AT&T to buy T-Mobile USA.

**iridescence** · 03-21-2011, 12:16 AM

I actually hope it's not even approved. It's funny, Canada is moving towards more competition, but this would push the US towards less. T-Mobile has been the driving force of a lot of change in the last few years - they're the ones who first came out with 'Fab five' in the US, as well as unlimited plans. AT&T and Verizon already pretty much move in lockstep.

**ijcy** · 03-21-2011, 12:26 AM

Wait who wants an iphone anyways?! AWS or not?!

**torontocolin** · 03-21-2011, 12:45 AM

It makes no sense for AT&T to decommission T-Mobile's network. It makes far, far more sense for them to integrate it into their own, increasing capacity by far, and then pressure manufacturers for pentaband chipsets. Here are a few reasons decommissioning the T-Mobile network would be foolish:

They'd have to replace 30 million devices at their own cost.
They would have to throw away however many millions of phones with AWS T-Mobile has on hand
They would have to cancel all future orders of phones immediately, and with no new devices existing customers would leave when their contract comes up
Nobody would sign up for T-Mobile while they're waiting for regulatory approval when their device potentially won't work in less than a year
Even with new devices, existing customers would be upset for the inconvenience and potentially get far worse reception with AT&T
All of the above would essentially prevent them from continuing to use the T-Mobile brand, which has value
People forget (or maybe don't know) that T-Mobile has a LOT of AWS spectrum. Enough that AT&T can take that extra spectrum and combine it with their own AWS reserves and use that to complement their 700 band spectrum, making it unnecessary to take down the AWS network
AT&T's network is already congested. They need to expand, not add 30% more users to the existing network.

Think of when Rogers acquired Fido. They took Fido's towers which used 1900 and combined them with their own 850 network and ended up with a stronger combined network. Expect to see much of the same in this case. T-Mobile will continue to look independent to the average American, until you look closely.

Wind probably doesn't have enough spectrum to do HSPA and LTE, but they can buy 700 spectrum which the new super AT&T will use. They don't need both of them. Meanwhile the Big 3 can use both spectrum bands for their LTE networks and we may finally see the network hegemony we need to migrate at will.

Also, T-Mobile has said on their website that their HSPA network will continue to exist post-merger.

**Fenrry** · 03-21-2011, 01:06 AM

...so many ppl interested on getting an AWS iPhone but doesn't understand how expensive LD will get....

**mapleleafs89** · 03-21-2011, 01:19 AM

what is an iphone?

**ijcy** · 03-21-2011, 01:30 AM

Originally Posted by mapleleafs89

what is an iphone?

That is a better query then mine, right! what is an iphone?

**potentpotable** · 03-21-2011, 02:13 AM

Really? Thread crapping to diss the iPhone? Anonymous Apple haters are a peculiar bunch — your bizzare obsession with criticizing iPhones (or Apple in general) doesn't make you a better person. Some people don't like BBs or Androids, deal with it.

Anyway, I for one am absolutely confused about how to feel. I was about to leave WIND this summer for the iPhone 5, but now I don't know if I should hold out (get a crappy BB (the new Bold 9900) or something) for who knows how long until it's more clear whether an AWS iPhone is happening or not.

Thoughts?

**mapleleafs89** · 03-21-2011, 02:33 AM

Originally Posted by potentpotable

Really? Thread crapping to diss the iPhone? Anonymous Apple haters are a peculiar bunch — your bizzare obsession with criticizing iPhones (or Apple in general) doesn't make you a better person. Some people don't like BBs or Androids, deal with it.

Anyway, I for one am absolutely confused about how to feel. I was about to leave WIND this summer for the iPhone 5, but now I don't know if I should hold out (get a crappy BB (the new Bold 9900) or something) for who knows how long until it's more clear whether an AWS iPhone is happening or not.

Thoughts?

I have a blackberry, it also sucks. Happy? Anyways, it was more of a joke because almost every post has been about the iPhone and it was getting a bit dry in here.

**Plazmic Flame** · 03-21-2011, 06:09 AM

LOL! We talk about the iPhone because it actually works. I've never owned a device that I never had to do a hard reboot or have constant freezing of the device until I had an iPhone. I want that kind of reliability again. Everything worked from day one. Can't say the same about Blackberry or Android but Blackberry is definitely above Android.

**Mr Mystery** · 03-21-2011, 06:46 AM

Originally Posted by ijcy

Wait who wants an iphone anyways?! AWS or not?!

Me + Millions more

Sent from my iPhone 4 using HowardForums app

**hohohong** · 03-21-2011, 07:31 AM

http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/21/c...m-for-lte-bui/

That means AWS for LTE aka iPhone will get AWS(LTE) in 2012?

If I'm Steve, I would wanna reach as many users as possible now that T-Mobile belongs to ATT. So does ATT.

It would make economic sense to include AWS in iPhone 5.

**ShanghaiKid** · 03-21-2011, 07:50 AM

For T-Mobile, is their AWS network bigger than their HSPA network? Because if their HSPA network is bigger I can see AT&T using that over the AWS network to offload some of the congestion they are experiencing. If you think about it, AT&T has a HSPA network and not a AWS network so chances are the people that are causing the congestion do not have AWS phones so AT&T would have to force them to switch to an AWS phone which could be a nightmare for some users having to be forced to switch phones. Just my thoughts.

**jhuynh** · 03-21-2011, 08:28 AM

Originally Posted by ShanghaiKid

For T-Mobile, is their AWS network bigger than their HSPA network? Because if their HSPA network is bigger I can see AT&T using that over the AWS network to offload some of the congestion they are experiencing. If you think about it, AT&T has a HSPA network and not a AWS network so chances are the people that are causing the congestion do not have AWS phones so AT&T would have to force them to switch to an AWS phone which could be a nightmare for some users having to be forced to switch phones. Just my thoughts.

HSPA is a mobile network protocol. AWS is a wireless spectrum band. T-Mobile uses HSPA on the AWS frequency.

**nickpowers101** · 03-21-2011, 09:02 AM

Originally Posted by ShanghaiKid

For T-Mobile, is their AWS network bigger than their HSPA network? Because if their HSPA network is bigger I can see AT&T using that over the AWS network to offload some of the congestion they are experiencing. If you think about it, AT&T has a HSPA network and not a AWS network so chances are the people that are causing the congestion do not have AWS phones so AT&T would have to force them to switch to an AWS phone which could be a nightmare for some users having to be forced to switch phones. Just my thoughts.

You're confused.

AWS just refers to the 1700/2100 MHz frequency pair. HSPA is the technology being utilized on these frequencies.

**ShanghaiKid** · 03-21-2011, 09:39 AM

Originally Posted by nickpowers101

You're confused.

AWS just refers to the 1700/2100 MHz frequency pair. HSPA is the technology being utilized on these frequencies.

Thanks for the explanation. So this means then that if AT&T uses the HSPA network protocol on their AWS Band that there is no need for AT&T to get penta band phones, their existing phones will work on the T-Mobile network?

So all the previous posts making reference of this being a good thing for Wind/Mobi because it will force the manafacturers to make a Penta band phone is just a wish more than reality?