This makes me want to cry. AFAIK T-Mobile is the only US carrier that actually allows you to save money by <i>not</i> subsidizing your handset purchase. I saved $20 off of T-Mobile's already reasonable monthly rates by buying my Nexus One upfront.<p>More importantly, the phone is unlocked. When I travel abroad, I can simply pop in a prepaid SIM card and I'm set. How many phones does AT&T sell that aren't SIM-locked to their network?
I left AT&T for T-Mobile years ago, because AT&T's customer service is terrible while T-Mobile's is excellent. I won't give AT&T my money ever again, but my choices keep narrowing.<p>I doubt that I'm alone, which means that Verizon could easily "not lose" contrary to the title of the thread.
Well, at least Deutsche Telekom is probably happy to finally get rid of their stupid adventure in North America. They bought for 51 billion dollar eleven years ago, they are selling now for 39 billion dollar — all things considered probably not a bad deal.
Very interesting piece though weirdly doesn't mention Apple (at least as of right now, maybe he'll update?). Plus for Apple is access to more customers for iPhone though right now T-Mobile 3G network is incompatible with GSM/3G version of iPhone. Downside is greater bargaining power of AT&T and Verizon as carrier space consolidates.<p>But with regards to Google, it seems kind of silly to suggest tiny, market-share losing T-Mobile was all that stood between the carriers hijacking Android and nirvana. Google's biggest bargaining chip with carriers is the inclusion of very popular Google Android services like mapping, voice to text etc. And Verizon and AT&T seem pretty high on Android to prevent Apple from gaining too much sway.<p>Lots more to come on this one...
Does this mean I will now have an additional array of cell towers to boost my otherwise crappy reception? Will this result in load balancing for AT&T's overwhelmed 3G network?