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Excuse me a minute.
SMACK SMACK THWAP SMACK!
GET A GRIP PEOPLE!
First: if you're on Verizon or Sprint, stop reading. This article isn't for you. If you're on AT&T, stop reading. This article isn't for you ether.
T-Mobile? Then here's the deal.
You got a year, if not longer. AT&T and T-Mobile USA needs to get it pushed through the shareholders of both companies, the FTC, the FCC, and quite possibly the Justice Department because it's going to monopolize the GSM network market.
That said, I'm going to say: IF YOUR PHONE IS NEW, YOU DON'T NEED TO REPLACE IT IF AND WHEN THE MERGER GOES THROUGH.
Why is that? It depends on what frequencies your phone supports.
AT&T and T-Mobile share the 850 MHz and 1900 MHz spectrum for GSM voice, GPRS low-speed (dialup) data, and EDGE medium-speed (ISDN) data.
AT&T also uses those frequencies for 3G data, aka HSPA and it's variants (HSDPA/HSDPA+/HSUPA).
T-Mobile uses 1700 MHz and 2100 MHz for 3G data.
So, if it's a quad band sold in the US, more than likely it'll hit the two shared frequencies AND at least one or two of the dedicated frequencies.
But AT&T has said it'll move all those folks to their spectrum and use the other two for higher-speed (LTE) service. I know that. I also know the firmware is updated over the air for most phones and the iPhone works quite well on T-Mobile. All AT&T really needs to do is:
SMACK SMACK THWAP SMACK!
GET A GRIP PEOPLE!
First: if you're on Verizon or Sprint, stop reading. This article isn't for you. If you're on AT&T, stop reading. This article isn't for you ether.
T-Mobile? Then here's the deal.
You got a year, if not longer. AT&T and T-Mobile USA needs to get it pushed through the shareholders of both companies, the FTC, the FCC, and quite possibly the Justice Department because it's going to monopolize the GSM network market.
That said, I'm going to say: IF YOUR PHONE IS NEW, YOU DON'T NEED TO REPLACE IT IF AND WHEN THE MERGER GOES THROUGH.
Why is that? It depends on what frequencies your phone supports.
AT&T and T-Mobile share the 850 MHz and 1900 MHz spectrum for GSM voice, GPRS low-speed (dialup) data, and EDGE medium-speed (ISDN) data.
AT&T also uses those frequencies for 3G data, aka HSPA and it's variants (HSDPA/HSDPA+/HSUPA).
T-Mobile uses 1700 MHz and 2100 MHz for 3G data.
So, if it's a quad band sold in the US, more than likely it'll hit the two shared frequencies AND at least one or two of the dedicated frequencies.
But AT&T has said it'll move all those folks to their spectrum and use the other two for higher-speed (LTE) service. I know that. I also know the firmware is updated over the air for most phones and the iPhone works quite well on T-Mobile. All AT&T really needs to do is:
- Push an update on the feature phones to use the new signals (like they did as Cingular to go to AT&T -- something I experienced).
- Push an update on the smart phones as well to update the baseband firmware. (see Android)
- Get old phones (near 2+ years old) upgraded.
