The future of U.S. cell phone carriers live chat with CNET editor, Kent German

Do you think that if AT&T + T-Mo join force that Verizon and sprint should join force?

What do you think will happen to T-mobile's prepaid customers who have Gold Rewards? Once the user reaches $100 in prepaid purchased minutes, they can extend a year's service for another year with the lowest refill which is $10. Will AT&T continue this plan in some fashion, or will the people just lose all their minutes?

Also what will happen to T-Mobile mvno's like Simple Mobile? Right now, they have a $60 unlimited plan, and you can bring any phone. Do you think Simple's unlimited plan will stay as-is or go bye-bye?

Mobile Virtual Network Operators in my opinion cloud the effects of the merger.

For example my son has some android phone with a 25 buck a month plan. That's from what we call a MVNO.

Yes, the same plan from the Sprint or ATT is almost 3 times that.

Question: Will MVNO's make the merger a non-event, no-effect?

I read an article stating if the merger does not go through that AT&T will have to pay T-Mobile 3 billion dollars.

Does that have to do with stock prices being effected with the merger announcement. And if the deal doesn't go through what if T-Mobile stock goes up, would AT&T still have to cough it up?

(I know Tmobile doesn't have their own ticker symbol sicne they are a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom)

Do you think T-Mo customer service will go away with the merger?

Supporters of the merger say there will be plenty of competition even though only 2 providers will service 68% of the market and 3 will service 80%. Consumer advocates say competition will be reduced, service will not improve, and prices will rise. How can the little companies lacking backhaul and spectrum and cell towers hope to compete?

Is the lack of new phones at Sprint a result of Sprint's lackluster efforts or have phone makers been creating this problem by focusing on AT&T and Verizon? I would like to stay with Sprint but I feel like they're not trying hard enough to retain my subscription.

I was planning to switch to t-mobile because of there international calling add-on, but i'm concerned now what will hahppen to the add-on packages. I understand that i'll be having my plan and its rates until my contract expires but what will happen to the addon?

Still wondering if we T-Mobile customers will get some of the apps offered to AT&T customers. And, will they be free?

We are on at&t for their family plan, but i kinda want data. the problem is that it is expensive and i cant get any deals on the family plan. will this change with the merger?

Many opt for att as it has a good feature like roll over minutes,good phone (apple). These days many of the att plan features went up in the price will there be any competition in GSM market for the sake of customers who do not want pay much?

With all this talk about GSM being outdated with "4g", wouldn't having everyone on LTE be a bad idea as well?

I have to admit, I'm not too excited about Nokia (proprietary peripherals) even if they do make quality handsets, but with Phone 7, or 8, could they finally pull out of the tailspin they're in? And will Microsoft's phone OS become relevant?

T-Mobile has made a number very costly mistakes over the past couple years. The first was being the last to deploy 3G data services, next was not purchasing spectrum when they knew their network was going to hit a wall. Lastly, they have never put forth much effort is staying competitive in the area of premiere devices with the onslaught of the iPhone and high end Android devices, at least not until recently.

The reality is even if this deal doesn't go through T-Mobile gets $3 billion dollars and a bit a spectrum from AT&T but they will still be left with nowhere to turn but to find another suitor for acquisition or go under.

I worked for Cingular during the acquisition of AT&T back in 2003. Cingular had a very good network and brand name until they allowed AT&T management to remain and give us what we know today as AT&T. AT&T has no intention of satisfying their subscribers, they just want to have bragging rights that they're larger than Verizon as was the case back in 2003 - 2004. T-Mobile customers should cringe at the thought of how bad their customer experience will be with AT&T.

Currently, I have T Mobile. I selected them over others because of their great pricing, lower than what I had and a lot of great features. This is my first smart phone, Android, and happy with it and the service. My concern is that with a merger with AT and T, there would be little competition and pricing will go up quickly. With smaller companies not being able to offer innovation, my concern is that we will be forced to pay whatever the new big companies decide with little in the way of alternatives. As is the pricing is very high, wages stagnant for years and now a virtual monopoly on mobile communication.
My question is that if this merger takes place, we will be looking at a few companies taking over and pricing going up, or even pricing fixing in select markets? Is this the future of mobile communication, high prices, no innovation and monopolies?

I've been with Sprint for over 10 years. I've had iPhone envy and am waiting for the iPhone 5. I had an AT&T wireless phone through work and never was satisfied with them so I'm hesitant to make the switch to AT&T. Do you think the Sprint Nexus S 4G will be a good alternative to an iPhone, or should I just finally make the switch to Verizon or AT&T if and when the iPhone 5 comes out?

We have a few more minutes, but I'll get to as many questions as I can. The live chat ends at 10:30 am PT.

Will AT&T change plan rates for existing T-Mobile customers and will AT&T discounts and incentives be offered to existing T-Mobile customers. I talked to T-Mobile and they said no changes would be made until next year.

If this happens, is our best choice to move over to AT&T or hold on and see what happens

Service carrier's customers be affected by the merger, whether it goes through or falls through?

There has been released statements by AT&T stating the iPhone will not by made available for T-Mobile customers if the merger were to go through, yet not?

Is it possible to obtain better coverage inside our houses and outdoors as well, taking into account the size of the US?