Stop the T-Mobile / AT&T Merger

Seriously Guys, This is Happening

admin — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 11:12:14 +0000

Our opposition from the consumer perspective hasn’t gone terribly far. We wanted to get all grass-rootsy and oppose the merger, but despite hundreds of letters flowing out, it seems it’s all for naught.

The media isn’t covering it anymore, and it’s just going to happen.

I, for one, do NOT welcome our new wireless overlords, with their nationwide coast AND coast coverage, abysmal customer service, and non-competitive pricing… sucks guys.

My Experience With AT&T

admin — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 11:12:02 +0000

I started this site as a T-Mobile customer, but not as an AT&T customer. Surely my experience was a bit limited – at least by half – but I’d heard horror stories I hadn’t experienced them myself… well, now I have. Not good.

I’ve been hanging out with my brother a lot lately, and he lives in a small town in Eastern Washington where coverage is spotty at best. T-Mobile has no coverage there, so I asked around, and what I found was that AT&T was among the only provider with coverage there.

I bought a GoPhone, the prepaid cellular phone offered by AT&T. It seemed too good to be true, and bet your bottom ass, it was.

Mine was a plan with no minimums and a cheap, cheap phone… so let’s break down the problems with AT&T, and then I’ll talk about my experience with T-Mobile, and why it’s exactly the opposite.

The no-minimum deal from AT&T had hidden costs a-plenty. You can only buy your cards in $25 increments, and they expire within 90-days, so really, your cost is at the very least $8.33/month, assuming you never use it.

Oh, and I use it a lot. I use it to get calls (at ten-cents a minute,) text messages (at 20-cents each) and voicemails (at 20-cents per text notification, plus whatever time it takes to delete them on my voice plan.)

It looks like I’m already going to run about $12 a month for my prepaid GoPhone just for having a number some other consumer had before me. That’s before I actually use the device.

And once I got it, I found the display was defective. It took me almost four days to get through to customer care just to get help with it. My phone is pre-programmed with customer care’s number, but considering the fact that my phone was only allowed to use online customer care (at a charge of a penny a minute) I didn’t know that until days later when I finally found another way to reach a representative.

See, you hit the button for customer care, or dial 611, and you go to the website, but then the phone — though active — wouldn’t authenticate, so I was given the option to call customer care, but that just hit 611 again and looped me back to the online system that didn’t work.

Never mind the fact that when I checked on Thursday, just hours before receiving my phone, the website still said it might be another five days…

So in order to get my customer care, I had to Google the phone number. I talked with a guy who was good, though less than useful, and he transfered me to someone who could actually help me. It took a paltry 40-minutes to get my issue resolved, but it’s a small price to pay for the low price (which really isn’t so low,) and high return (is it a return?) that comes with having an AT&T GoPhone.

Compare that with T-Mobile, where you can readily reach a live person as needed, and they can answer your questions. T-Mobile isn’t buying AT&T and bringing their style of management, but the other way around.

The cost is fair, but the value is terrible. I’ve been a customer of both companies and I have to say that my experience with AT&T is, well, less than reasonable.

In Summary
I get far better service from T-Mobile, of whom I’ve been a customer for years, than I do from the cut-rate service of AT&T, which ain’t nearly as cheap as it pretends to be.

AT&T led me to believe I’d have their phone for basically free, except for when I use it. The reality is that I have to pay for huge amounts of calls to Aaron, who used to have this number (hey Aaron, what’s up!)

This merger is a joke, an insult, and whoever approves it at the FCC (which is going to happen) will surely have a million dollar job in telecom within the coming year… I’ll even take bets on it. The merger WILL happen, though illegally huge, and the approver WILL get a big time job.

The net neutrality threat of the T-Mobile merger with AT&T

admin — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 14:08:59 +0000

Last Sunday, on the eve the wireless industry’s largest tradeshow in Orlando, AT&T announced its plan to buy rival mobile service provider T-Mobile USA for $39bn. Were this merger allowed to proceed, AT&T would control more than 40% of all US wireless subscribers. (By way of comparison, the combined T-Mobile UK and Orange will control 37% of the UK mobile market.) Together, AT&T and Verizon Wireless would be an effective wireless duopoly, controlling nearly 80% of the market.

Read the whole article at The Guardian.

AT&T mega-merger tied to spectrum drought: Cicconi

admin — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 13:20:01 +0000

U.S. government remedies to free up more U.S. airwaves for wireless services are not coming fast enough and were an important driver behind AT&T Inc’s (T.N) $39 billion bid to buy Deutsche Telekom AG’s (DTEGn.DE) T-Mobile USA, an AT&T executive said on Wednesday. James Cicconi, the head of AT&T’s lobbying effort to acquire T-Mobile, said the merger creates a fast and certain solution to AT&T’s impending spectrum shortage.

Read the whole article at Reuters.

Oppose AT&T monopoly on cell phone service

admin — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 10:19:02 +0000

I am stealing a headline from The Economist on the proposed merger of AT&T with T-Mobile, USA. The proposed merger is reminiscent of monopolistic tactics of the old AT&T, and I am tired of Too Big To Fail mergers and acquisitions, which benefit corporate CEOs, stockholders and generally shady characters.

Read the whole article at The Daily Record.

There Will Be Volatility: The AT&T / T-Mobile Merger

admin — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 09:54:20 +0000

In recent weeks, AT&T (T) submitted a bid to take over T-Mobile for $39 billion. This has led to mass speculation on both sides, wondering whether the DOJ will step in and block the merger due to antitrust laws or not. On one side of the coin, those that are for the bid claim that the merger will lead to greater coverage for all Americans throughout the United States. This follows President Obama’s initiative to bring complete coverage to all Americans by 2015. In response to antitrust talk, these pro-merger supporters believe that T-Mobile is not a big player in all local markets, such as Miami and Detroit, where other smaller competitors, like MetroPCS (PCS), hold more subscribers. Based on the competition factor at the local levels, they believe you can’t make the case that this is a horizontal merger of two super firms depleting competition in the industry.

Read the whole article at Seeking Alpha.

AT&T Defends T-Mobile Merger: It’s a Good Thing, Really!

admin — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 09:50:45 +0000

In case you hadn’t heard, AT&T and T-Mobile could soon become one. But what does that mean for the rest of us? All good news for AT&T customers, says AT&T Chief Executive Randall Stephenson, so, you know, take the following comments with a grain of salt. Stephenson says that if the merger is approved, the network will improve up to 30 percent in some of the biggest U.S. cities, including New York City where wireless service is sometimes so bad you might as well jump on the subway and wait to chat in person.

Read the whole article at Time.com.

FCC Commissioner Says AT&T, T-Mobile Deal Faces ‘Steep Climb’

admin — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 11:48:39 +0000

Democratic Federal Communications Commissioner Michael Copps this week expressed concern about the pending AT&T-T-Mobile merger, calling it a “paradigm-altering transaction.” AT&T and T-Mobile have a “very steep climb” to convince Copps that the deal is worthwhile, he said during an interview on C-SPAN’s “The Communicators.” “You will remember in the Comcast merger that I said at the outset that that would’ve been a very steep climb for me; I ended up voting against it,” Copps said.

Read the whole article at PC Mag.

AT&T, T-Mobile merger roils already uncertain industry

admin — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 05:47:58 +0000

For wireless tower owner American Tower Corp., the proposed merger between telecom giants AT&T and T-Mobile has created more uncertainty in an industry that was volatile to begin with. The potential impact for telecom equipment firm Acme Packet Inc. is also unclear, though there’s some indication the merger wouldn’t slow spending on technologies the company specializes in.

Read the whole article at Biz Journals.

AT&T aims to reclaim power

admin — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 11:29:15 +0000

For those who are unaware, the wireless carrier AT&T is attempting to acquire the German cellular telephone company T-Mobile. As I will explain, this introduces a slightly new dynamic to the telecommunications industry in the United States. To put things in perspective, AT&T is the second largest wireless carrier operating in the U.S. and T-Mobile is the fourth. It does not take a genius to figure out what absorbing T-Mobile will do to AT&T’s control of the wireless market, and many concerns already exist. The word “monopoly” is being thrown around. I am not an economist, so I will not attempt to predict how the merger will really affect consumers, though overall the consensus seems to be negative. I will instead point out some history I think is especially relevant in evaluating the situation.

Read the whole article at The Daily Evergreen.