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AT&T Buyout

cai

Jan 14, 2004, 8:26 AM
The news today is that it is AT&T, not T-Mobile, that is up for sale. The rumoured buyer is SBC. I belive they also own Verizon.
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cai

Jan 14, 2004, 8:31 AM
Correction. SBC and Bell South own Cingular.
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mmdstech2

Jan 14, 2004, 11:20 AM
This would be a huge deal. Cingular has 22 million subs and AT&T has 21 million. This would put Cingular right behind Verizon which has 45 million subs. Sources are saying within 30 days we should know more. They are saying the buyout going through is about 75%.
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Big Daddy

Jan 14, 2004, 11:57 AM
Verizon has about 32 million customers... Where did you get 45 million???
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mmdstech2

Jan 14, 2004, 12:18 PM
The combination of the two companies would create the second-largest wireless company in the U.S. Cingular has about 22 million subscribers, and AT&T Wireless has about 21 million. That would make it a close second to Verizon Wireless, which has about 45 million. It would remove a player from the crowded U.S. wireless market, where six companies and a number of local and regional players are at odds, pushing down prices. It would also pressure smaller independents such as Sprint PCS (PCS ) and Nextel Communications (NXTL ) to find partners of their own.
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Big Daddy

Jan 14, 2004, 12:19 PM
I just called Verizon and as of Friday 1-9-04 they had 36.8 million customers. I dont know who is telling you 45 million but again they are wrong
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mmdstech2

Jan 14, 2004, 12:22 PM
That was in Business week online. It must be wrong, I was on Verizons site and it shows 36 million subs. Does anyone know?
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Big Daddy

Jan 14, 2004, 12:32 PM
I would go by Verizons site and the rep I s/w. I would not trust some 3rd party site.
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ATandT

Jan 14, 2004, 1:50 PM
If these 2 companies merged or whatever they would be the largest by about 10 million people. Verizon does not have 40 million customers.........check your facts.
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Big Daddy

Jan 14, 2004, 1:56 PM
thank you, finally a second voice of reason 😁
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mmdstech2

Jan 14, 2004, 2:10 PM
I did correct myself
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ATandT

Jan 14, 2004, 1:48 PM
AWS has about 23 million customers, by the way Sprint PCS has now reached the 20 million mark also.
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Big Daddy

Jan 14, 2004, 1:57 PM
wow that is more that I thought
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Skins56

Jan 14, 2004, 2:03 PM
36 million actually
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Big Daddy

Jan 14, 2004, 2:10 PM
I know now check my later posts
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cellhound

Jan 15, 2004, 8:12 AM
Verizon MAY have 35 million not 45
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Big Daddy

Jan 15, 2004, 11:47 AM
that has been established. Cingular and ATT will merge but these kinds of things take forever.
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Big Poppa

Jan 15, 2004, 1:04 PM
Funny thing is, is if that happens all the people who left AT&T and Went to Cingular, will be back with AT&T again and Vice Versa. Hopefully all those people will port out again and come to Verizon, Sprint or T-Mobile LOL
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Big Daddy

Jan 15, 2004, 2:08 PM
just not sprint because they awful
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Big Poppa

Jan 17, 2004, 12:29 PM
You know, I have never really had any real problem with my service that wasnt fixed in a short time...

Never have a problem with rude customer service reps, because I never give them a reason to be rude to me, I always thank them for their time, and if they actually did a good job, which most of the time they do, I always say something good about them to their supervisor... If more people did stuff like that, I think the employee would enjoy thier job more, and not be so quick tempered.
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Big Daddy

Jan 17, 2004, 12:44 PM
I do the same thing but we are few and far between my brother
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dougc

Jan 17, 2004, 1:44 PM
I agree with both you guys. The rep didn't create the problem, and a lot of times can't fix it either. And wireless service is human and mechanical, meaning there will be problems. I've had four carriers over the years, a company that became part of Alltel, ATTWS, Verizon briefly, and now Sprint. With all four it's been my experience that if you approach the rep not as the source of the problem but someone who will help as best he can given the chance, you will get such help as can be had. And for those things that can't be helped, thank goodness merger mania has srill left us with some choices.
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cc rep

Jan 23, 2004, 1:16 PM
Thanks dougc....I work in cc for ATT. There is nothing more difficult than having a customer start a call by screaming at me that '*I* did this to him/her'. Was apparently just MY misfortune to pick up the phone. When a customer calls with a problem, I really DO want to help. I don't want anyone to have to pay for anything they shouldn't be. We DO have to work within the guidelines that are set by company policy, but within that framework, I will do the best that I can for you. A lot of the problems within CC are because the job is very transitory.... no one stays for long. The turnover is tremendous, so more often than not, the person you are looking to for help, is brand new in the job. Yelling and swearing isn't going to change THAT eithe...
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Blaisio

Jan 23, 2004, 2:19 PM
Whats sad about the attws buyout up here in washington is that because of the mass amounts of problems they have had trying to set up their gsm service here, a lot of their customers have already switched carriers. Especially with porting availiable. What do you think would happen to all of the agents that currently carry attws would they switch it to cingular? I heard that t-mobile has a clause that only allows agents to carry one or the other, is that true?
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BEEPERDEPOT7

Jan 28, 2004, 2:01 AM
that is true about T-Mobile. Any indirect agent that sells t-mobile cannt sell Cingular. So my company made the switch. Cingular sense of direction and their over all gsm foot print is much larger than T-Mobile. T-Mobile thinks they are verizon wireless where you can only be exclusive, they have another thing coming. They really dont seem to be improving and their coverage is mostly roaming off of Cingular and ATT. Someone metion that they will probably will become a regional carrier. Thats a great point.
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jaymush

Jan 28, 2004, 3:54 PM
Uhm ok Beep, actually to correct you "indirect" dealers who carry T-Mobile are also allowed to carry more than one carrier, my old company - Wireless Retail Inc. a National Retailer/Indirect dealer carried all 6 major carriers out of our stores.

Second reply is based on your comment about Cingular having sense of direction/bigger footprint than T-Mobile...actually for your information us and Cingular share roaming agreements with eachother, they provide us coverage in states like CA while we provide them coverage in NY, so actually is a trade both ways.

And for third comment, we are owned by one of the biggest companies in the world Deutche Telecom, so becoming a "regional" carrier will never happen.

Based on research, with 3G comin...
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dtownsound8

Feb 6, 2004, 8:12 PM
speaking of wireless retail, they generally sell more than twice as many t-mobile phones as they do any other carrier. Here in Detroit, most people looking for a new phone are at least considering t-mobile.

one thing not mentioned in your reply is that t-mobile is also the only transatlantic wireless company in existance. i might be wrong here but i'm fairly certain that doitch telecom is the thirteenth largest company worldwide.

t-mobile is one of the fastest growing wireless companies in the US. I hear less people complain about t-mobile than anyone else. 9 out of 10 times, when i hear someone complain about their service, they have sprint or at&t. as far as cingular having more coverage and a better vision, consider this... t-m...
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moobak

Feb 6, 2004, 8:50 PM
I don't know where you got this information. AT&T Wireless and Cingular have a much larger (if still paling compared to some) network then T-Mobile. Duestch Telekom is a big carrier in Europe yes, but they're sure not the largest. Verizons partial owner Vodafone group is the largest wireless provider in the world if including Verizons assets it owns as well.

Take a look at T-Mobiles coverage and compare it to cingular, or even AT&T Wireless. What T-mobile shines on is cheap cheap data plans, hotspot wifi service, and relatively good quality service where its available. Which is not very much.

I'd like to see these WLNP results you talk about, I bet you t-mobile is a loser not a winner. ;)
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dtownsound8

Feb 6, 2004, 9:14 PM
look for yourself.. I'm sure you know how to use a search engine. also.. t-mobile covers over 96% of the population. Coverage hasn't yet spread to the more rural areas just yet because GSM hasn't been around in the states as long as TDMA/CDMA. Your response to the other guy was in reference to t-mobile being mostly roaming coverage from att and cingular which would mean that we're talking about GSM coverage, which t-mobile has more of in the us than cingular and att. if you're talking about them having more tmda coverage then you'd be correct in that t-mobile doesn't use tdma so you'd be comparing apples and oranges. oh.. and i never said doitch telecom was the largest wireless provider in the world. i said they're the 13th largest com...
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dtownsound8

Feb 6, 2004, 9:58 PM
http://www.phoneplusmag.com/articles/411feat05.html »

“As expected, Verizon Wireless appears to be attracting customers based on the perception of its network coverage and quality. T-Mobile USA appears to be gaining customers based on the perception of value,” Merrill Lynch analyst Linda Mutschler said in a Dec. 1 research note. “Also as expected, particularly for the New York area, the most commonly cited carriers from which customers are parting appear to be AT&T Wireless and Sprint PCS.”



there you have it
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nifferleigh

Feb 7, 2004, 1:46 AM
well..regarding the ATT buyout (which was the start of this link), from what I understand, cingular has presented an offer, as well as verizon..(which "supposedly" will sell off a piece of their company to buy this), and another "smaller" company...have all put in offers which are due buy feb 13th.
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dtownsound8

Feb 7, 2004, 12:21 PM
i cant imagine verizon would buy out att though. they're on different networks. well.. whatever happens, it will be interesting to see how it plays out
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annetagonist

Feb 9, 2004, 7:04 PM
That is not true. The largest cell phone company in the world is China Mobile, according to RCR wireless news.
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moobak

Feb 10, 2004, 12:33 AM
Wow, this I didn't know. 🙂 Thats cool. Doesn't matter really though 😛

T-Mobile covers 96% of the population? Thats because those 96% are in such a localized area. Doesn't mean its good coverage AT ALL! 😛 Cingular, if I'm not mistaken, has the most GSM coverage in the U.S at this time, followed closely behind by AT&T Wireless. Almost ALL providers can boast that they cover a huge persentage of the population because a huge persentage live in small areas.
This is not even counting that AT&T Wireless has 9 million more customers then T-Mobile. 🙂

The LNP talk was in the NY area, which is a weak area for AWS and Cingular alike, btw.
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js4h

Feb 10, 2004, 1:25 PM
Ok, I want in on the bickering! The only reason t-mobile started with GSM, is because of the same reason that Sprint started with "all digital" CDMA network. The spectrum was not around for them to pick up anything else. Another thing, around here in Kentucky, Cingular and ATTWS are kings because t-mobile's, verizon's, and sprints's digital coverages are lacking. And verizon and sprint have to roam off of our Cingular and ATTWS' analog towers in the boon-docks (along with cellular one's {dobson communications} analog service too). And I think I read where someone made a comment that the reason GSM is not wide spread is because it has not been around as long as cdma/tdma in the united states....this is incorrect..... It is not as wide spread...
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casey13

Feb 10, 2004, 2:30 PM
No T-Mobile is ownd by Duch Telecom and they are one of the biggest GSM providers in eroupe. Why mess with a good thing if you have been doing it for years right?? 😎 ?
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callgirl

Feb 10, 2004, 9:29 PM
👿 BLAH, BLAH, BLAH...

WE SHALL NOT GO QUIETLY INTO THE NIGHT.
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dtownsound8

Feb 10, 2004, 10:57 PM
haha.. where do you get your info..

t-mobile "started with gsm" because its owned by doitch telecom which is a very dominant company in Europe. Western Wireless BEGAN as a GSM network in Hawaii and moved through the western continental US until being purchased by a company emerging as VOICESTREAM. Doitch Telecom, a company based in Germany owns T-Mobile, now the only transatlantic company in the wireless industry was already a prominent carrier in Europe (using the world standard GSM network). Doitch Telecom purchased Voicestream and then then changed the name Voicestream to T-Mobile USA. So you see.. t-mobile didn't "decide" to use the GSM network because their digital coverage was weak... the never had any coverage other than GSM to...
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moobak

Feb 11, 2004, 1:23 AM
You can't even spell Deutsche Telekom properly man.
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dtownsound8

Feb 14, 2004, 12:45 AM
ah yes.. i knew that wasn't right, so i spelled it how it sounded. gosh can you ever fogive me?

anyways you get the point
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alogator

Feb 11, 2004, 8:46 PM
Does anyone want to know why I think AT&T is thinking of selling. I think it's because the company gives out so many credits and still people arn't happy. Why can't people just understand that they are there to provide us with wireless service not free phones and free months service all wireless carriers should just put an end to these credits and let these silly people pay for there own phone and monthly service. Just remember something no one has forced you to buy a phone and pay a bill you asked for it so deal with it. If you don't want the convenience of a phone and the bill to go with it then reach in your pocket and get a quarter and take a walk to the nearest pay phone and use it . Later tropic
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Marinedad

Feb 11, 2004, 10:09 PM
Have you wondered why AT&T has and is selling all areas they are involved involved in? Comcast in cable, cell to ?? smaller areas to other corps and they sold all their military base contracts Sprint in October. I know for a fact that Comcast in New England has doubled their customer payments since buying out AT&T once they figured out AT&T was a mess here.
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ab25

Feb 11, 2004, 10:27 PM
COULD YOU WRITE THIS RESPONSE AGAIN BECAUSE I DO NOT KNOW WHAT THE HECK YOU ARE SAYING. YOU DOUBLED UP SOME OF YOUR WORDS AND LEFT OTHERS OUT. THANKS. 🤣
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Marinedad

Feb 11, 2004, 10:44 PM
Sorry should have proofed but was in a rush! AT&T has sold off cable, smaller holdings and all their Military phone service (to Sprint) so what's next? From the almighty AT&T to ??? in the future! That's all. Nothing special just a comment.
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ab25

Feb 11, 2004, 10:53 PM
THANK YOU SWEETIE. 😉
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Marinedad

Feb 11, 2004, 10:56 PM
What does that mean or indicate-honey? 🙄
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ab25

Feb 11, 2004, 11:05 PM
IT MEANS NOTHING! THAT IS JUST THE WAY I TALK AND TYPE! 😕
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Marinedad

Feb 11, 2004, 11:08 PM
I was replying to you, typing to my Marine deployed son and my daughter in college all at once! I can't handle all of this at once!! LOL
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moobak

Feb 11, 2004, 11:14 PM
Yo dude lower your caps too. 😛
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dtownsound8

Feb 14, 2004, 12:39 AM
you dont think the other carriers have the same issues with customers wanting/expecting things for free?
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mmdstech2

Jan 15, 2004, 3:20 PM
Let em port over to Nextel
chirp alert!!
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Sun_Com

Jan 16, 2004, 11:22 AM
My question is, if it does end up being Cingular/ATT, what does this do to SunCom who has the Coverage in the Mid-Atlantic region which both carriers are lacking? (ATT due to No-compete agreements with TritonPCS/SunCom)
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annetagonist

Jan 16, 2004, 5:04 PM
ATT is trying to push users in those areas on to its imaginary GSM network. (imaginary for the time being, not very many towers yet, but still building them) Hopefully no one in that area will notice or care that they are paying for non-working phone service.
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Sun_Com

Jan 16, 2004, 5:07 PM
Actually I'm in that area, and the gSM service is far from non-existent. SunCom has VA covered pretty well (Especially compared to June when it launched), and they already partner with Cingular for NC and SC, so actually those customers that "Wouldn't notice" would be getting the same service which is fairly adequate on the GSM side. Now GPRS.....that's a different story.
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annetagonist

Jan 16, 2004, 5:09 PM
Hey! So its working? That is a pleasant surprise.
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annetagonist

Jan 14, 2004, 6:47 PM
cai said:
The news today is that it is AT&T, not T-Mobile, that is up for sale. The rumoured buyer is SBC. I belive they also own Verizon.


LMAO!!!

This is the funniest thing I have heard all day. No one is going to "buy out" ATTWS. ATTWS and Cingular may be merging, but no one is being "bought out". By the way, SBC does not own Verizon. Check your facts.
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ATandT

Jan 14, 2004, 9:53 PM
He did later correct himself.

Here is a clip from rcrnews.com

"The latest merger rumor between Cingular and AT&T Wireless was reported late Tuesday, citing sources familiar with the situation that noted the proposed deal—in which Cingular would acquire AT&T Wireless—has the backing of Cingular’s parent companies SBC Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp."

I'll believe it when I see it.
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annetagonist

Jan 14, 2004, 9:58 PM
ATandT said:
He did later correct himself.

Here is a clip from rcrnews.com

"The latest merger rumor between Cingular and AT&T Wireless was reported late Tuesday, citing sources familiar with the situation that noted the proposed deal—in which Cingular would acquire AT&T Wireless—has the backing of Cingular’s parent companies SBC Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp."

I'll believe it when I see it.


Same here. I just found this article from RCRNEWS.COM:
Jan. 14, 2004 1:38 PM EST
Wireless stocks posted strong gains in early Wednesday trading following renewed rumors of a possible merger between Cingular Wireless L.L.C. and AT&T Wireless Services Inc.
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moobak

Jan 15, 2004, 6:23 AM
I think really it would be an aquisiton, since SBC and Bellsouth own Cingular, AT&T Wireless is its own company. :/
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annetagonist

Jan 16, 2004, 5:06 PM
Yeah, I have been reading up on it, and there is lots of talk about DoCoMo, Vodaphone, and SBC actually aquiring attws. I spoke too soon. Good. Maybe then ATTWS will have 7:00 n&w and roll over minutes.
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moobak

Jan 17, 2004, 8:46 PM
We are geting 7PM N&W minutes apparentlyu some time soon in the near or far future, rumor has it. 🙂
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