AT&T/T-Mobile merger in senate!

During the hearing I have found Rundall Stephenson to be a downright liar. Apparently, the iPhone had no impact on the carriers subscribers.

Someone just needs to like cuss him out. lol.

OK, a new nickname for AT&T, besides A Fee & Fee, though it does not rhyme....All Lies & (More) Lies

Is it just me, or is this deal moving unnaturally fast through the governmental agencies? I'm just saying...this is FAST for Congress, which is opposite of progress, BTW.

Well Dan Hesse seems to be right on. Phillip Humm seems to be AT&Ts gopher. Cohn acts like he was paid off by AT&T. Here are the facts and these weren't exactly mentioned today. This comes from what I know but I wish I was there I would've called Rundall Stephenson an outright liar. He apparently didnt remember saying anything. If the FTC was smart they would force Rundall Stephenson to step down because he is a shady businessman. You can see it in his actions.

Here are the facts:

* T-Mobile has 33.63 million Subscribers & AT&T has 97.5 million = 131.13 million Subscribers + AT&T adds between 2 to 2.5 million Subscribers on average per quarter. Q2, Q3, Q4 of 11 would yield 6.5 to 7.5 million est. on AT&T = 137.63 to 138.63 million Subscribers. Out of 138.63 of 302 million AT&T would own 45.9% of America. Over 30% is against policy. By the end of 2012 AT&T could approach 49% of the market.

*T-Mobile showed off a presentation at a Feburary meeting showing they would deliver nationwide coverage by 2013 on 3G/4G (this proves they can be a high competitor & are NOT short on spectrum, just because you have no LTE doesn't mean you throw a fit)

*T-Mobile & Nokia Siemens made an agreement for LTHE 336/672 for 2013. Along with T-Mobile rolling HSPA+ 42, 84 & 168. (All 2G spectrum would flip to make this network possible)

*T-Mobile only allocates 10MHz of AWS for 3G/HSPA+ 21. 20MHz for HSPA+ 42 & 84 & 40MHz for HSPA+ 168 in the future approximately.

*AT&T & T-Mobile overlap coverage in over >90% of the market. It only gives additional spectrum to <10% of NEW markets for AT&T in which AT&T is already in more markets than T-Mobile.

*AT&T & T-Mobile have spectrum in many areas they haven't launched service in due to they feel these areas are not populated enough.

*Combining T-Mobile/AT&T's 1900MHz frequency GSM/GPRS/EDGE Network that will have approximately 105 Million by the end of 2011 will cause more dropped calls for T-Mobile subscribers but will give AT&T subscribers <5% of a better stable network. Only reception can be improved but it is unlikely due to AT&T's history.

*Around 2 years after the merger T-Mobile 3G frequency AWS 1700/2100 will no longer function on T-Mobile handsets due to switch of type of network to LTE (Caused by chipset requirements not within HSPA+) you will be forced to upgrade anyhow if you want 3G or 4G.

*Around 2 years after the merger when it is time to upgrade AT&T will force you off your plans and onto one of theirs as this happens all the time once the company site disappears so will the plans and their systems will erase them when they get an opportunity like when you upgrade a phone

*Once the company takes over completely any replacements needed you will be given an AT&T alternative phone.

*AT&T is one of the largest holders of LTE spectrum. A second LTE spectrum auction is coming in the next couple of years once the FCC is ready to auction off.

*iPhone exclusivity deal that was made w/ AT&T for 4 years caused this data surge. It is AT&T's fault for not unloading spectrum they didn't use to ease the network. This is also an example of what the FCC didn't want which is one carrier blocking it so other carriers for 4 years couldn't get the same phone.

*Statistics show data prices are going up. With or Without this merger they will continue to go up as Data is the #1 popular feature to have. It is no longer voice and networks would still implement VoIP supported networks. It cost 19.99 for Total Internet on T-Mobile back in 2006 now it is $30.00. Other major carriers like Verizon & AT&T are also upping the cost. Things would not get cheaper if the merger goes through.

*T-Mobile has NO 850MHz PCS 3G spectrum or 2G spectrum unless roaming agreement. Throwing T-Mobile subscribers onto the 850MHz will only help reception wise but it will make data speeds slower & intermittent due to the fact there are more subscribers now on the network.

*AT&T & T-Mobile DO NOT perform regular maintenance on their networks. Their networks are not sufficient to get the most out of them.

*T-Mobile & AT&T are competitors due to the nature of their market they belong to called "Major Wireless Carrier".

*Cricket & MetroPCS are NOT competitors because their coverage is NOT nationwide and due to the market they belong to "Regional Wireless Carrier" carriers like this will never be a major.  

*Due to the amount of subscribers from both LTE will only be fast for a limited time. Eventually it will boggle down to like HSPA+ 21 speeds.

*2G is now going to be named a legacy network due to the fact the data speeds are slow & you can't Voice/Data at the same time. T-Mobiles approach to end 2G is a right move.

*T-Mobile bought UMA to market which is better than Femtocells. They invented SMS multi-carrier. They have the best customer care practice.

*AT&T would lay off almost all T-Mobile employees to save money so they can profit off this deal.

*Certain areas could possibly experience an outage for an undisclosed amount of time due to joining networks. This happened in certain areas when Alltel/Verizon merger went through. Montana is an example.

*Deposit for NEW service on credit check goes up to $1000 on AT&T. The highest that the other carriers have is $400. This causes a problem for consumers who would want service with AT&T.

*AT&T offers NO program like FlexPay. Those who have low credit would most likely have to pay up to $1000 for service & due to this economy that is impossible for many.

*Would lead to additional shortage of reps to answer calls. Even tho AT&T has had a history of bad customer service already. Expect hold times to increase 2 to 4 times.

It took 35 years for the FCC to rid of AT&T's landline monopoly business. We DO NOT need them to do this again with the wireless industry. This puts Sprint at risk also. If Sprint gets sold to Verizon there goes Virgin Mobile's $25 plan and Boost's $50 plan. Cricket put themselves up for sale in February 2010 and hasn't found a buyer. This is also another to go.

I don't understand the obsession with LTE..LTE is like a max of 330mps or something (the technology is theoretically) but on ATT and VZW etc it will only be 50mbps. HSPA+ 42 even provides equal speeds to Verizon's 20+mbps. HSPA+ 168 even must provide like 90mbps or something. LTHE 672 will probably be like..well just a lot. Like 400 mbps or something on a loaded network. We shouldn't start freaking out about new technologies until LTE Advancned.

I don't understand the obsession with LTE..LTE is like a max of 330mps or something (the technology is theoretically) but on ATT and VZW etc it will only be 50mbps. HSPA+ 42 even provides equal speeds to Verizon's 20+mbps. HSPA+ 168 even must provide like 90mbps or something. LTHE 672 will probably be like..well just a lot. Like 400 mbps or something on a loaded network. We shouldn't start freaking out about new technologies until LTE Advancned.

LTE isn't that fast. It has a peak of around 326.4Mbps. Verizon is not using technology that would need to be implemented for these speeds. They are using 10MHz w/ 2x2 antennas so its 86.4Mbps they aren't using full spectrum.

Additional facts have been added.

I watched the live C-SPAN stream, and I can tell you that Stephenson is a major liar! He claimed that T-Mobile isn't a competitor to them, and that the government should examine this merger on a market by market basis, instead of on a national basis.

First of all, T-Mobile is a major competitor to them. Even the senate saw through that lie from Stephenson. I know what he meant by T-Mobile not being a major competitor. He means that he is more worried about Verizon's marketing and business, compared to T-Mobile. AT&T will not move on something, unless Verizon does it first.

Stephenson probably told Humm, to keep quiet, and let me do the talking. lol. I

Sohn told him, that "You never see AT&T attacking MetroPCS in their ads". lol, its true.

AT&T always tries to block people from having something. They blocked T-Mobile from having the iPhone. They know T-Mobile at the time, was cheaper with the MyFaves, and Get More plans. They wouldn't have stood a chance against T-Mobile's rate plans with the iPhone.

I remember being in an AT&T store on 34th Street across from Macy's in NYC, and these two guys were in the store. One of them complained and said AT&T is such garbage. I can't get anything to work. They are garbage compared to Verizon, and I might switch back to Verizon. When I heard that, I started to laugh, cause everyone knows AT&T is trash.

Another time on the subway, a girl was saying she wants the iPhone, but she doesn't want to go to AT&T, cause she heard so many bad things about them.