ATT to buy out T-Mobile?

When I bought my first cell phone I decided that I would go with a known company at the time. This turned out to be AT&T. At that time I think they included the term “Wireless” in the name. Things went fine but I started to notice just how many services I had going on were with AT&T. I decided to trim what I could. I got out of ATT long distance. I had no choice for cable, which was also ATT for a while. But I could choose a different cell provider. I chose Cingular.

Cingular worked out just fine as long as they were in existence. They had flexible plans. They had what seemed to be better phones. And at the time, their service was better than ATT had been when I made the change. Then, I learned that Cingular was really owned by former Baby Bell Company, SBC. Well, that was OK for the time being. The service was still great for me. That was until the day that SBC bought the gutted remains of former giant ATT and decided to take on the name and logo of their former corporate owner. Yep. My cell phone now lighted up with that old familiar ATT sign on. Cingular via SBC ceased to exist.

So, is ATT really so bad that I would decide to switch carriers again just to be away from them? Maybe they are fine. But since I have been away I have been made aware I am a member of a number of class action lawsuits that deal with business practices that ATT were not up-front about in the time I was with them. I felt justified to make another switch at this point.

I chose T-Mobile at a time when ATT was fighting it out with Verizon as far as who had the better 3G coverage. The advertisements went on forever. I could not have cared less. I was happy with T-Mobile. I should have bet money thought that sooner or later, ATT would make a move on T-Mobile. Of course they would. It was as inevitable as the ATT service icon that on occasion sprung up on my Blackberry Bold. ATT and T-Mobile both use GSM, so they are roaming partners. It only makes sense that it would be a relatively simple merger of technology.

I just hope that T-Mobile subscribers do not lose anything in this merger if it goes on to be approved. I am running out of places to jump away from ATT.