Speaker 1: What does a T Mobile Sprint merger mean for you?
Speaker 1: Amrich Damiro.
Speaker 2: This is Rich on Tech Daily.
Speaker 1: While in case you haven't heard, T Mobile announced it's
Speaker 1: buying Sprint for twenty six billion dollars. The combined company
Speaker 1: would be named T Mobile, and T Mobile CEO John
Speaker 1: Ledger would continue as CEO of the new company. The
Speaker 1: two companies are saying that this will be a big
Speaker 1: deal for five G, you know, the next generation wireless network,
Speaker 1: and the new company is going to be a force
Speaker 1: for positive change in the US wireless video and broadband markets.
Speaker 1: Remember T Mobile recently bought a cable company called Layer three. Now,
Speaker 1: the big thing these two companies are saying is that
Speaker 1: they will build a five G network faster than their competition.
Speaker 2: Can. They certainly have the spectrum to do this.
Speaker 1: They estimate that they can get speeds fifteen times faster
Speaker 1: nationwide by twenty twenty four, with lots of customers getting
Speaker 1: speeds one hundred times faster than early four G, which
Speaker 1: sounds really good, but let's be honest, early four G
Speaker 1: was pretty slow. The two companies say they're going to
Speaker 1: spend up to forty billion dollars in the first three
Speaker 1: years to invest in their new network and businesses, which
Speaker 1: is forty six percent more than T Mobile and Sprint
Speaker 1: spent combined in the past three years. And what I
Speaker 1: love about facts and figures like this is how in
Speaker 1: the past T Mobile would always send out press releases
Speaker 1: saying how they're spending so much on their network, but
Speaker 1: now apparently all that was not enough. Of course, the
Speaker 1: question we all want answers to This sounds great for
Speaker 1: the two companies, but what about me and my bill
Speaker 1: and my phone. For starters, T Mobile and Sprint run
Speaker 1: two different types of networks. T Mobile is GSM, Sprint
Speaker 1: is CDMA, but both of them use the newer technology
Speaker 1: called LTE. According to reports, about twenty million phones used
Speaker 1: by Sprint customers can work on both kinds of networks.
Speaker 1: This includes recent iPhones and Samsung Galaxy phones, so some
Speaker 1: folks would see increased coverage immediately from both networks. Other
Speaker 1: customers might have to upgrade their phones to take advantage
Speaker 1: of a new roaming deal. As for plans, customers would
Speaker 1: probably be able to keep their current plans. Sprint's cheapest
Speaker 1: is sixty dollars a month for unlimited. T Mobile is
Speaker 1: seventy dollars a month. Both also offer add ons like
Speaker 1: HD Video for an extra ten dollars a month. But
Speaker 1: here's what usually happens in circumstances like this. Yes, you
Speaker 1: can keep your plan grandfathered in, but usually the company,
Speaker 1: the new company is going to offer something slightly better
Speaker 1: for a similar price, just so they can get folks
Speaker 1: on a new plan which is less confusing.
Speaker 2: So that's what I would expect to happen.
Speaker 1: I would expect to see the new Tea Mobile offer
Speaker 1: some sort of compelling combined plan to entice new customers
Speaker 1: out of the gate, since they will promote increased coverage
Speaker 1: across both networks. Now, when it comes to the new
Speaker 1: five G network they're promising, which could be really fast
Speaker 1: and really a game changer that would definitely require a
Speaker 1: new device, But that is still a ways off, so
Speaker 1: you've got lots.
Speaker 2: Of time to figure that one out.
Speaker 1: So what about all the perks you might get as
Speaker 1: a subscriber of either Sprint or T Mobile. You know,
Speaker 1: T Mobile has those Tuesdays with all the benefit and
Speaker 1: that free Netflix offer, plus Sprint offers FREEHLU to customers.
Speaker 1: Then you've got Google's Project five, which combines both networks
Speaker 1: into one and many more carriers that latch onto these
Speaker 1: two networks, they call him MVNOs.
Speaker 2: All of these deals would probably be up.
Speaker 1: In the air at some point, maybe at renewal time,
Speaker 1: but probably not immediately. Keep in mind, this will be
Speaker 1: a new company that doesn't have to prove as much
Speaker 1: as the old Sprint and Tea Mobile did when they
Speaker 1: were separate and trying to win over customers. This time around,
Speaker 1: they will actually have a pretty decent network to put
Speaker 1: up a good fight, So that leaves the biggest question
Speaker 1: will this deal be approved? While perhaps the President's silence
Speaker 1: on Twitter says a lot, we've heard nothing yet about
Speaker 1: a challenge from the administration, and the focus on a
Speaker 1: five G network seems right in line with what the
Speaker 1: President has talked about wanting before, although he is not
Speaker 1: a huge fan of foreign ownership, especially in the communications sector,
Speaker 1: and with the new Team Mobile, we'd have a German
Speaker 1: and Japanese company having lots of ConTroll over the new company.
Speaker 2: That's gonna do it for this episode of the show.
Speaker 2: If you liked the podcast, please leave a rating and
Speaker 2: review in the Apple.
Speaker 1: Podcast sapp and tell your friends I'm Richie Dmairo You
Speaker 1: can find links to everything I talk about here at
Speaker 1: richontech dot TV.
Speaker 2: I'll talk to you real soon.