[CheesePuff]

http://money.cnn.com/2004/12/15/news...ex.htm?cnn=yes

The new company name will be Sprint Nextel and will be done around quarter two of 2005. No word yet if Sprint's readylink service will work with Nextel's direct connect or if they will share coverage, etc.

[itai195]

Poor little T-Mobile, they're gonna get squeezed out now I bet.

[ManOfSteal]

It'll be interesting to see how this one plays out...and what changes.

[residentEvil]

NASCAR stated no changes for 2005 in the Nextel Cup branding/sponsorship and don't see any reason why this would void their 10 year contract. However, instead of Chase for the Nextel Cup (last 10 races) they might use the play on words and call it Sprint for the Nextel Cup.

[d0ubled0wn]

Originally posted by itai195:
Poor little T-Mobile, they're gonna get squeezed out now I bet.

Squeezed out, or bought? Rumors suggest Verizon was interested in Sprint before the merger. Now they might go after T-Mobil. Or maybe Sprint Nextel, if the DOJ lets them.

[Earth Mk. II]

Is Nextel keeping iDEN around? I wonder if sprint will switch their ReadyLink service over to it, or if Sprint will kill it.

If they kill it though... that'd be a big blow to Moto.

[d0ubled0wn]

Originally posted by Earth Mk. II:
Is Nextel keeping iDEN around? I wonder if sprint will switch their ReadyLink service over to it, or if Sprint will kill it.

If they kill it though... that'd be a big blow to Moto.

Nextel's current network isn't compatible with Sprint's. They'll likely both upgrade to a next generation network to become compatible.

[itai195]

Originally posted by d0ubled0wn:
Squeezed out, or bought? Rumors suggest Verizon was interested in Sprint before the merger. Now they might go after T-Mobil. Or maybe Sprint Nextel, if the DOJ lets them.

Problem is that T-Mobile is a GSM provider and Verizon isn't, so I can't see a good match there. If anything, I'd expect the Cingular/AT&T behemoth to eventually swallow up T-Mobile as well. Cingular and T-Mobile were already close partners in some major markets (eg California, and NYC as well I think). T-Mobile has a pretty nice side-business going as a wifi provider too.

[rozwado1]

I think we're all F'd. There's already enough direct-connect 'beeps' wherever I go.

[Kilbey]

Originally posted by rozwado1:
I think we're all F'd. There's already enough direct-connect 'beeps' wherever I go.

I agree. I use a Nextel, but I keep the direct connect in "private" mode.

People need to learn better manners when it comes to Nextel's Direct Connect.

[spacefreak]

This is the wrong forum. This thread belongs in the "Telecommunications Providers and Mergers" forum, which is a subset of the Networking forum.

+1

[Captain Obvious]

3 major players down from 7 comparably sized companies means less competitive price plans and will be bad in the long run. AT&T went from being bad to plain sucking now that they are under the cingular banner. This will happen to the rest of them.

[itai195]

I haven't even noticed any changes since the Cingular merger. I agree it will be bad for prices, but I do think quality of service (cellular, not customer) will improve.

[MaxPower2k3]

as suggested by my friend and thrown together in approximately 2 minutes in photoshop:

[Agasthya]

Originally posted by residentEvil:
...they might use the play on words and call it Sprint for the Nextel Cup.

That's pretty clever. They should use that.

[Phanguye]

Originally posted by Captain Obvious:
3 major players down from 7 comparably sized companies means less competitive price plans and will be bad in the long run. AT&T went from being bad to plain sucking now that they are under the cingular banner. This will happen to the rest of them.

maybe not... if they are subject to economies of scale then they will be able to cut costs as they have more customers

[iDriveX]

Originally posted by itai195:
I haven't even noticed any changes since the Cingular merger. I agree it will be bad for prices, but I do think quality of service (cellular, not customer) will improve.

I can honestly say that I have seen a GREAT increase in signal strength in Southern California. I can actually talk clearly in the buildign where I work, whereas before, I had no signal whatsoever. Same at my parent's house. No dropped calls now.

[itai195]

Originally posted by iDriveX:
I can honestly say that I have seen a GREAT increase in signal strength in Southern California. I can actually talk clearly in the buildign where I work, whereas before, I had no signal whatsoever. Same at my parent's house. No dropped calls now.

Were you an AT&T or Cingular customer? Up in Northern California, I've found that other than Verizon, AT&T's network was the best. So I haven't seen much of a change, though if Cingular customers got switched over to AT&T here already then I'm sure they're seeing an improvement.

[Kevin Moon]

Iden service will be around awhile but Nextel will switch over to cdma at 1900 MHz. When this happens is all up to how fast sprint decides to convert everyone over, but looks to be in 2006-2007. The Direct Connect will move over to a Qwest version that works on cdma. Moto is going to be making a phone that will work on both networks for the intermediate time. It looks as people on both networks will start noticing changes as colocation on the towers happens. Nextel users will probably notice the biggest change in the phones that are going to be available. The offices are going to be divided between executive offices in Reston, VA and the operation headquarters will remain in the Kansas City metro. With this merger the combined company owns 2.5 GHz of spectrum. Be interesting to see what is done or offered over the spectrum that Sprint Nextel have.

http://sprintnextel.mergerannounceme...obalnav_merger

[iDriveX]

Originally posted by itai195:
Were you an AT&T or Cingular customer? Up in Northern California, I've found that other than Verizon, AT&T's network was the best. So I haven't seen much of a change, though if Cingular customers got switched over to AT&T here already then I'm sure they're seeing an improvement.

I was and am a Cingular Customer, that's probably why. Oh well, We get better reception, and AT&T Customers get rollover minutes!

[Link]

This sucks. Damnit all, soon enough it's going to be Sprint Nextel Cingular Tmobile.

*suddenly remembers AOL Timewarner and barfs*

[Goldfinger]

Originally posted by iDriveX:
I can honestly say that I have seen a GREAT increase in signal strength in Southern California. I can actually talk clearly in the buildign where I work, whereas before, I had no signal whatsoever. Same at my parent's house. No dropped calls now.

This is something I find really incredible. It's been how many years that mobile phones have been available in the states ? Mid 80ies ? You should think that by now you had a decent infrastructure. I know that we use newer technologies today but it's just a matter of replacing the transmitters on the poles. I can understand that in some of the more rural states in the middle of the USA that you have reception problems or in the desert (basically any area without a dense population) but in California ?
We've got almost 100% reception in Europe (west-europe) I have maybe 1 dropped call a year and that's probably caused by a network error or maintenance. Even in the middle of nowhere you have reception.
Anybody knows WHY your mobile phone infrastructure is so bad?

[spiky_dog]

Originally posted by Goldfinger:
Anybody knows WHY your mobile phone infrastructure is so bad?

because the u.s. has many different competing architectures. besides, don't generalize about the entire u.s. infrastructure based on the differences in reception in one office building in california between two companies' networks.

[itai195]

Cingular's network in CA just isn't very good. But both Cingular and AT&T have been going through a costly switch to GSM for a few years, so that's one reason.

Another is that some cities/neighborhoods are just snobby about placement of cell towers. Nobody except Verizon customers get a signal where my parents live, because the neighboring town refuses to allow the placement of a cell tower nearby. Verizon struck up some deal with them.

[Goldfinger]

Originally posted by spiky_dog:
because the u.s. has many different competing architectures. besides, don't generalize about the entire u.s. infrastructure based on the differences in reception in one office building in california between two companies' networks.

No, I was just basing my judgement of the experience that I had with US mobile networks while staying there.

Don't these networks share transmitters ? Here you have a lot of networks that share their transmitters. Or one pole with 2 or 3 transmitters on them.

Originally posted by ital195:
Another is that some cities/neighborhoods are just snobby about placement of cell towers. Nobody except Verizon customers get a signal where my parents live, because the neighboring town refuses to allow the placement of a cell tower nearby. Verizon struck up some deal with them.

That's kinda stupid of those towns, you can put those transmitters inside of building like the tower of church, you won't even see them. Or on roofs of big buildings. So you won't have to notice them.

Another question, are all the networks ever going to change to GSM or are they staying with CDMA or whatever it's called ?

[itai195]

Originally posted by Goldfinger:
Another question, are all the networks ever going to change to GSM or are they staying with CDMA or whatever it's called ?

Cingular/AT&T and T-Mobile are GSM, but I doubt Verizon or Sprint will ever switch. CDMA is not bad technology, I just wish you could switch providers and keep your phone.

[Kevin Moon]

Sprint and Verizon will never go to gsm that has been stated before by the companies. It doesn't make sense going from 3g network to a 2.5g network. I have used gsm phones and hated the interference that can be picked up through the phones. Since I switched to sprint I have vowed never to use gsm again do to the clarity. People can't even tell I'm on a cell phone even when going down the highway at 80 mph. The people on the other end don't hear the road noise that is so apparent with other systems. Not sure if its the phones or the cdma system. I have had both cingular and sprint and sprint by far has the clearest sounding network.

[wdlove]

I certainly wonder if Sprint will have improved coverage. Here in Boston there are several drop areas.

[iDriveX]

Actually all of my dropped calls area are nestled in between mountains, I live in an area called the Conejo Valley, it's surrounded by mountains on all sides and in between, most streets run along the base of canyons. That's the reason why as I understand it.

[jyvin563]

Originally posted by Goldfinger:
This is something I find really incredible. It's been how many years that mobile phones have been available in the states ? Mid 80ies ? You should think that by now you had a decent infrastructure. I know that we use newer technologies today but it's just a matter of replacing the transmitters on the poles. I can understand that in some of the more rural states in the middle of the USA that you have reception problems or in the desert (basically any area without a dense population) but in California ?
We've got almost 100% reception in Europe (west-europe) I have maybe 1 dropped call a year and that's probably caused by a network error or maintenance. Even in the middle of nowhere you have reception.
Anybody knows WHY your mobile phone infrastructure is so bad?

Do you have any idea how much bigger the USA is compared to West-Europe? It costs lots of money to privately build out a wireless network.

[jyvin563]

Originally posted by Kevin Moon:
Iden service will be around awhile but Nextel will switch over to cdma at 1900 MHz. When this happens is all up to how fast sprint decides to convert everyone over, but looks to be in 2006-2007. The Direct Connect will move over to a Qwest version that works on cdma. Moto is going to be making a phone that will work on both networks for the intermediate time. It looks as people on both networks will start noticing changes as colocation on the towers happens. Nextel users will probably notice the biggest change in the phones that are going to be available. The offices are going to be divided between executive offices in Reston, VA and the operation headquarters will remain in the Kansas City metro. With this merger the combined company owns 2.5 GHz of spectrum. Be interesting to see what is done or offered over the spectrum that Sprint Nextel have.

http://sprintnextel.mergerannounceme...obalnav_merger

Qwest is a telecommunications provider; Qualcomm developed Qchat, a PTT technology that runs on CDMA. It runs really well on EVDO, which Sprint is upgrading to now. Incidentally, Nextel bought the rights to Qchat back in 2002 (date???). I think Qchat is a driving force behind this merger. Without it, it wouldn't make much sense.