AT&T/DirecTV merger announced for $49 Billion

ncff07 said:
Alltel's system is 3G AT&T is 4G after AT&T bought them out they are converting the system over to 4G one state at a time. They are in the middle of converting NC to 4G and when it's done this summer I'll have to go in and get a AT&T cell on the new network they aren't leaving the customers any choice the 3G network sooner or later won't work. Only thing that can be done is go somewhere else after the contract period expires. Prepaid can go elsewhere at anytime.
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Yeah, and for us, that poses a problem, cause once Cricket begins operating under AT&T sometimes in 2016, I won't have a lot of good options in terms of choosing a good phone, because AT&T equipment is some of the most expensive I've ever seen. I'm not sure about Alltel, but it's safe to bet it'll probably happen around the same time, if not before. I'm not sure if my parents have a prepaid plan like I do or not, but I'd have to assume at least partially they might. I dunno what my parents are gonna do about the DirecTV issue, though. The service for that area they live in is decent, and I worry that AT&T will just mess that up.
 
Chevy57 said:
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/dail...-and-cash-flow-in-directv-deal-130008436.html

I think that videophone would be not enough to receive signal far from satellite (22,236 miles)
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My roommates have videophones connected to AT&T boxes, and truth be told, I'm not quite sure they understand what they're getting into, and what's going to happen if regulators approve the merger, but I have a hunch they won't. I haven't forgotten that they tried to buy out T-Mobile not long ago, and did buy out Cricket.
 
well - -I have direct tv and time warner internet. The CEO of direct tv will be retiring next year. If the merger is approved by regulators I expect to see some sort of package coming out of tv and internet. AT and T is still limited in providing DSL internet in many areas so I am not worried about any changes.

We all should be fine, just expect more channels or different lineup in directtv. As long everyone understands, when looking for options for internet, just confirm you are not getting satellite internet for your videophone needs and you will not have problems.

Anytime you get a modem with built in router and you have hardware videophone platform all you need to do when getting modem is setup static nat to vp ip address or similar settings. A quick call to any VRS tech support will tell you if you need to do this or not with any videophone setup. some phones needs this, some dont. More and more VP's setup are not requiring this so always check with your VRS provider.
 
radioman said:
well - -I have direct tv and time warner internet. The CEO of direct tv will be retiring next year. If the merger is approved by regulators I expect to see some sort of package coming out of tv and internet. AT and T is still limited in providing DSL internet in many areas so I am not worried about any changes.

We all should be fine, just expect more channels or different lineup in directtv. As long everyone understands, when looking for options for internet, just confirm you are not getting satellite internet for your videophone needs and you will not have problems.

Anytime you get a modem with built in router and you have hardware videophone platform all you need to do when getting modem is setup static nat to vp ip address or similar settings. A quick call to any VRS tech support will tell you if you need to do this or not with any videophone setup. some phones needs this, some dont. More and more VP's setup are not requiring this so always check with your VRS provider.
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When SVRS was last here setting up a ntouch VP for one of my housemates, I observed that it was far easier to do with AT&T than it would be to do with Comcast, because from what a SVRS trainer told me, there are certain properties of Comcast that they don't have access to, which would require the presence of a Comcast Tech person for setting up an VP with that IP. As for AT&T, I see that a tech person isn't required to come out and assist in setting one up, which I thought was interesting. Just my 2 cents.
 
Jiro said:
2 shitty services :roll:
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Wow, I don't know that you thought both are no good.

I find different on at&t that DSL is really BAD but U-Verse (TV/Internet combo) is pretty actual great. That show they want our money. bwhahaaaa :naughty:

I have no experience with Direct TV as I understand it's dish.
 
ChicagoBlue2 said:
When SVRS was last here setting up a ntouch VP for one of my housemates, I observed that it was far easier to do with AT&T than it would be to do with Comcast, because from what a SVRS trainer told me, there are certain properties of Comcast that they don't have access to, which would require the presence of a Comcast Tech person for setting up an VP with that IP. As for AT&T, I see that a tech person isn't required to come out and assist in setting one up, which I thought was interesting. Just my 2 cents.
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ask yourself why not ? your statement is not totally true. you can find access to all modems/routers online. use your best friend .. google. The way I see it installer did not do his/her homework.

There is virtually no modem that an installer or end user cannot access to. All modems can be accessed by enduser. In my opinion- the companies names is irrevelent , cable internet is faster to setup for vp's, but DSL,fios, cable internet are all easy to setup, you just need to know the settings you want to look for. There are more then one way to skin a cat. You can use nat, port forward, dmz, etc for virutally any ip based devices to do what you want.
 
We have AT&T for our landline phone only. We have to keep that line for our business. I must say that AT&T landlines stayed operational all during and after Hurricane Hugo devastated our area. I was really surprised.

We have TimeWarner for our internet and cable TV, and T-Mobile for our cell phones.

I remember, back in the day, when AT&T was the only game in town for phone service, before the monopoly was forced to break up. We couldn't even own our phones back then (they were all leased from AT&T, and AT&T was the only source for equipment). Now it seems like they're building it back up again.
 
Reba said:
We have AT&T for our landline phone only. We have to keep that line for our business. I must say that AT&T landlines stayed operational all during and after Hurricane Hugo devastated our area. I was really surprised.

We have TimeWarner for our internet and cable TV, and T-Mobile for our cell phones.

I remember, back in the day, when AT&T was the only game in town for phone service, before the monopoly was forced to break up. We couldn't even own our phones back then (they were all leased from AT&T, and AT&T was the only source for equipment). Now it seems like they're building it back up again.
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Yes, do you want to have more competitive like 8 telephone companies in your area?

AT&T
 
Reba said:
We have AT&T for our landline phone only. We have to keep that line for our business. I must say that AT&T landlines stayed operational all during and after Hurricane Hugo devastated our area. I was really surprised.

We have TimeWarner for our internet and cable TV, and T-Mobile for our cell phones.

I remember, back in the day, when AT&T was the only game in town for phone service, before the monopoly was forced to break up. We couldn't even own our phones back then (they were all leased from AT&T, and AT&T was the only source for equipment). Now it seems like they're building it back up again.
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It only seems like they're building it back up again? They have basically bought back all the phone companies they were forced to spin off when congress broke up their monopoly in 1982 and our beloved bought and paid for representatives have sat by and done nothing to stop it. The only thing that can come out of anything ATT buys is poorer service and higher prices.
 
Foxrac said:
Yes, do you want to have more competitive like 8 telephone companies in your area?

AT&T
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When AT&T split into the baby Bells they weren't all available to each area. That is, in the Southeast we had to use BellSouth service, not Western Bell.

More phone companies mean more competition and choice, so yes, that would be good to have in my area.
 
Well, SBC ( Southwestern Bell ) was just a phone carrier, ATT was a long distance provider if you remember back in the 70's then they merged. Merge is good now as when 2 or more companies combine they have access to more towers for better cell coverages, if you also remember being charged extras when you were traveling and the only tower around was sprint and you get charges a fee for using that tower services??? Now I doubt this happens anymore, but its good in ways. We have ATT and had a few standard issues with Dish/DirectTv.. but since we got Uverse, not a single issue. We are upgradingour Uverse at the new house so now wires/cables needed in the house at all for phone service/TV ( completely wireless )
My wife works for ATT so we get some pretty good deals as well as some test products.

We hated satalite service, whenever it got cloudy/thunderstorms the service always went out. No way around it if there were clouds.
 
Reba said:
When AT&T split into the baby Bells they weren't all available to each area. That is, in the Southeast we had to use BellSouth service, not Western Bell.

More phone companies mean more competition and choice, so yes, that would be good to have in my area.
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Yes, I found American utilities are monopoly and pathetic and I love to have many different power companies, internet companies, TV companies, natural gas companies.
 
sonocativo said:
Well, SBC ( Southwestern Bell ) was just a phone carrier, ATT was a long distance provider if you remember back in the 70's then they merged. Merge is good now as when 2 or more companies combine they have access to more towers for better cell coverages, if you also remember being charged extras when you were traveling and the only tower around was sprint and you get charges a fee for using that tower services??? Now I doubt this happens anymore, but its good in ways. We have ATT and had a few standard issues with Dish/DirectTv.. but since we got Uverse, not a single issue. We are upgradingour Uverse at the new house so now wires/cables needed in the house at all for phone service/TV ( completely wireless )
My wife works for ATT so we get some pretty good deals as well as some test products.

We hated satalite service, whenever it got cloudy/thunderstorms the service always went out. No way around it if there were clouds.
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I have same feeling - I live in rural and there is no cable in our neighborhood, but we get Windstream DSL, that it.
 
Foxrac said:
I have same feeling - I live in rural and there is no cable in our neighborhood, but we get Windstream DSL, that it.
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Yup, we recently just got Uverse service, they finally made it this far to upgrade the service lines, Burried lines here at my wifes place, have overhead lines at my place ( would much rather have the burried lines but oh well, it is what it is...lol) Anyways the only lines running to my house are the power lines. The new Uverse system will be completely wireless to the house.
 
sonocativo said:
Yup, we recently just got Uverse service, they finally made it this far to upgrade the service lines, Burried lines here at my wifes place, have overhead lines at my place ( would much rather have the burried lines but oh well, it is what it is...lol) Anyways the only lines running to my house are the power lines. The new Uverse system will be completely wireless to the house.
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Birmingham metro is at&t territory too and many neighborhoods get U-verse too.

My parent want to sell their house and move to suburb that is fully developed, denser, lower crime rate and closer to work, not exurb with undeveloped neighborhood and our road isn't fully paved because city want our neighborhood to finish building all houses, but there is one problem - the builder company went bankrupt and they aren't going to finish anytime soon. Also, my parent want to get cable internet and TV too.

I learned a expensive lesson - never buy a house that is not fully developed or it could hurt the value, also digital divide too.
 
sonocativo said:
Well, SBC ( Southwestern Bell ) was just a phone carrier, ATT was a long distance provider if you remember back in the 70's then they merged. Merge is good now as when 2 or more companies combine they have access to more towers for better cell coverages, if you also remember being charged extras when you were traveling and the only tower around was sprint and you get charges a fee for using that tower services??? Now I doubt this happens anymore, but its good in ways. We have ATT and had a few standard issues with Dish/DirectTv.. but since we got Uverse, not a single issue. We are upgradingour Uverse at the new house so now wires/cables needed in the house at all for phone service/TV ( completely wireless )
My wife works for ATT so we get some pretty good deals as well as some test products.

We hated satalite service, whenever it got cloudy/thunderstorms the service always went out. No way around it if there were clouds.
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Back in the 70's ATT owned the smaller local phone companies and that is why the govt. broke them up. As for cell phones: before Cingular was bought by ATT their coverage was excellent, but a condition of the merger was ATT had to divest themselves of about half of their cell towers so their coverage became very poor and still is in many areas. Depending on the plan you have, you can still be charged roaming charges if you go outside your area. Another problem with having a company like ATT own anything is their customer service is very, very poor, try getting anyone on the phone if you have a problem with your service for a landline, cell phone service is a little better but you have to keep asking for a supervisor or manager to get any compensation for crappy service. I have had to do this many, many times, what they offer first is peanuts, but once you push it up the ladder the compensation goes up, the most I've got for poor service is $273, a friend got $473! So if you have a problem with ATT always go up the chain of command. Another by product of corporate mergers is job loss: they don't need two of everything so many people will loose their jobs over a corporate merger, one that is always hit pretty hard is accounting and HR. Nothing good will come from the ATT/ Direct TV merger for the consumer only for ATT.
 
AT&T......AND DirectTV can kiss my arse!...Been with Comcast a very long time and am happy with it.
 
rockin'robin said:
AT&T......AND DirectTV can kiss my arse!...Been with Comcast a very long time and am happy with it.
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I wonder how much my parents are paying for DirecTV. Probably a lot more than my $95+ that I currently pay, although I have no idea, but I do know that one of my housemates is paying just under $55/month for her AT&T services, and another housemate was paying $100+, but he recently disconnected the cable portion, but kept the Internet portion because of his VP.
 
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