"AT&T said that it has plans to help T-Mobile customers replace phones when the switchover happens, but that will be still several years out."
7 years out!?!? No way in F-ing hell are they waiting 7 years! Think about phone, silicon, or any other technology advances in the past 7 years (2004 for those of you who can't count). My old Moto E815 on VZW didn't even come out till July 2005! There is no way AT&T could afford to stay competitive by giving a 7 year span to move LTE on AWS. Sure, they already have some of the 700 MHz spectrum, but they will have to ax 3G on AWS bands to just keep up with VZWs continued LTE growth. T-Mobile died on Sunday, and even if this whole AT&T deal falls through with its federal approval, it simply means the burial has simply been postponed to a later date.