Well that is me totally shocked. I would never see that coming. Now if you excuse me I need to buy some more shares in AOL and ride the zeppelin to Germany.

But did you SEE how our customers were dressed?!

We'll just pass the savings onto our...er..well hell just up the roaming fees.

That's the way all businesses work.

Go ahead and laugh but I've been with TMobile for years and I wouldn't think of switching.

The AT&T "merger" had me shiatting my proverbial pant's. Mainly because, and I think we can all agree on this, AT&T is Satan incarnate.

pant's

*facepalm*

That's... that's... that's not how fluids work.

"We don't care. We don't have to care. We're the phone company."

See how far that gets you AT&T. History itself frowned on your shenanigans.

Fark you, AT&T

Sincerely,

T-Moblie customer who wrote his reps to fight merger because AT&T blows goats.

maverickzy: That's... that's... that's not how fluids work.

After a decade on the internet, I know all I want to know about how fluids work.

"Our biggest problem is identifying what the rules are," Stephenson explained. "It's figuring out how much we're allowed to buy."

You are correct, sir. That's what "antitrust" means.

Some top notch think tank they have up there.

Do you think that the feds will have a problem if we increase market share by buying up the smaller telecoms instead of gaining customers by improving our reputation andinfrastructure upgrades?

Nah, they'll be cool with that

Clearly, we would have been much better off giving these soulless assholes a monopoly over all communications. I'm sure once they got everything they wanted, they'd start treating customers fairly.

Spectrum wars. Begun they have.

Thanks a lot FCC

Sure makes a great sensationalist sond bite there subby, and lets all you whiners channel your inner asshole, too bad it's not what he said.

What he said was pretty simple - AT&T needs more spectrum to support data loads, the FCC isn't giving them a clear path to getting it, so they have to take other steps to use their existing spectrum more efficiently, which means throttling data hogs through pricing changes.

And I'm OK with this. Data hogs who insist on leaving their phone on streaming the latest episode of Ow My Balls screw things up for everyone else who uses reasonable amounts off data. Screw you data hogs, you should have to pay for your inconsiderate abuse of the system. The 1% of you are the reason the rest of us can't have unlimited data plans. I am the 99%.

Impasse: But did you SEE how our customers were dressed?!

thetubameister: Fark you, AT&T

Sincerely,

T-Moblie customer who wrote his reps to fight merger because AT&T blows goats.

This AT&T can go DIAF for all I care.

iollow: That's the way all businesses work.

Those executives need to get their bonuses whether their plan worked out or not! It's not like anybody who made a decision should face any consequences.

Gaumond: You know Verizon has been pissing me off lately and I don't think as highly about them now but when I see shiat like this from AT&T it really does make Verizon look like the white knight. Guess if I ever switch it will have to be Sprint, at least they still have unlimited data plans.

Sprint?

AH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!

/ohwaityou'reseriousletmelaughharder.jpg
//Seriously, do you know anything about Sprint's finances? They'll be lucky if they're here in 2014.

...we only have three telecoms in Canada so I'm really getting a kick out of...

No actually I'm not, you guys think it's bad down there don't even look at the 'options' that we have access to they would make you shiat your pants.

Nem Wan: Those executives need to get their bonuses whether their plan worked out or not! It's not like anybody who made a decision should face any consequences.

Boy, that's just a straight-shooter with upper management written all over him.

Priapetic: throttling data hogs through pricing changes.

And I'm OK with this.

I have no problem with that either. However AT&T is also reaming light users.

They raised their minimum data rate from $15 to $20/month.

They eliminated pay-per-message texting, and now the minimum text plan is $20.You can't send or receive a single text message without paying $20.

Imagine how bad they'd be they eliminated T-Mobile as a competitor.

ATT can go die in the hole they're digging for themselves.

Priapetic: Sure makes a great sensationalist sond bite there subby, and lets all you whiners channel your inner asshole, too bad it's not what he said.

What he said was pretty simple - AT&T needs more spectrum to support data loads, the FCC isn't giving them a clear path to getting it, so they have to take other steps to use their existing spectrum more efficiently, which means throttling data hogs through pricing changes.

And I'm OK with this. Data hogs who insist on leaving their phone on streaming the latest episode of Ow My Balls screw things up for everyone else who uses reasonable amounts off data. Screw you data hogs, you should have to pay for your inconsiderate abuse of the system. The 1% of you are the reason the rest of us can't have unlimited data plans. I am the 99%.

That may be what they said, but their actions don't seem to be likely to curb data use, just increase profit. They didn't lower the caps, they just increased the price of each tier by $5. If you have the 5 GB plan, and your bill goes from $135/month to $140/month, does that mean you are going to suddenly rethink your data usage? Additionally, they increased the rates on all of the plans, which means the rates are going up even for the "99%", who apparently just use their phone to read the "FW: FW: FW: FW:" emails in their inbox.

How about AT&T pay its customers every time they have to deal with "customer service". I cannot be around any puppies within 24 hours of dealing with AT&T or kicking will ensue.

I attended a wedding that was held in the AT&T store at our local mall.

The ceremony was nice, but the reception was terrible.

/tip waitresses, etc.

But is water wet?

Keep farking that chicken, AT&T.

Gaumond: Guess if I ever switch it will have to be Sprint, at least they still have unlimited data plans.

Heh. Too bad their roaming ain't unlimited... but it is free. Got booted off ETF-free because of "excessive roaming" three months into my contract with a Nexus S.

So whats the issue here?

Buffalo77: So whats the issue here?

RAPET&T customers forced the executives to make lousy decisions and gave them wedgies at recess.

"Our biggest problem is identifying what the rules are," Stephenson explained. "It's figuring out how much we're allowed to buy."



Maybe hiring a lawyer or two would help in understanding the rules.

Buffalo77: So whats the issue here?

Basically, AT&T was going to use their greater power from the merger in the market to jack up prices even more than they already are. Other carriers would likely do the same since there's one less main carrier to compete with. The government saw this coming and blocked the merger. AT&T raises prices anyway, just because it can.

Imagine if you were a business and decided to go to a casino. Every time you lost, you simply charged the losses to your customers. Instead of being customers, they're simply the wallet of AT&T until they grow some balls and switch to another carrier, but unfortunately, a lot of AT&T's business is rather locked in.

Someone remind us all how little people in other developed nations pay for faster, near-unlimited Internet usage, and remind me why we get slower, worse coverage in our (admittedly larger) country.

Quark_Quasar: He'd been physically connecting his phone to a little monitor in his car, and watching videos off of it, which I guess may count as tethering, but they still used it as an excuse to kick him off his unlimited plan.

Wait, the point of your story isn't that this guys watches movies while he drives?

I thought businesses had to pay penalties and tax increases with leprechaun gold, not from their main source of income. farking bat-shiat crazy right there.

I'm sure that other business and corporations get the money they owe out of selling their organs and picking up a second job. Thank's for pointing out the evil, subby.

/economics major master

Pharmdawg: Someone remind us all how little people in other developed nations pay for faster, near-unlimited Internet usage, and remind me why we get slower, worse coverage in our (admittedly larger) country.

It's because big oil killed the water carburetor.

I hate companies, the government needs to DO something!!

Way the hell back when, after AT&T farked me over yet again in a truly spectacular way, I dumped them and went with Cingular. I loved Cingular up until AT&T bought them.

Go fark a dead rhino, AT&T.

I never thought I'd see the day where a company passed on its costs to their customers. Wait a minute -- doesn't EVERY company do this?

Who do you think is paying for Bank of America's purchase of Countrywide? Who is going to pay for Costa's wrecked ship and the lawsuits? BP's oil spill costs? New Coke? The Edsel?

Of course customers pay for it. Customers pay for EVERYTHING on which a company spends money.

Magorn: Given what At&T spent on legal fees alone for this non-merger you can expect your calls to be $2.50/minute from now on

I worked Doc review jobs this summer (think migrant farm work for lawyers) There was a massive AT&T project going on down the hall 200+ lawyers at $35/hr +OT being fed a catered lunch every day (something most doc reviewers do NOT get-you're lucky if the coffee is free) and they had been on the job 6-9 months or more (Typical DR is 1 month or less) and they had them come to work even in for the month+ where there was no actual work to do (this NEVER happens in DR)

$35 an hour. Me thinks you mean $350 an hour. Any lawyer charging $35 an hour would be laughed out of the bar and have their douchebag license revoked.

Priapetic: Sure makes a great sensationalist sond bite there subby, and lets all you whiners channel your inner asshole, too bad it's not what he said.

What he said was pretty simple - AT&T needs more spectrum to support data loads, the FCC isn't giving them a clear path to getting it, so they have to take other steps to use their existing spectrum more efficiently, which means throttling data hogs through pricing changes.

And I'm OK with this. Data hogs who insist on leaving their phone on streaming the latest episode of Ow My Balls screw things up for everyone else who uses reasonable amounts off data. Screw you data hogs, you should have to pay for your inconsiderate abuse of the system. The 1% of you are the reason the rest of us can't have unlimited data plans. I am the 99%.

So why can I stream music door to door (Apartment to work, including subways) at 128k here in the heart of Vienna?

All while paying €12 a month including taxes for my iPhone?

Smartphones are just as ubiquitous here.

ATT is a shiat company and defending it just makes you look like a fool. I piad 10x the cost for my iPhone in NYC and couldn't even load a simple text in most places.

Pharmdawg: Someone remind us all how little people in other developed nations pay for faster, near-unlimited Internet usage, and remind me why we get slower, worse coverage in our (admittedly larger) country.

um... like which countries? the UK? Australia? LOL.

show me some price plans in other countries that are better than ours. please. I've tried, but maybe i'm looking in the wrong places.