trys to market the Samsung Instinct. (I have a feeling if the iPhone 2 comes out, it'll outdo most of the instincts targeted ads. Sprint might have to pull them...man...)


T-Mobile is doing something. Launching At Home service....I think...

It's just a busy time, and I love it.

chainmail311 said:
I believe you're assumptions are probably more accurate than most would imagine.

This is a great month for wireless. Verizon nabs Allsmell, ATT gets iPhone 2 (hopefully), and Sprint trys to market the Samsung Instinct. (I have a feeling if the iPhone 2 comes out, it'll outdo most of the instincts targeted ads. Sprint might have to pull them...man...)


T-Mobile is doing something. Launching At Home service....I think...

It's just a busy time, and I love it.

T-Mobile's at home service is crap! What a stupid little gimic device.

Oh, you've used it?

Consumer Reports has nothing but good things to say about it.

Trolling, are we?

chainmail311 said:
Oh, you've used it?

Consumer Reports has nothing but good things to say about it.

Trolling, are we?

CONSUMER REPORTS???

LOL Verizon type customer's bible

others are capable of actually doing their own research.

I would not buy anything based on "Consumer Reports" opinion.....

Good for you. They have not steered me wrong yet. On anything. So do your own "research" and stay away from one of the distinctive independent research magazines. You're so smart!

mellowlen62 said:
Good for you. They have not steered me wrong yet. On anything. So do your own "research" and stay away from one of the distinctive independent research magazines. You're so smart!

Distinctive? Consumers' Reports? To whom. Grandpa?

I wouldn't put too much faith in CR. The 60's are LONG gone.

Do you really believe I checked out CR before I dared buy my N95??? LOL I have no interest in CR nor do I find it a "distinctive" metric in research.

I like them because they're not "bought" off by companies. They do all their own testing, purchasing, whatnot.

It's not for everyone, but it should work for the average joe. 😲

vzw hasnt done anything in 4 yrs 🤣
they were to first to let you change your price plan w/o renewing contract
they were first to have prorated ETFs (which the FCC is now forcing other carriers to do)


so yea thats 2 that i could name in like 5 seconds, try again fanboi

Actually, back in the day Worldcom wireless would let you change your plan without extending your contract. I think Alltel announced that first (but i could be wrong about that). So have some of the other little carriers.

forcing the other carriers to do pro-rated etf's? Didn't most of the carriers announce that they are going to do this anyway? Who's getting FORCED to implement this?

liquidfire said:
they were to first to let you change your price plan w/o renewing contract

No they weren't.

liquidfire said:
they were first to have prorated ETFs (which the FCC is now forcing other carriers to do)

Again, no they weren't. Perhaps you meant the first to have prorated ETFs in all markets.

liquidfire said:
so yea thats 2 that i could name in like 5 seconds, try again fanboi

Yes, that's two...but nothing groundbreaking like I had said. And if there are oh-so-many, please feel free to continue. Why is it that because I believe Verizon did this for the attention (which they did...they certainly don't need the spectru...
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thatguy_overthere said:
Uhm...ok. VZ is not going to pay $28,000,000,000 because the iphone 2 is coming.

Thats just stupid.

Verizon is not PAYING anything. Its DEBT. They are taking on DEBT. Funny money

OK. I figured that when the title of the article on the main page says that VZ is paying 28 billion for Altell.

Unfortunately when it comes to the finer points of mergers and acquisitions, I'm not that knowledgeable. I figured that since they're taking on that debt, then that means they'll eventually have to pay that debt. But it seems that corporations don't follow the same rules that consumers do.

Oh well. I'm not going back to school for an economics degree anyway.

Thanks for the info.

The real winners are the guys who bought AllTel a relative short time ago to prop it up and sell it. They will get paid in real money.

pepsijunky said:
iPhone 2 drop.

Hope you have insurance on it 🤣

the iphone is apparently the only thing AT&T can write home about. sad, actually...

mellowlen62 said:
the iphone is apparently the only thing AT&T can write home about. sad, actually...

Thank God for that because there isn't a phone ATT offers that I would obligate myself for. But I do enjoy the freedom they give me in choosing a phone they don't carry and being able to use it on the network with free voice NAV and $15 UL DATA, 2000 minutes in a roll over account on a $49 a month 550 shared family plan....for a whole $75 a month.

Nothing to write home about though.......


Oh and I did not have to fork over $10 everytime I want to switch my phones out and transfer my contacts.......noting to write home about.

we knew this was gonna happen

i think its great....

bring on the competition

And by "bring on the competition" you mean "eliminate the competition," right?

You forgot shareholder approval.

I totally agree with you. Even their own analysts had predicted passing AT&T by now, but that never happened. After the iPhone came out the gap got wider and wider. What's one to do?
I think it'd be hillarious if AT&T bought Tmobile next. Or, if AT&T still caught up with big red by 2010

I think ATT will beat VZ in about two years. Wait to see if the Alltel customers are happy with their service and the continued trend of getting ATT's leftovers (ie the Pearl almost a year late and the curve a year late). I don't think VZ is going to have the same retain rate the Cingular/old ATT merger did. Look for VZ to discontinue some of (or all) Altell's features and discounts and see what happens.

because its VZWs fault that RIM didnt make those handsets in CDMA first 🙄

hey ATT, wheres your "dumbphone" with a qwerty??
isnt txting the new in thing? arent full qwerty phones the new thing? why doesnt att have one??

we don't need one.... our customers are smart enough to learn how to text on a regular phone
unlike yours that HAVE to have a full keyboard .....

lol That's a great comeback 😁

dromant said:
I wonder how much of this potential acquisition is due to the fact that Verizon realized they were not going to catch up to ATT in total overall customer's for quite awhile unless they did something like this? A lot of people (including myself) figured that it would only be a matter of time (and a short matter of time at that) before Verizon caught back up and surpassed Cingular/ATT after the merger with ATT wireless - but it never happened. I wonder if Verizon had caught up and surpassed ATT, would they still be purchasing Alltel - I personally don't think so

I think you are placing far too much emphasis in the bragging rights to claim the most customers. ATT has been advertising that for ye...
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PhonemanJ said:
Nope, that's not the way it works. Just like when Cingular purchased the old ATT Wireless, Verizon will own Alltel's contracts. Verizon wil probably do something like Cingular did and offer Alltel customers new equipment at discounted prices, just like an upgrade, in exchange for moving their contract from the Alltel network to the Verizon network and signing up on a Verizon rate plan. But the contracts are still viable and a customer will not be able to get out of it without paying an ETF.

A word to the wise for Alltel customers. If you want to keep your rate plan after the merger, you will need to purchase an Alltel phone soon. As soon as Alltel sells out of stock on their equipment, if you want to ge

...
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So True

PhonemanJ said:
So True

That's why I stick with GSM, if I am not happy with my phone, I can get a new one without having to go through my carrier.

MotoV3RAZR2008 said:

PhonemanJ said:
So True

That's why I stick with GSM, if I am not happy with my phone, I can get a new one without having to go through my carrier.

That among many other services are the reason I stay with GSM and (GASP!!!)deal with a few dropped calls now and then.

thatguy_overthere said:
I totally agree. Nothing spurs innovation like some good ole' fashioned motivation. And what could be a better motivator than losing the number one spot the competitor that you took it from?

Amen!

That's why America is so great!

And btw, while I prefer CDMA and Sprint, our GSM providers are world class. 🙂

thatguy_overthere said:
I totally agree. Nothing spurs innovation like some good ole' fashioned motivation. And what could be a better motivator than losing the number one spot the competitor that you took it from?

No one TOOK anything. Both companies BOUGHT number one, Neither earned it by capturing customers the old fashioned way. Number one is a joke in the wireless industry. More customers does not men number one. HAPPY customers do..

Just bought out Alltel, won the Spectrum auction, and attempting to launch LTE. How much are they actually spending? and how much do they actually have? just curious

Verizon has about $7.4 Bill in cash. They used $5.5B in cash plus another $4b in long-term debt that they floated to pay for their FCC spectrum they won. They do have a very good investment grade of a, but the rating agencies are putting it on watch with a negative outlook based on the deal. They are also paying $5.9B in cash for Alltel and assume $22B in debt. They will do some nifty financing that will save them money. (A few hundred million) They will issue more debt to pay for the deal as well as other operations. Remember, they will seek $9b in total synergies so that will help. VZW has $33B in debt now with the assumption of the purchase of Alltel. They do generate billions of dollars in free cash flow though. As a whole Verizon gener...
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Capex for 2007 was $17.5B total, with Wireless being $6.5B. So far in 2008 they spent $4.2B while Wireless was $1.7B