AT&T* today announced a definitive agreement to acquire wireless assets from Verizon Wireless for $2.35 billion in cash. Under terms of the agreement, AT&T will acquire wireless properties, including licenses, network assets and 1.5 million current subscribers in 79 service areas, primarily in rural areas across 18 states. Verizon Wireless is required to divest these properties as part of the regulatory approvals granted for its purchase of Alltel earlier this year. The states represented are: Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming.

http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pi...rticleid=26803



I'm affected by this. Verizon is leaving completely and i'll be having to switch to ATT

Guys with ATT, thoughts on the service vs Big Red?

 

wow that sucks for a lot of people

 

iPhone > *




That's all I got.....

 

Lol, my heart stopped when I read that. Thank God NY and NJ aren't affected!

 

So I guess Verizon customers can finally get the iPhone.

 

At&t rocks

HAHA! im a store manager for them. im not saying this because i work for there. overall, it really is a great company!

 

so whats the deal with the high speed data network for AT&T? I was under the impression it operated on the 1900Mhz band which meant the signal didn't go as far as Verizon's 850Mhz band. If thats the case, signal would be very poor in these rural areas as towers are few and far between!

 

Although my service with AT&T Wireless isn't perfect, I've been relatively happy with them. The reasons I have no intentions of leaving are...

1) Rollover minutes
2) Most of who I know have service through AT&T Wireless
3) I've been debating buying an iPhone, lol

My only complaints are...

1) Poor reception inside my house (although this may not be AT&T's fault)
2) Poor reception inside any buildings at work (again, may not be AT&T's fault).

Otherwise, I'm happy. The Rollover minutes feature allows me to subscribe to a lower plan and build a buffer for the month or two in a given year I may end up needing additional minutes. I like it.

 

so how will this work when at&t is GSM and Verizon is CDMA?

 

From what I understand, they are adding their equipment to the towers and they are claiming they'll be able to do it all in about a year(start of '10 til end of '10)

 

They do operate on the 850MHz band some as well from what I read today.

 

Until you have to call customer service. My neighbors hate it, if they want to use theirs phones they have to use them outside while at home.

 

Most of the markets out west were owned and operated by Western Wireless:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Wireless

Those markets are already GSM. Alltel has been using those for roaming revenue.

Mind you there are legacy Alltel markets as well...

Those markets that are in hold by the trust company, being bought by ATT running the CDMA will remain CDMA. After FCC approval, and funding has been allocated it is up to ATT to decide to leave those markets CDMA and utilize those towers and switches for roaming revenue, or to switch them over to GSM.

ATT is very smart and will evaluate the cost effectiveness of switching over the towers, and the switch in each market. If it makes more sense to keep it CDMA... you can bet it'll stay.... if it'll improve there customer's experience in some rural area, chances are it'll be switched out.