No Merger for AT&T and T-Mobile

AT&T and T-Mobile

AT&T and T-Mobile | Well it looks like AT&T has called off its merger with T-Mobile.  Although this is not big news to a lot of us since trying to fight the Department of Justice is probably a no win deal and best.  The real story here though is what has occurred in the wake of the failed $39 billion dollar merger.

It’s always been known that if the merger failed T-Mobile would get three billion dollars in payments from AT&T.  Now in addition to that though it’s been learned that T-Mobile will get additional spectrum from AT&T as well, something AT&T claims it needs desperately.  This additional spectrum is in 128 cellular markets with 12 of those cellular markets being in the top 20 in the country. AT&T has also signed a seven year agreement with T-Mobile covering 3G UMTS roaming that will increase T-Mobile possible potential customers from 230 million to 280 million.

It Gets More Interesting With AT&T and T-Mobile

The information above is interesting in and of itself but then another little piece information became available, that made it even more interesting.  The Department of Justice recently OK’d a deal for AT&T to buy spectrum from Qualcomm.  This new spectrum is in the lower 700 MHz D and E blocks and will help AT&T greatly in their efforts to build out their 4G services.  What the DOJ giveth with one hand, it taketh away with the other.

Or could there be something else at work here?  Why would AT&T be so accommodating in inking new agreements with T-Mobile?  Maybe, just maybe, this isn’t all over yet and AT&T is betting on a change in its political fortunes this election year, which in my opinion is a pretty good bet.  Don’t be surprised to see this deal resurface after a new president is sworn in January 2013.

Stay tuned this can get very interesting come 2013.

Tagged As: AT&T and T-Mobile, AT&T Broadband, T-Mobile Broadband

T-Mobile Data Plans and Increased Speed

T-Mobile Data Plans

In case you missed it on May 24, 2011 T-Mobile Data plans became a lot more desirable.  Why do I say that?  Because on May 24 T-Mobile rolled out its new dual carrier HSPA+ network in 55 cities.  This new dual carrier system more than doubles T-Mobile’s theoretical data speeds to 42 mbps, putting it closer to Verizon’s 50 mbps of speed.

Basically T-Mobile has come up with technology that fuses 2 – 5 megahertz carriers into 1 – 10 megahertz carrier, thereby providing two channels for data flow.  While all of T-Mobile’s existing smart phones and air cards cannot utilize this method because a dual carrier data chip is required, most of the network will benefit from the increased capacity and the ability to clear data requests quicker.  The 4G mobile data plans will remain the same as far as charging goes and throttling if you exceed your data limit will also remain in place.

T-Mobile has introduced a new a new air card to utilize this new tech and it’s called the T-Mobile 4G rocket 3.0, which came on sale May 25.  The cost of the new 4G rocket with a two year contract is $99.00 after a mail in rebate of $50.00 and an instant rebate of $50.00.  Costs of the T-Mobile data plans will range from $29.99 for 200 MB to a high of $85.00 for 10 GB.  Prepaid plans are also available from a seven day plan which gives you 100 MB for 10 bucks up to a month plan that will allow for 3 GB of data for 30 dollars.

By the end of the year (2011) T-Mobile has reported that they will have this technology covering a population of 150 million people. That boils down to about 75% of people that can access HSPA+.  Verizon expects to have 185 million people covered by LTE in December of 2011.

While none of the cell carriers achieves true 4G speeds, which is 100 mbps, it does put two carriers at least half way there or close to it.  Of course there are many factors determining the data speeds you’ll receive, such as your distance from the tower.  With that said though customers with T-Mobile Data plans in the rollout cities (see bottom of page) and with the proper wireless internet card should see some huge increases in data speeds.

Now if you’re considering getting one of the T-Mobile data plan here are few nuggets that may or may not be in the literature.

• If you already have T-Mobile Service via a phone then you’ll automatically save 20% on your data plan, in other words your 5GB for $49.00/mo plan goes to $39.00.
• Reconsider signing a two year contract.  This can be avoided by simply paying full price for the air card and signing up for a month to month contract.  If you do decide to sign a two year contract consider this, it will save you exactly $100 on the air card, that’s the princely sum of $4.16 a month for two years of your life.
• If you are having trouble coming up with the $199 for the air card here is a little something that is not advertised.  Tell them that you would like a payment plan on the air card, you’ll still pay full price for the card, but it will be broken down over 20 months.  I know this works if you already have a phone with T-Mobile, I have not verified yet whether this works if you don’t have a phone with T-Mobile.
• Here is another unadvertised little nugget that may persuade you to go month to month on your contract.  When you do a month to month you can call in to your local T-Mobile Office and suspend the account if you don’t happen to need data access that month.  As a matter fact you can suspend it as far out as three months, at the end of the suspension period the account will automatically reactivate.  You cannot do this from your computer you have to call a local T-Mobile Office to activate the suspension.

So there you have it the low down on T-Mobile Data plans and their latest increase in speed.  I hope you found this information useful. Please re-verify the above information since it is subject to change without notice.

List of 42 Mbps Launch Cities:

Albany, Ga.; Athens, Ga.; Atlanta, Ga.; Auburn, Ala.; Augusta, Ga.; Austin, Texas; Bentonville, Ark.; Boulder, Colo.; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Chicago, Ill.; Dallas, Texas; Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, Fla.; Denver, Colo.; Detroit, Mich.; Durham, N.C.; El Paso, Texas; Fort Collins, Colo.; Gainesville, Fla.; Gainesville, Ga.; Greeley, Colo.; Honolulu, Hawaii; Houston, Texas; Jacksonville, Fla.; Long Island, N.Y.; Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, Calif.; Macon, Ga.; Mayaguez, Puerto Rico; Miami, Fla.; New Orleans, La.; Oklahoma City, Okla.; Olympia, Wash.; Omaha, Neb.; Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, Calif.; Phoenix, Ariz.; Pittsburgh, Pa.; Ponce, Puerto Rico; Portland, Ore.; Salinas, Calif.; San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, Calif.; San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif.; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Santa Cruz-Watsonville, Calif.; Santa Rosa-Petaluma, Calif.; Savannah, Ga.; Seattle, Wash.; Spokane, Wash.; Tampa, Fla.; Tulsa, Okla.; Valdosta, Ga.; Vallejo-Fairfield, Calif.; Warner Robins, Ga., and Wichita, Kan.

Tagged As: T-Mobile Data Plans