YES To Eric Holder And Anti Trust NO to AT&T!! (Congress, lobbyists)

[KevK]

Cingular swallowed up AT&T Wireless and we said nothing
SBC swallowed up AT&T and we said nothing
AT&T swallowed up Cingular and we said nothing
Sprint swallowed up Nextel and we said nothing
Verizon swallowed up Alltel and we said nothing

AND NOW.....

It looks as though AT&T is taking the old tried and true way to eliminate competition and that is "if you can't beat them, buy them". It looks as though they have their eyes on Leap Wireless. Leap owns the Cricket brand of cell service which is a company that operates in serveral metro areas and sells service in an "all you can eat" for about $45 a month. The service is also complimented by a roaming agreement with Metro PCS which operates in other markets which is also a fixed monthly priced unlimited service. This allows for customers of either company to roam in about 212 markets in the USA.
Both Cricket and Metro have seen a strong rise in business over the past 12 months with the big 4 (AT&T, TMobile, Sprint and Verizon) seeing small gains or even losses over the same period. Families looking to cut cost have flocked to the companies that offer deals like 4 phones for $80 a month for unlimited talk and text.
IF WE DON'T SPEAK UP, THIS WILL END!
If AT&T is allowed to swallow up yet another company and put it out of business, it will raise prices for everybody. It appears that both AT&T and Verizon are hell bent on bringing back the bad old days of telecom monopolies to the United States along with sky high prices. Do you remember how much cell service cost when it was a shared monopoly between the 2 major phone companies of Ameritech and Southwestern Bell (Cellular One and Air Touch)? When you got NO minutes, when you paid 50 cents a minute for every minute you used? Do you want to go back to THAT again? If not, you need to call your Congressman and your Senator and let them hear from you before this deal is made. Insist that the anti-trust laws be fully enforced and that this deal NOT be allowed to gain steam. If they try to go through with it, the Dept of Justice needs to hear from us! We can stop this if we speak up now!

Overheard: Buyout Chatter Around Leap Wireless - WSJ.com

[saharaga]

Originally Posted by KevK

Cingular swallowed up AT&T Wireless and we said nothing
SBC swallowed up AT&T and we said nothing
AT&T swallowed up Cingular and we said nothing
Sprint swallowed up Nextel and we said nothing
Verizon swallowed up Alltel and we said nothing

Well, you forgot to list the biggest travesty...AT&T bought Bellsouth 2-3 years ago....which essentially brought the company back full circle to where it was before they split it up in the 80s. I think the old days of telecom monopolies are back and have been back for a while.

And, as someone who's worked for the government, I can tell you that, generally speaking, writing to your congressman is a waste of time. Many of them are firmly planted in the corporation lobbyists' pockets.

[PurpleLove08]

Originally Posted by saharaga

Well, you forgot to list the biggest travesty...AT&T bought Bellsouth 2-3 years ago....which essentially brought the company back full circle to where it was before they split it up in the 80s. I think the old days of telecom monopolies are back and have been back for a while.

And, as someone who's worked for the government, I can tell you that, generally speaking, writing to your congressman is a waste of time. Many of them are firmly planted in the corporation lobbyists' pockets.

Perty much.

I have AT&T and I haven't had any big problems when it comes to their cell phone service. I love the rollover and stuff but I think there should be more options when it comes to wireless.