These days, cellphone companies are sparing no expense advertising what great new feature they have to offer customers.
Verizon claims it has the fastest 4G network.
T-Mobile brags it has America’s largest 4G network.
Sprint cites it still has “true unlimited” by not capping or monitoring data usage.
AT&T, well, makes a lot of silly claims in its commercials.
Because AT&T can’t really compete with the other networks in terms of the future (4G, increasing data use, etc.) the company still brags about how it covers “97 percent of Americans” and is “getting faster with 4G.”
While 4G seems to get consumers excited, it’s comical watching AT&T try to play catch-up considering its 3G is still severely lacking.
Verizon launched a series of TV ads last year blasting AT&T’s spotty 3G coverage.
Instead of spending money to fix said spotty coverage, AT&T decided to launch a counter-ad set with Luke Wilson at the helm.
Great way to spend the money, AT&T.
Now, with the rest of the competition expanding their 4G networks, AT&T seems to be left in the dust again.
Yet again, the cellphone giant isn’t spending millions of dollars to improve its horrible service — it’s using it to buy the competition.
As The New York Times reported last week, AT&T announced its plan to acquire T-Mobile for $39 billion.
If the merger is approved, it would give AT&T(&T) nearly 130 million customers, making it the largest U.S. cellular provider, according to The New York Times.
Opinion Editor Devin Graham previously explained how this potential merger is bad for not only customers, but also local economies.
I’m not here to talk about those issues. However, I am here to tell T-Mobile customers what this merger may mean for you and your fancy new T-Mobile handset.
The biggest problem facing the AT&T and T-Mobile merger would be the monopolization of the Global Systems for Mobile Communications (GSM) community.
AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM for mobile phones. In contrast, Verizon and Sprint use Code Division Multiple Access, or CDMA.
Overall, each choice has its own advantages and disadvantages.
GSM is an international standard. It is better suited for international roaming and has more users worldwide. CDMA is more prominent in North America and offers faster data transfer.
GSM handsets also have the advantage of having users’ personal information stored on their SIM card, allowing easy transfer between handsets. CDMA stores information on the phone itself, requiring users to contact their carrier to activate a new phone.
If the new AT&T were to control the entire GSM market in North America, it could easily charge ridiculous prices while limiting not only diverse handsets, but also a quality network for users to operate on.
Another major problem for current T-Mobile customers would be the necessity to replace their 3G handset for an AT&T model.
AT&T stated it plans to rearrange T-Mobile’s 3G cell towers to repurpose them for 4G. This would leave current T-Mobile users without 3G — meaning they would have to replace their phones with those that use AT&T’s 3G frequencies, Yahoo! News reported.
The Federal Communications Commission would still need to approve the potential merger between the two cellphone companies, which could take a year or more to accomplish.
Until then, T-Mobile users can only sit and wait for their fate to be decided.
After Verizon acquired Alltel back in 2008, I wondered what company AT&T would gobble up next.
Although Verizon CEO Daniel Meed claims they “don’t need them,” I definitely see Big Red taking over Sprint within the next five years, leaving only two cellular behemoths to do battle.
I know AT&T is still mad about losing its iPhone exclusivity, but it doesn’t mean it has to throw a fit and ruin the lives of every single T-Mobile customer.
Adam Arinder is a 21-year-old communication studies senior from Baton Rouge. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_aarinder.
 
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Contact Adam Arinder at [email protected]