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Can someone explain to me the benefit of T-Mobile's additional spectrum and how this will work with future mobile phones on "AT&T-Mobile"?
Their 2G service runs at 850 / 1900 MHz (like AT&T), while their 3G service runs on 1700 / 2100 MHz (compared to AT&T's 3G HSPA, which also runs at 850 / 1900 MHz). AT&T mentioned the additional spectrum as a benefit of the acquisition. Will future AT&T phones need to be designed with some sort of quad-band 3G chip?
They want to use the 1700/2100 as well as some stuff they already own to build out their LTE on without disturbing their 850/1900. T-Mobile's 2G coverage also fills some holes, adds redundancy and gives them tower space to add other stuff.
Buying T-Mobile (as opposed to Sprint) means that for non-data customers, which are still the majority, it would be a seamless transition. For existing AT&T data customers it also makes the LTE transition less bumpy. The only people really hurt by it are T-Mobile data customers, which I'm sure AT&T considers "necessary casualties" in their master plan.
Buying T-Mobile (as opposed to Sprint) means that for non-data customers, which are still the majority, it would be a seamless transition. For existing AT&T data customers it also makes the LTE transition less bumpy. The only people really hurt by it are T-Mobile data customers, which I'm sure AT&T considers "necessary casualties" in their master plan.
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The 1700 AWS spectrum is likely going to become LTE. T-Mobile 3G will probably work for a couple years after the acquisition is complete. 1700 LTE devices are already available on Metro PCS so presumably AT&T devices would be compatible with those. In the end I'm guessing 700/1700 device become AT&T's standard.
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