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Comment by danberger | Hacker News Reader

I'm honestly interested into why you consider yourself a very happy T-Mobile customer. I'm in DC and have T-Mobile and they are god awful. Dropped calls, reception in my studio's living room but not in the kitchen, 3+ hours downtime after earthquake. Obviously the only thing they have going on for them is their low prices.

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Anecdotally, there are lots of very happy T-Mobile customers (I'm one of them in Minneapolis). I love their prices, service, and what they allow me to do with my phone (in comparison with other carriers). I was also very unhappy with the potential merger with AT&T and have a long, negative past with them that included me filing complaints with the MN Attorney General and the Better Business Bureau. I've sworn never to go back to them again, and if T-Mobile is consumed by them, I'll have to go to Sprint or Verizon, both of which are much more expensive than T-Mobile is now.

If the acquisition moves forward, it definitely has a significant impact on the level of competition in the mobile market.

Since you asked, I live in Chicago and coverage is wonderful here: very few dropped calls and great 3g service. When I leave town, admittedly, it gets more spotty. Coverage is a YMMV thing with any carrier.

T-Mobile also has great customer support and serves my unlocked Nexus S without a contract and with free tethering, something I'm sure AT&T will refuse to do.

PS: I used to have AT&T (actually cingular back then). Service in Chicago was atrocious. Any phone call over a few minutes would drop at least once, I'd have to stand in the window of my apartment to make phone calls, etc. Once again, YMMV.

> 3+ hours downtime after earthquake.

In DC, all the services were down for about that long.

T-Mobile's coverage in DC is indeed quite spotty: at GMU where I work it's quite good. But at my home in Alexandria, it's far from hot.

But for me, there is one reason I use T-Mobile. The Nexus S. An unlocked, no-provider-junk, Google-updated phone which is updated 6 months before other phones and which has 3G support in Europe. [The last bit knocks out AT&T and Sprint's version of the phone, and it's a big deal for me]. Just wish T-Mobile would permit UMA on the phone.

The biggest reason I like t-mobile is the wifi hotspot; no matter how spotty their coverage is in an area, if you have wifi coverage, you have t-mobile coverage. At my parents' place in the mountains near aspen, or my girlfriend's mom's place in the desert outside sedona, there is no cell phone coverage by any provider, but as long as I have wifi, I can make calls. It goes a long way towards making up for their smaller network.

I'm in the DC suburbs and am happy with T-Mobile. At my house Verizon has NO signal at all. So clearly it's a location-dependent issue.

Carrier diversity does have its advantages in other ways. I was in NYC during the earthquake and had no problems with text or data immediately afterwards, even took an incoming voice call. Everyone around me with iPhones on AT&T or Verizon couldn't do a thing.

Im in Chicago with T-mobile. Crazy HSPA speeds, no dropped calls, and cheaper than AT&T. Just the thought of being forced to endure AT&T would send me off to Verizon.

Not to mention, having only one GSM carrier in the US is stupid.

I was with T-Mobile from 2003-2009 and have been with AT&T since, and the biggest reasons I gave in to switching over were the iPhone, T-Mobile's spotty coverage and the fact that a large portion of my friends(and girlfriend) were on AT&T.

I had a great deal while on T-Mobile and it was very hard to quit them. Personally, I believe that competition equals innovation which is better for consumers, and we need more of it. The situation for mobile service is quite sad here in the States with the collusion of the big two(not counting T-Mobile and Sprint, I suppose) on pricing and such, and having AT&T get even bigger wouldn't help the situation.

Reception quality can vary drastically with location. Your experience may not apply to wherever the OP lives.

I was with Att before it became Cingular, and stayed with them through the transition back to being called Att. I lost plan features (device replacement insurance, competitive sms rates, etc.) and suffered rate increases both times the company restructured.

My company offers iPhones, so I really only keep a non-business cell for sms and an occasional call. So far, T-mobile has been great for that (in Houston), and I am confident my monthly price would increase - perhaps even double - under Att.

3+ hours seems like a very short time. Everyone nukes the tower trying to call after a disaster, not to mention there might have been actual damage to their equipment.

Reception has been somewhat poorer since I switched from AT&T, but price and customer service and much, much better. In particular I appreciate being off contract.

Here in Denver they're pretty good. There is a bad spot in Downtown (that I used to live in), but other than that one block... it was great. I was about to switch back (I had moved to Verizon for other reasons) until they announced the merger.

In my personal experience they have the best customer service I have experienced with a cell carrier. THAT is why I stick with T-Mobile, they have earned it due to the way they treat me.

I'm in DC as well and I find Verizon to be absolutely horrible. I had T-Mobile until last year and I regret switching.

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