A blog all about cell phones!

Stick together...if the DOJ lets you!

Now that the DOJ has sued AT&T over its planned merger with T-Mobile, they’ll head to court later this month to try and prove why the merger would be good for cell phone users.

Will it?

If you use unlocked cell phones, the merger matters a bit. One of the joys of unlocked cell phones is switching between GSM networks (networks with a sim card) to find the right data, text, and minutes plan.

With fewer US carriers on GSM networks, then the merger would be a bad thing. While competition between the two companies may be colored by other things (apps like skype, google or facebook chat, and free wifi in many places) the bottom line is that unless you want to go pre-pay, or wifi only your unlocked cell phones need to be on some sort of a plan.

There are other concerns besides the merger. Many manufacturers and carriers are choosing to sell “unlocked cell phones” directly to consumers, in an attempt to keep them in-network. Of course, unlocked cell phones mean many things, and being able to add third party software is one of them. Not all cell phones sold by companies as unlocked cell phones meet this definition, and may still need to be jailbroken.

In any case, keep an eye on the T-Mobile merger, because it could affect not just your unlocked cell phone usage, but your wallet!