"Joe Seattle" <joeofseattle@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1417c60d-f4aa-430f-a96b-f437cdee72f1@x19g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
> Considering that the number one and number two have a 12 year lead on
> VoiceStream/T-Mobile and considering that they [AT&T and Verizon] have
> the backing of their ILEC and considering that they are *the*
> national cellular (850 Mhz) carriers (there can be only two in a
> market) VS/T-Mobile has done very well for itself.

I don't disagree. I've been a happy T-Mo customer since the Voicestream
days. I don't pretend, however, that T-Mo is perfect, or that they are
right carrier for everybody. I like them- coverage is good enough, and they
offer an excellent bang for the buck. There's nowhere else I could run a
family plan with unlimited data on two smartphones for $70.

> If it weren't for
> the lousy marriage of Sprint and Nextel T-Mobile would now be the
> number three carrier in the US.

Perhaps- if not for the lousy marriage, I think Sprint would be doing much
better than they are currently, and would likely still be ahead of T-Mo, but
that's immaterial to me- I choose my wireless carrier based on my needs, not
their ranking! ;-)

> As for 3G T-Mobile didn't have any
> choice on what spectrum they could bid on. It's the same for AT&T
> and Verizon. They couldn't use all the 3G frequencies that the rest
> of the world uses either since the spectrum was already in use and
> could not be easily re-organized. You can only use what you've got or
> what you've been relegated to!

Agreed- that excuses the problem, perhaps, but doesn't improve T-Mo's
position- the net result is that, for the time being, it'll force us to use
T-Mo-branded 3G handsets- I can't, for example, buy an unlocked AT&T Tilt,
and run it on T-Mo's 3G when it launches here in Denver, or for use in New
York, where I'll be next month.

Frankly, I'm not really desperate for the speed of 3G- I'd just like
simultaneous use of voice and data, so my calls don't roll to voicemail when
I'm retrieving e-mail!

My post was really in response to the fact that the OP was trolling- this
"great news" was posted to a Verizon group, but NOT to either T-Mo group!