AT&T, T-Mobile Business Customers Not Thrilled But See Upside

The merger isn't likely to come without conditions. While customers might like some kind of promise of lower rates, the discussion is more likely to center on coverage and bandwidth utilization. "I'm worried about the future," Ayvazian says. "We've spent the past 20 years promoting competition and benefiting from competition."wholesale cool gadgets store

Business pros have plenty of other palpable reactions besides worry, with respondents to the free-form section of our survey using terms like "horrible," "absolute worst," "disaster," "larceny" (and a few more that civility prevents us from publishing) to describe their feelings about AT&T and its cellular and customer service. But the vitriol is far from universal. The glass-half-full types hope that innovative billing and other customer-care qualities they appreciate in T-Mobile will brush off on AT&T. But the real value AT&T is seeking isn't T-Mobile's friendlier pricing and customer service.


AT&T is well aware of its own coverage and quality problems, and its rollout of LTE (its high-speed, 4G data transport technology of choice) will further stress its network, which must remain backward-compatible with phones and other devices users have now. In some markets, buying spectrum is all but impossible, making acquisitions AT&T's only option.wholesale Android Tablets


Just 14% of our survey respondents say T-Mobile is their company's preferred North American mobile communications carrier. But it has been the most aggressive price competitor, providing a "foil against the duopoly pricing of AT&T and Verizon," says Berge Ayvazian, a consultant with market researcher Heavy Reading. Business customers won't like losing that leverage even if T-Mobile hasn't been a big part of their spending.