Hasta La Gadget!

Wowzers! AT&T and Deutsche Telekom have entered into a definitive agreement for the sale of T-Mobile USA for $39 billion in cash and stocks. The combined customer base of this upcoming behemoth will be 130 million humans, though the agreed deal will have to pass the usual regulatory and closing hurdles before becoming complete. The two companies estimate it’ll take them 12 months to get through all the bureaucracy — if they get through, the proposed network merger will create a de facto GSM monopoly within the United States — but we don’t have to wait that long to start discussing life with only three major US carriers. AT&T envisions it as a rosy garden of “straightforward synergies” thanks to a set of “complementary network technologies, spectrum positions and operations.”

One of the other big benefits AT&T is claiming here is a significantly expanded LTE footprint — 95 percent of Americans, or 294 million pops — which works out to 46.5 million more than AT&T was claiming had it gone LTE alone. Of course, T-Mobile has never put forth a clear strategy for migrating to LTE, suggesting that AT&T plans on using the company’s AWS spectrum to complement its own 700MHz licenses as it moves to 4G. You might be groaning at the thought of yet another LTE band, but it’s not as bad as you might think: MetroPCS already has a live LTE network functioning on AWS, so there’s precedent for it. For further details, hit up the gallery below, the Mobilize Everything site, or the official press release after the break.

In the event of the deal failing to receive regulatory approval, AT&T will be on the hook for $3 billion to T-Mobile — a breakup fee, they call it — along with transferring over some AWS spectrum it doesn’t need for its LTE rollout, and granting T-Mo a roaming agreement at a value agreeable to both parties.

Update: TmoNews obtained a copy of Deutsche Telekom’s press release regarding the deal — it looks like the German company will be getting $25 billion in cash and $14 billion in stock, giving it an 8 percent stake in AT&T when all is said and done. Read the full document after the break.

Continue reading AT&T agrees to buy T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom for $39 billion (update)

AT&T agrees to buy T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom for $39 billion (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 20 Mar 2011 14:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Road warriors riding the Sprint WiMAX truck will be pleased to know that there’s a new mobile hotspot device in the house. Dubbed the Overdrive Pro 3G / 4G, users can now simultaneously connect up to eight devices — as opposed to just five previously — to the mobile web via this little 802.11n router from Sierra Wireless. Better yet, Sprint has halved the price for this new model to $49.99 after a $50 rebate with a two year $50 service agreement, yet you still get the usual goodies like microSD expansion and built-in GPS support to boot. You can pick one up at Sprint stores starting on March 20th, but of course, the previous Overdrive is probably sufficient for most humble uses, anyway.

[Thanks, r0fl]

Continue reading Sprint announces Overdrive Pro 3G / 4G mobile hotspot router, available on March 20th

Sprint announces Overdrive Pro 3G / 4G mobile hotspot router, available on March 20th originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Mar 2011 02:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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J.D. Power, that well known arbiter of human opinion in the United States, has just released its latest study on customer satisfaction with wireless carriers. It addresses such things as (the lack of) dropped calls, failures to connect, voice distortion, echoes, static, and late-arriving text messages, and ultimately churns out a rating out of five stars relative to the regional average and other carriers. In testing done between July and December last year, Verizon had the best or tied for the best satisfaction ratings in five of the six studied areas, while AT&T and Sprint traded blows for second and T-Mobile had to admit defeat as the laggard of the top four. US Cellular managed to score highest in the North Central region, but J.D. Power’s overall assessment isn’t very rosy for any of the carriers — the stats collector says growing smartphone usage, heavy texting and more indoor calls are collectively causing call quality to stagnate, and even warns that “increased adoption of smartphones and wireless tablets may continue to compromise the quality of network service.”

Continue reading J.D. Power: Verizon has best call quality nationwide, T-Mobile consistently below average

J.D. Power: Verizon has best call quality nationwide, T-Mobile consistently below average originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 06 Mar 2011 11:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Some of our UK readers have woken up to the less than awesome discovery this morning that their phones have lost all connectivity to the outside world. 3G, 2G, SMS, and BlackBerry services on the Vodafone UK network are all down for what seems like a significant proportion of its user base — an issue the carrier has since identified as being caused by a break-in at its Basingstoke exchange center. No further details have been provided, though work is naturally underway to repair the damage done and we’re assured customers’ private data has remained so. We can’t imagine quite such a service disruption being caused by a random act of vandalism or burglary, perhaps a disgruntled employee felt the need to vent his or her frustrations in grand style? Or has O2 gone gangster on the competition?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Update: Vodafone got in touch to say that 2G and 3G voice connectivity has been restored as of lunchtime in the UK and text and data services should be up within “the next couple of hours.” The company estimates the issue has affected “a couple of hundred thousand users”, though it expects that number to drop to zero before the day is through.

Vodafone’s UK network taken down by a break-in (update: some services restored) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Feb 2011 06:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Though it apparently doesn’t have any plans in place to close its existing 140 stores around the country, The Wall Street Journal is reporting this evening that network operator Clearwire is halting its direct retail strategy to concentrate on selling the use of its airwaves to other providers — providers such as Sprint and Comcast, for example, both of which make use of Clearwire’s WiMAX network for their own 4G services. The move doesn’t come as much of a surprise since the company announced unfortunate numbers back in November of last year — numbers that forced it to scale back its headcount and its dreams of launching Clear-branded handsets in the near term — and WSJ says that the move may make Sprint more comfortable investing more cash in the company since they’ll no longer be giving off the appearance that they’re competing head-to-head on the customer level. Investment is exactly what Clearwire needs to survive right now, and whether it comes from Sprint or another national carrier that’s in the market for 4G spectrum, you know what they say: money is money.

WSJ: Clearwire moving away from retail, will concentrate on network wholesale business originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 09 Feb 2011 20:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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