 | | Gosh, what a surprise Was there ever any doubt?
let's hope a Tunney act review will derail this merger, although I'm not holding my breath. | |
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 |  Romney2012Defeat Obama 2012-Chg we can believe inPremium
join:2002-03-03
USA
kudos:4 |  Re: Gosh, what a surprise
said by nasadude:Was there ever any doubt? let's hope a Tunney act review will derail this merger, although I'm not holding my breath. Merger will probably go thru with the same kind of conditions that were applied to the AT&T/SBC merger. And the courts will probably rubber stamp this too after making a show of deliberation for a couple months. Business as usual.
Of course, this will probably be the last Old Bell company merger to be approved. Qwest will probably have to find a way to merge with someone other than Verizon or AT&T. The justice dept usually draws the line when the field get narrowed to 3 or 4. Much more likely Qwest does a merger with a cable company or a satellite company.
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| | | | Re: Gosh, what a surprise Qwest/Embarq?
Or Qwest/Century Tel?
Neither are too sexy when you think about it. | |
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| | |  Jim GurdPremium
join:2000-07-08
Plymouth, MI | Re: Gosh, what a surprise said by RichNice:Qwest/Embarq? Or Qwest/Century Tel? Neither are too sexy when you think about it. Hmm. I've been thinking that Embarq and Century Tel should merge, and maybe throw Alltel and/or TDS in there too. Basically a merger of all the major rural telcos.
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Correlation does not imply causation. | |
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| | | |  intellerSociopaths always win.
join:2003-12-08
Tulsa, OK | Re: Gosh, what a surprise Alltel is a wireless only company now. I think you are thinking of Windstream Communications. | |
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| | | | | | | Re: Gosh, what a surprise
Ummm...Alltell is still providing landline service in rureal TX outside of Ft Worth. My daughter has them. | |
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| | | | | | | | Re: Gosh, what a surprise They recently spun off the landline ops into Windstream Communications.
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Well never forget Dale Earnhardt #3 | |
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| | | fiberguyMy views are my own.Premium
join:2005-05-20
kudos:3 | I can see it now!!
"Qwest together with Century... riding century old technology!" | |
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| | | | | | Re: Gosh, what a surprise LOL
Good one.
Back in the old days when I was with Qwest...our unofficial motto was "Serve customer's cash...." | |
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| | | No kidding. The telco's are doing everything they can to buy each other up and stiff arm the small ISP's to the grave. All thanks to our wonderful government for turning a blind eye to the buyoffs.
The FCC has become a dangerous wild animal that is infected with a dealy virus.
In the next few years expect only a hand full of Wireless, Telco, and Cable companies. Then the rate hikes and excuses to burn the consumer will begin.
What happen to the Great Generations this country was founded on? | |
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1 edit | Wha? Martin is angling for a Board of Directors job after his term is over. | |
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|  ronpinImagine Reality
join:2002-12-06
Nirvana | Hey -- we spied for you -- where's our merger approval??? Yeah  | |
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| | | Re: Wha? More likely a posh role at a deregulatory think-tank. | |
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 LegoPower77AbecedarianPremium
join:2002-08-03
Midlothian, VA | Market Concentration is Not to be Feared "Enthusiasm for perfect competition in theory and the support of monopoly in practice are indeed surprisingly often found to live together."—Friedrich von Hayek | |
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 pnh102Reptiles Are Cuddly And PrettyPremium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD | Welcome Back to the Suck Judge Greene, peace be upon him, must be turning over in his grave.
Nothing good will come of this merger. We are just fumbling back towards the bad old daze of Ma Bell.
Ugh.
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Only SHATNER is Kirk. | |
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| | Ma Bell here we come... How about this NOT go thru....the gov.'t obviously is driving blind or wants to turn a blind eye.
With all the mergers we're quickly going straight back to square one with Ma Bell again. This is ridiculous. These Telco's are getting way too huge again. | |
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| | | Re: Ma Bell here we come... Who says they are blind or turning a blind eye? In the day of eBay, I am most certain they smiled when they received their bribery acceptance checks.  | |
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| | | LMAO...
Do you realize that the conditions now are not the same as they were pre-1984? We didnt have cell phones, we didnt have cable companies offering cell phone services. We didnt have mom and pop telcos operating. We didnt have satellites offering services either. It is truly different and all of you doomsayers are just showing pure ignorance in the matter. Ma-Bell is Dead....She is not returning due to the change in the market. There IS more competition now..AT&T and Bellsouth dont compete with each other. They are in different areas, and so this merger will be approved. If AT&T was trying to buy say comcast, then that would be throwing red flags...as they would be buying a competitor... | |
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| | Reviews:
 ·DSL EXTREME
| Re: Ma Bell here we come... I have never bought the "but we have cell phones as an option." All of the biggest cell companies are also owned by the wireline companies of the same name. Cingular is reportedly going to change back to AT&T Wireless after this mess of a merger gets approved. | |
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| | | | | Re: Ma Bell here we come... I would have to agree. Isn't like 80 or 85% of the wireless market controlled by the current ILEC's?
I don't really call that competition. | |
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| | | | | Pre-1984, if you wanted a phone who did you go to? AT&T
Now, if you want a phone you go to your Ilec, or their resellers. You also have the option of going with a Verizon cell phone when you cant get Verizon pots service. You can get Sprint Cellphones now. Just because these companies are owned by ilecs, does not mean they arent competition. You seem to believe that just because you dont like a certain ILEC(ATT, Verizon, Bellsouth, whomever your particular chip is with) that you cant give the other Ilecs that money instead by using THEIR cellphones...that is COMPETITION!
Fatal Vector,
Can you elaborate on this statement?
"What cable carriers are offering THER OWN INDEPENDENT SERVICE and not just REBRANDED MAJOR CARRIER SERVICE? NONE."
Cable carriers are providing their own services via their own network...Im not seeing the arguement that you seem to bringing here.
Also why dont you google satellite phones, and see what you come up with. The telcos arent the only one using it for relaying data.... | |
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| | | | I mostly agree with you that the world has changed, but don't kid yourself AT&T is probably the biggest competitor in the Business market throughout Bellsouth territory, nonetheless I agree with you, new technologies have changed the playing field. Had the judge known about cell phones and VOIP over cable, he probably wouldn't have broke up AT&T to begin with. | |
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| | | | "Do you realize that the conditions now are not the same as they were pre-1984? We didnt have cell phones, we didnt have cable companies offering cell phone services. We didnt have mom and pop telcos operating. We didnt have satellites offering services either. It is truly different and all of you doomsayers are just showing pure ignorance in the matter. Ma-Bell is Dead....She is not returning due to the change in the market. There IS more competition now..AT&T and Bellsouth dont compete with each other. They are in different areas, and so this merger will be approved. If AT&T was trying to buy say comcast, then that would be throwing red flags...as they would be buying a competitor..."
Ahem...
Ignorance, hey? Ma Bell is not dead. Her sprit has lived on through her parts ever since she was evicerated in the 80's.
What you fail to realize is that things have NOT changed that much, if any. The telcos STILL OWN ALL OF THE INFRASTRUCTURE, As well as ALL OF THE MAJOR CELL CARRIERS.
What cable carriers are offering THER OWN INDEPENDENT SERVICE and not just REBRANDED MAJOR CARRIER SERVICE? NONE.
The only way satellites are used in phone service is by the telcos for long distance relay to replace their microwave networks.
Bellsouth and AT&T dont compete CURRENTLY, but their merger will create a behemoth AT&T that serves...errr rips off and controls a MAJOR majority part of the market and they WILL be the monopoly because they will also own Cingular 100% then, lets not forget. And any other cell carriers will have to go through them.
Ma Bell IS putting herself together again, pilgrim. In the end, it will be AT&T and Verizon. Embarq/sprint and Qwest will eventually sell out. THEN, you will learn the hard facts about Ma Bells arrogance and control, my friend.
The big cat does not change it's stripes. | |
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| | | Reviews:
 ·WOW Internet and..
| Re: Ma Bell here we come... at one time SBC WAS a CLEC in several other areas, VZ and BS areas around the country, they even were a CLEC to Cinci Bell. Although their site isn't showing that page anymore since the AT&T name change.
And as far as Embarq going to ATT or VZ they'd go to TW first. TWC already has a large partnership/deal going with them for their digital phone services. Sprint/Embarq powers the back end and TWC wouldn't give that up. Qwest would probably go to Comcast or TWC and use them to power their digital phone service as well or MSN would try to take over since MSN is their preferred ISP. You also can't forget Cinci Bell. One of the last companies to use the Bell name that was NOT part of AT&T or Windstream- formerly Alltel | |
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| | | | | Ma Bell is dead. Period. The once great company who made equipment, owned all the phone-like services is gone forever.
Blah blah, have cheese with all that wine on statements that the telco will "rule the world." Not going to happen. There are so many choices now for getting in touch with people.
If there was thought of Cell and VOIP possibilities, the break up in 1984 would never have happened because the structures that are here today are different than the POTS network.
This merger is just like the cable merger that went by recently with Comcast and Time Warner swapping out the networks. We need more choices in video services. As we have these many choices in telecommunications we have squat for television. | |
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1 edit | Re: Ma Bell here we come... "Blah blah, have cheese with all that wine on statements that the telco will "rule the world." Not going to happen. There are so many choices now for getting in touch with people."
You dont get it, do you? As long as the incumbents own all the access lines, including those with DSL service, regardless of WHO provides the DSL, THEY ARE IN CONTROL. The Cell carriers have to access their network sooner or later to complete calls, DSL providers have to use their CO's and lines.
The only real difference today is voip and that STILL has to use some of their lines to connect, as does cable voip.
This merger is making a communications behemoth out of AT&T again in this country (no one ever said the "telco will rule the world"-just this country) that will "serve" the VAST MAJORITY of states.
And, if embarq and qwest are gobbled up, even by the cable companies, the situation will, at best, stay the same, because they are minor players to begin with and the cablecos will STILL have to go through cingular, etc to connect in bell areas.
No way around it. As long as the telcos own the access and long lines, they are in control bottom line. | |
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 morboComplete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000 | and put to waste all that advertising b.s. already spent??
AT&T knows how to lobby for what they want.
FCC is a joke.
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| | | Re: and put to waste all that advertising b.s. already spent?? Lobby? Why waist time when bribery is more efficient and effective.  | |
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| |  tsu9
join:2001-08-17
Wheeling, IL | Re: and put to waste all that advertising b.s. already spent?? It's the same thing, just in more polite terms. | |
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| | | | | Re: and put to waste all that advertising b.s. already spent?? And one is viewed as legal while the other is not. | |
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| | | | said by GhostDoggy:Lobby? Why waist time when bribery is more efficient and effective. the fcc is easily swayed by money | |
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| |  cob_1310nm Of GoodnessPremium
join:2003-07-08
Tulsa, OK
 ·AT&T U-Verse
| said by GhostDoggy:Lobby? Why waist time when bribery is more efficient and effective. There we go. 
I believe smaller, more localized incumbents were better for consumers. I give it 10-20 years before we're right back to a pre-divestiture AT&T - complete with Verizon and Qwest. | |
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1 edit | 10 years time you will have only 2 choices depending on where you live Att Verizon Comcast or TWC and all four will own all the cell carriers
wait its almost already like that | |
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| | | Re: 10 years time you will have only 2 choices your forgetting something Vodafone owns 45% of Verizon Wireless and T-mobile is owned by Telecom Duetschland (Telecom Germany) and they wont let anything like that happen. | |
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It makes cents.