As I have said before, the additional customer base is a nice bonus, but the primary reasons for the buyout were network related, Thanks to the TritonPCS deal and the ATTWS buyout, we stand to grow from 87 of the top 100 markets to all 100. We significantly increase network capacity and holdings of licenses and spectrum, even though we will most likely have to divest some of it.

This move was made mostly to improve our offerings to our customers, and position ourselves for future growth.

don't get me wrong in the long run it is going to be a great benefit to your company, but as with most all mergers you'll probably see some issues...probably nothing major due to previous points of same technology, most of the same phone etc.. One thing I am looking forward to though is once all the dust settles, and everything gets down to brass tacks, the competition...it should be interesting

Amen to that! Its funny, most of the VZW reps I meet and talk to that are STUDENTS of wireless see it benefitting both companies... its definitely gonna make VZW take a hard look at what they are doing, and make them see they can't just rest on JD Power and Consumer Reports. They'll finally have a challenger with the ability to make them WORK...lol

well in reply I would like to say thank you for making me get off my lazy ass...hehehe

Every carrier has issues with their systems in terms of billing and such... the merger will have some faults along the way, but no more than VZW. Heck, VZW just switched recently from OMNI to I2K and from what I've heard it's been hell and back!

Although Verizon's customer base is growing at a very fast rate, AT&T Wireless has recently been gaining a vast amount of customers at a quick rate also. The merger will undoubtedly start to bring in customers at a rate as fast or even faster than that of Verizon's. Coverage in all top 100 markets and service availability virtually everywhere will be a hard hit to Verizon. Also, Cingular will be able to offer better features and plans at prices that Verizon won't come close to. People won't be able to ignore the quality and price that Cingular has to offer for long. I think that Verizon may just have to settle for being #2 this time.

the only problem that I see with that is after 1Q results came in AT&T actually lost like 300,000 customers...all be it VZW hasn't gotten any notice since then, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see what 2Q results look like

Said John Zeglis, AT&T Chairman and CEO, "Our investment is beginning to generate results, as we saw a decline in the rate of customer departures in each successive month of the quarter."

That was in reference to the first quarter of this year. AT&Ts implementation of "Add a line for $9.99", nights and weekends starting at 7:00, free roaming and long distance, improved signal strength nationwide, and the release of the highly anticipated V600 since then have done much to turn around AT&Ts rate of incoming customers. We'll just have to sit back and see the results when they come. 😉

Well I would have to say that with all of those new features it would surely lower churn but in turn, profit had to have gone down from it...a short term problem though, considering long term goals

I seemed to have forgotten to mention that Cingular has grown considerably and consistently for the past several quarters. I know that they have a ways to go before catching up with Verizon's quarterly customer gains but a merge of this size between two wireless power-houses is bound to entice many, many people away from Verizon's "attractive" network for several different reasons. Also, although Verizon may seem to be getting all the business they could want, cheaper prices or more airtime would do them wonders. People love to see Verizon's coverage, but hate the price tag that comes with it. I think that if Verizon was even considering tailoring their rates and plans, they would have done so long before now. But, it all boils down to t...
(continues)

but you are basing that claim solely on the thought that VZW doesn't change anything, in that case I would have to agree with you...but you don't know what might come out...hell neither do I

But let's put it this way. At least Verizon will finally have some REAL competition! 🤣

i keep hearing that verizon is supposed to be better than all of the other cell phone companies. is it the network? i hear people all the time talking about the reception is good and bad. is it the price? verizon has some of the highest prices of them all. is it csr srvc? is it the technology? i read about how cdma is superior to gsm on paper but what about in actual setting. why do cdma providers use analog. not talking bad i just want to know what signifies as to being the best wireless carrier and why? i know verizon is a very strong company, but i also know cingular is created by sbc/bell south who are very powerful together also. i don't think more subscribers make you a better carrier. what do you guys think?

cdog2198 said:
i read about how cdma is superior to gsm on paper but what about in actual setting. why do cdma providers use analog?

so they can justify charging roaming is my guess... 😉

you don't getcharged roaming if you're in analog...what are you talking about?

TheVZWMan said:
you don't getcharged roaming if you're in analog...what are you talking about?

it was just a guess 😎

what does a blinking triangle mean on verizon phones, by the way?

It means you're in Extended network...you're off the verizon wireless network but we have roaming agreements wiht other carriers so there is no roaming...you only get charged roaming if the triangle is solid

TheVZWMan said:
It means you're in Extended network...you're off the verizon wireless network but we have roaming agreements wiht other carriers so there is no roaming...you only get charged roaming if the triangle is solid

funny. most of my family were verizon customers and none knew what the blinking triangle meant, so they didnt use their phones on vacation a few weeks ago, fearing roaming, and they all used mine instead. And that roaming was the deciding factor on my parents switching last week. not to mention 2000 minutes and free M2M for 3 lines for 119.97/mo. 😉 😎

cdog2198 said:
i keep hearing that verizon is supposed to be better than all of the other cell phone companies. is it the network? i hear people all the time talking about the reception is good and bad. is it the price? verizon has some of the highest prices of them all. is it csr srvc? is it the technology? i read about how cdma is superior to gsm on paper but what about in actual setting. why do cdma providers use analog. not talking bad i just want to know what signifies as to being the best wireless carrier and why? i know verizon is a very strong company, but i also know cingular is created by sbc/bell south who are very powerful together also. i don't think more subscribers make you a better carrier. what do you guy

...
(continues)

quibbling...nice word...hehehe

We can all go on about which company is better but does it really matter? Every company has their own perks and their own downfalls. None of them are perfect. or else, there wouldn't be so many different companies as everyone would go over to the perfect company. There are people who love Cingular and wouldn't go with any other company and there are people who despise Cingular. There are people who are Verizon slaves and people who wouldn't touch Verizon. It's all a matter of which company matches your needs best.

I don't remember anybody in here saying a company was perfect...but maybe I missed that. 🙄 Anyway, everybody has the right to choose which company suits them best, and in their eyes, that company is probably number one. As for the talk between TheVZWMan and myself, as I said, was trivial.

RUFF1415 said:
Anyway, everybody has the right to choose which company suits them best

and he even gets the company slogan into the response 😁

🤣 There was no pun intended...but that was a good one! 🤣

I know no one said that any one company is perfect cuz they all got their splotchy coverage areas. I don't really think my cell phone company is the best, even though I did choose them, I'm still open to what else is out there. I'm just a cheapskate is all.

Aren't we all? 🙂

Yup.. that's why I am with T-Mobile 😁

Sherryberry, where are you in the US?

I'm in good ol' Illinois 🙂

Glad things are going well with T-Mobile for you there. My buddy in St.Louis wants to toss his T-Mobile off a bridge...lol. But they have the right idea, and will only improve from where they are. I would like to see them incorporate some 850 MHz coverage eventually. Then they will be a formidable opponent.

Yeah... well I actually compared T-Mobile with Cingular around where I go and T-Mobile has better reception overall. Cingular went down to one bar or no bars at all in some areas while T-Mobile was at full reception. So yeah, all depends where you are.

Yay! Somebody that GETS IT!!! What it all comes down to in the end is what works where you need it to. lol 😁

yup! that's why at the bottom of those coverage maps, it says that coverage map doesn't guarantee coverage. People will believe anything they see.

Also you don't really know what VZW might come out with...hell we might even put more minutes onto our our lower end calling plans to compete better. Now just as a disclaimer, I am NOT saying that that is GOING to happen...all I'm saying is it would be a good call if we did...like I said prior though it will be interesting to see what will come out of this...for either side.

yeah.. i saw a flyer for verizon a bit ago at my job where you can get 1000 mins for 39.99 and add 10 bucks to get in-network calling and nights and weekends. But I wonder if that's outdated. Cuz that's the only place I see that.

By the way, what's going to happen to AWS customers when the merger is done? like w/ their plan and minutes? They just stay with what they got or they go w/ Cingular plan? And is Cingular going to keep the rollover minutes?? I thought I saw somewhere that they might get rid of it.

it would be a shame to get rid of the rollover minutes. it's becomming to be part of cingulars trademark. whenever i see the cingular jack, i see rollover.

Attws customer will have the option to choose whatever plan they want. The plan they HAVE or a Cingular plan, or even a "Common Service Plan" which will probably have the best of both types of plans.

TheVZWMan said:
Even with the merger, at the rate that VZW is growing, customer base wise, Cingular will only be ahead for maybe until the end of the year...at least in that aspect...

i don't think so. i don't think that's even close. actually, i know that's not even close. vzw has about 40 million customers according to their website. cingular and at&t have 24 million and 21.692 million respectively according to their websites. that's a total of almost 46 million customers. for vzw to gain 6+ million customers in 6 months with enough to cover who they lose, would be a spectacular feat. unless vzw goes through a merger any time soon, they will be the number 2 carrier for a while.

however, instead...
(continues)

lilgabe1 said:
tmobile's parent company didn't want to sell T-mobile because it's an up and comer. But once the newness wears off, everyone will end up somewhere else. Tmobile has one of the highest churn rates in the industry, if not the highest. But right now, they are making money.

Because they're adding more customers than they're losing. 😉

But they wont' be able to sustain that.

Heck give me 41 billion and I'll see out too! 😉

lilgabe1 said:
But they wont' be able to sustain that.

And your reasoning for this is what? Supposition based on the fact you're a Tmobile suit? Oh wait, you don't work for Tmobile and you certainly couldn't cut it as a psychic. The fact remains that they're adding subs at a fast rate. They're climbing out of debt very quickly. They're only starting to build on their current momentum. You've got a one track mind, don't you?