Quickly! Someone get GeoHoT!

Oh shit, time to jump ship.

Wasn't T-Mobile already merging with Orange anyway?

It still hasn't been authorized by the FCC. They just said they WANT to do this.

lol just yesterday I switched to tmobile.. :(

When will people understand that watchdogs like the FCC only exist to help corporations and give consumers the illusion of fairness.

Its still gonna take a year for it to be done. Sad part is that I still have year and a half on my contract :(

I completely do not give a shit. For one thing, this might mean AT&T users could get a decent fucking signal once in a while.

AT&T is implementing download caps on internet users.

I don't think you're getting an improvement here.

The problem is that in the US, we've got a very small pool of providers. I think my options right now are AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint and Boost Mobile, and I think that's it. Other parts of the country have US Cellular and Cricket, but I think that's about it.

The FCC might authorize it, but the DoJ shouldn't, as this is a pretty blatant violation of our Clayton Antitrust Act. Basically, mergers and acquisitions where the effect may substantially lessen competition are forbidden. Now it takes a look at the case law to know what exactly that means, but in this case it's pretty certain to apply.

Now, getting the DoJ to get off their fat backsides and actually enforce the law is asking a lot. These were the same basic yahoos that thought that it was OK for Google to buy Doubleclick.
All carriers in the US have some sort of a cap, but T-Mobile was ahead of everybody else in terms of not caring what you do with it. If you wanted to use that bandwidth for tethering so be it, but if you went over the 5gb they would take appropriate actions.

AT&T OTOH charges for unlimited data, but tells you how you can use it and charges for the privilege of using it for tethering on top of charging for the bandwidth used.

Dude when AT&T bought Cingular we all got great ser...

Oh fuck, we're doomed!

I hadn't read this yet, that blows, no one else was offering no contract plans when you brought your own phone. On the other hand, T-Mobile's coverage blew huge chunks outside LA and NY City.

Well, that might be what they are doing now, but that was never their mandate. In fact, allowing this merger would go directly against one of the specific goals from its current "strategic plan":

"Competition in the provision of communication services, both domestically and overseas, supports the Nation's economy. The competitive framework for communications services should foster innovation and offer consumers reliable, meaningful choice in affordable services."

sorry, he's too busy singing terrible "rap" songs and asking for "donations"

You must realize that sounds like a lot of choice. I can go with Rogers or Telus.

People still use phones to talk to others? That's so 2007... ; )

I got a kick out of AT&T's old "More bars in more places" campaign. They advertised heavily around here yet our area had about the largest contiguous blank spot on the coverage map. You had more bars unless you were dumb enough to get 3 miles outside of town.

All I can say is, please don't let this somehow screw up Sprint. I'm completely happy with what I have going with them and really don't want it to decline.