AT&T/T-Mobile Merger

So, you may have heard the news: AT&T is buying-out T-Mobile. You might be wondering how this is going to affect the average T-Mobile customer. Well I’ll tell you, IT’S GOING TO SUCK!

T-Mobile has been around since 1990, and is currently owned by Deutsche Telekom; a German telecommunications company. Since its inception, T-Mobile has racked up more than 150 million customers worldwide, making it the tenth-largest mobile phone service provider. It has consistently come in second overall in customer satisfaction, always beaten by Verizon. In third place we have AT&T, who has ranked worst in customer satisfaction for many years, and owes a lot of its customers to the Iphone (the Iphone was only available to AT&T customers until recently).

AT&T’s financial legs have been the Iphone. This is because there is nothing else to like about AT&T. Its customer service sucks, its data plans suck, and its service sucks. Are not all of those things exactly what a service provider is supposed to provide? To expand, AT&T does not have unlimited data plans; who doesn’t have unlimited data plans?! I’m serious, why else would a company not provide an unlimited data plan unless its primary concern was profit and not customers. Regarding service, it just plain sucks. I had AT&T for many years, and rarely did I ever have more than one or two bars.  This has a lot to do however, with AT&T’s service and coverage; they don’t come close to what T-Mobile or Verizon provide.

So AT&T sucks, but why is this merger bad for T-Mobile customers? There are many answers to that, the first being, new phones. Yes, you will have to purchase new phones once this merger goes through. This is due to some technical mambo-jumbo about frequencies. Secondly, what sounds like a good thing is really a devil in the shadows: more cell towers means more coverage, right? Sure, more coverage, but the quality of that coverage, especially for data, is terrible. The reason for this is the super powered Iphone, which clogs up AT&T’s network like a crimp in a water hose. So now, when you are in the middle of Nebraska looking for a signal, you might actually find a bar or two, but don’t expect to be able to hear the person on the other line. Yuppie boy in San Francisco is busy messaging pictures of his 12 cats to his girlfriend. Lastly, we have customer service. Ah, customer service, the science and the art, when it’s great, it’s wonderful; but when it sucks, it ruins your day like the sight of Ryan Seacrest ruins mine. AT&T is known for its horrendous customer service. It ranked almost dead last in customer service in a survey of mobile phone customers. If you do eventually get someone, they will most likely speak English poorly and constantly try to sell you something. Oh and by the way, you will likely pay more overall, for everything: your phone, service, and data. This is called (okay I made this word up) a pseudo-Monopoly. Sure you can change service providers, but are you really? They’re betting on that you won’t.

What can you do to fight this merger? Jump ship! Get out of there. If your focus is money, go to Cricket or Sprint or even one of those pay as you go phones (seriously, don’t get those phones, they are terrible).  If you are okay with how much you’re paying for service, go to Verizon. Their customer service is ever so slightly worse than T-Mobile’s, but I’m sure you’ll be more than happy. In fact, this is my plan as soon as my contract is up.

In conclusion: AT&T is the devil, Verizon is Heaven on earth.  There is no more T-Mobile. Oh, and AT&T sucks (I’m hoping if I say that enough it will subconsciously make you pay the early termination fee and move to Verizon, or any company other than AT&T, who really sucks). 

Love Always,

Double A

Quote of the Day: "The obscure we see eventually. The completely obvious, it seems, takes longer"

                                          Edward R. Murrow