Is It Time To Break Up AT&T Again?

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lamorpa

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Apr 30, 2008
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[citation][nom]f-14[/nom]pull all federal taxes and funding from AT&T[/citation]?

AT&T is not funded in any way by the government. What are you talking about?
 
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Best article on Tom's ever. I'm a T-mobile customer and I dread going to AT&T.
 

wribbs

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That they donate near 50/50 to Rep/Dem just shows how corrupt both sides of the gov. are. It doesn't matter to AT&T what they're supporting just as long as they're buying votes.

Couldn't we have prevented this situation by not supporting AT&T all along? Haven't they pretty much always had the worst service & prices available? Apple obviously knew AT&T would be the best match for its iSheeple since it seems those supporting AT&T are plenty happy not having any alternatives.
 
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Seems like you all missed "other" points as well...
1) Tmobile was looking for a buyer, who is better positioned than ATT...not Sprint apparently
2) Look at other countries in the world...how many would you say have 4-5 MAIN competing carriers...none really
3) Now look at their rates for usage...low? Yes they are. To get low rates, you do not have to have 5 carriers nationwide, just willingness to be less greedy, but then again, that is not American.
4) If this was your company...meaning you are a stock holder, what would you do, say "No, please dont buy a company that is hardly considered to be competition, but can give you needed wireless benefits that can produce billions in profits, No, I definitely dont want that crap"
5) AT&T is a business! Duh! Look at all the companies Google bought out last year alone. Dont complain about what Googles world wide plans are...they arent ruining anyone elses sunday brunch.
6) Get over it. Expect it to be good for consumers, if it doesnt work out. Hey...you still have a choice of other carriers...they arent taking your Sprint or Verizon or MetroPCS.

Stop focusing on everything negative. Give positive a try. America is seriously starting to suck...everyone freaking complains. EVERYONE. Love you all

Wait...there is still competition? Yes, Ghost questioner, yes there is.
 

bhaberle

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[citation][nom]philologos[/nom]What does mean for that cute T-mobile chick who's always making fun of AT&T and the iPhone?[/citation]
I hope she stays

And I was bummed out when I found out that it was not Sprint who was going to buy them. It would've been nice to have a Nextel/GSM/CDMA provider all in one with a real unlimited plan and ok prices.
 

rohitbaran

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[citation][nom]dogman_1234[/nom]How about the FTC gets off their arses and get these guys to court for monopolization![/citation]
How about AT&T buys FTC next! End of all antitrust risks!
 

sykozis

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[citation][nom]glasssplinter[/nom]They recently bought Alltel in our area. Not good...fewer choices and higher prices.[/citation]

Alltel was bought out by Verizon in 2008...not AT&T.... AT&T may have moved into a former Alltel building.....but Verizon purchased Alltel in whole back in 2008, with the official change-over on January 1, 2009.

Alltel was originally named "360 Communications", which was created by Lucent Technologies, who at the time was owned by AT&T. AT&T spun-off Lucent Technologies into an independent company and "360 Communications" was sold and renamed to Alltel. Since January 1, 2009, Alltel has been a wholely owned subsidiary of Verizon Wireless and operates independently of Verizon wireless in select markets are required by Fair Competition laws.
 

f-14

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[citation][nom]lamorpa[/nom]?AT&T is not funded in any way by the government. What are you talking about?[/citation]
read the bottom of your telephone bills and look at legisilation obama signed for tax payer bail out of the telecoms and to help them upgrade and rural expansion.
understand now?
 

ikefu

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I like how AT&T complains that they can't afford to keep their network growing fast enough to meet demand... but still made almost $16 Billion in pure PROFIT solely from their wireless division.

Good lord people, most companies don't make that much in revenue, let alone profit. I do not be grudge them making a profit, they're a company and should, but don't give me this BS that they need to cap bandwidth because they can't grow their network. Huge margins like that are only acceptable from a cutting edge company who uses it to benefit their customers. AT&T only uses their margins to further stifle the competition and drive prices higher
 

glasssplinter

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[citation][nom]sykozis[/nom]Alltel was bought out by Verizon in 2008...not AT&T.... AT&T may have moved into a former Alltel building.....but Verizon purchased Alltel in whole back in 2008, with the official change-over on January 1, 2009. Alltel was originally named "360 Communications", which was created by Lucent Technologies, who at the time was owned by AT&T. AT&T spun-off Lucent Technologies into an independent company and "360 Communications" was sold and renamed to Alltel. Since January 1, 2009, Alltel has been a wholely owned subsidiary of Verizon Wireless and operates independently of Verizon wireless in select markets are required by Fair Competition laws.[/citation]

Yes, Alltel was bought by Verizon back then but is now owned by AT&T. I've got the new phone from AT&T waiting to be activated when the Alltel to AT&T transition is complete so I'm pretty darn sure I know what I'm talking about.
 

glasssplinter

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[citation][nom]glasssplinter[/nom]Yes, Alltel was bought by Verizon back then but is now owned by AT&T. I've got the new phone from AT&T waiting to be activated when the Alltel to AT&T transition is complete so I'm pretty darn sure I know what I'm talking about.[/citation]

Can't edit. I should say a majority of Alltel is owned now by AT&T, a few customers are left on Alltel in "select markets."
 
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39 billion dollars can fix Louisiana and Japan alone...sometimes common sense makes the most sense...but this is america...our leaders use useless diplomatics to solve 2+2...believe it or not our government will approve this silly act because government spending has dramactically increased over the years...reality is att bought our government...in fact att is the government...so we all better start looking at prepaid phone cards :(
 

happyballz

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[citation][nom]whatwhatjbdo[/nom]Seems like you all missed "other" points as well... 1) Tmobile was looking for a buyer, who is better positioned than ATT...not Sprint apparently 2) Look at other countries in the world...how many would you say have 4-5 MAIN competing carriers...none really 3) Now look at their rates for usage...low? Yes they are. To get low rates, you do not have to have 5 carriers nationwide, just willingness to be less greedy, but then again, that is not American.4) If this was your company...meaning you are a stock holder, what would you do, say "No, please dont buy a company that is hardly considered to be competition, but can give you needed wireless benefits that can produce billions in profits, No, I definitely dont want that crap"5) AT&T is a business! Duh! Look at all the companies Google bought out last year alone. Dont complain about what Googles world wide plans are...they arent ruining anyone elses sunday brunch. 6) Get over it. Expect it to be good for consumers, if it doesnt work out. Hey...you still have a choice of other carriers...they arent taking your Sprint or Verizon or MetroPCS. Stop focusing on everything negative. Give positive a try. America is seriously starting to suck...everyone freaking complains. EVERYONE. Love you allWait...there is still competition? Yes, Ghost questioner, yes there is.[/citation]

1. ok
2.which countries are you referring to? I see much different picture in other, for exmaple european/asian markets. And by the looks of it the more competition = more competitive pricing.
3.Good luck with that, all corporations always run on "as much profit as possible" scenario, the only thing to stop them there (as in case with other countirs) is the government regulations; but since big telcos are in bed with politicians for a long long time now you will never see any tough regulations on them.
4-5. Do not care about that, I am a consumer and the matter of fact is that -I keep the company aflot as a consumer -not investors.

And as far as not ruining anones "brunch" well if you like to think that then look at comments here... looks a little different than you think doesn't it?

6. Hahahha yeah.... "just do it, it is good for you"...they day a corporation starts caring for customer's well being and customer satisfaction and benefit is the day I will crap $100 dollar bills. Perhaps YOU have a choice to choose those carriers, take yourself out of your little box and imagine the people that only have 2 choices at best...if that.

The main point is only in utopia does market operate best with one company, every other scneario happening in the world goes agaisnt what you say.
 

johnny_2bags

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I had AT&T for years, and waited and waited for network speeds to pick up with promise after promise of 3G and better connectivity with fewer dropped calls and better service. It never happened. What an idiot I was for believing them for as long as I did. I have Sprint now and couldn't be happier: crystal clear call quality, 3G everywhere I go, great customer service, and love the phone too (EVO 4G). All in all, I would never go back and I sure feel bad for the poor T-Mobile customers who are about to get it with no Vaseline.
 
The original breakup of AT&T was one of the worst mistakes ever made in government regulation in this country. It led to the destruction of one of the best basic research labs we had (Bell Labs, which became Lucent and only did research with immediate applications), decades of consumer confusion, ongoing fraud as companies either sucker people into changing plans to something work or just (I forget the correct word, there is one) putting people onto their plans without permission....

If the breakup of AT&T had come sooner, there would be no rural telephone service. The high-profit long-distance service subsidized the low-profit provisioning of sparsely populated areas. The companies that came in after the breakup wanted to skim the long-distance service without providing infrastructure at the local level.

The only good thing that came out of it is that you can buy a phone instead of renting one.

"Judge Greene is a Bell Buster."
 
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So if I understand the current state of American business policy:

1. Big companies should have the right to grow as big as they want, and be bailed out for making idiotic blunders that would predictably ruin their business, ie: making piss-poor cars, ridiculously short-sighted loan dealings, wreckless oil drilling, nookular meltdowns, etc... This creates a "virtuous cycle" by giving corporations unlimited rights to bribe er.. donate to politician's campaigns.

2. Workers should have no collective bargaining rights with said corporations, ie: unions. Workers should be required to accept whatever the corporation gives them, without the ability to negotiate reasonable terms, conditions, and pay under the threat of a labor strike.

So, with points 1&2, and a 2-party system, your voting choices boil down to:

Fascists aka Republicans, or
Moderate-Right-Wing-Corporatists-Pretending-To-Be-Liberal-To-Make-Republicans-Look-Less-Extreme aka Democrats
 

dogofwars

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Bell Canada does the same thing with their TV offering IPTV. They charge the bandwidth for Netflix but not for their own IPTV. It cost them 0.02$ and charge 2$ per gig.
 
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