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T-Mobile ad: “If AT&T thought our network wasn’t great, why did they try to buy it?”

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AT&T dealt a very big, very direct blow to T-Mobile in a major advertising campaign being run in America’s biggest newspapers and magazines. AT&T saw fit to remind people, whether it’s accurate or not, that T-Mobile had twice as many dropped calls and twice as many failed calls as AT&T, and that AT&T’s data network was twice as fast. We called AT&T out on the irony of the campaign considering the situation these two companies were in just last year, but it seems T-Mobile doesn’t need our help.

Magenta decided to strike back rather quickly, asking “If AT&T thought our network wasn’t great, why did they try to buy it?” Fair point, though the rabbit hole is much deeper and complex than that would make it seem. Regardless, T-Mobile knows most of the ad’s viewers won’t be looking into why, exactly, AT&T wanted to buy them, and it makes them look even better in the process.

T-Mobile continued: “If you have seen AT&T’s recent advertising campaign, someone is obviously worried. What’s most surprising to us is the disparaging tone of these ads given AT&T’s failed attempt to buy us in 2011. Well don’t take their word for it about our network quality. See the facts for yourself at t-mobile.com/coverage.”

T-Mobile also ran a couple of more ads, asking if we could see the beads of sweat in AT&T’s ad, and pondering why T-Mobile keeps AT&T up at night. Like we said in the article regarding AT&T’s run, the wireless industry is among the fiercest when it comes to head-to-head advertising, and a very interesting can of worms has been opened up here. BRB, need more popcorn.

[via TmoNews]

Quentyn Kennemer
The "Google Phone" sounded too awesome to pass up, so I bought a G1. The rest is history. And yes, I know my name isn't Wilson.

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43 Comments

  1. AT&T is like the fat kid in school who tries to bully the other kids. T-mobile is the one who retaliates by easily pointing out that the fat kid is fat.

  2. well played T-Mobile

  3. The rabbit whole? REALLY?

    1. I’m pretty sure that these errors are a direct result of using dictation to write the articles instead of actually typing.

  4. Doesn’t matter what Tmo says, AT&T covers 97% of Americans. O.o

    1. As a former T-Mobile customer, I like how competitive they’re becoming. Unfortunately, I need a little more coverage out here in the boonies so I was forced to go with AT&T :/

      1. I live in an area that could be defined as “the boonies” as well and I’m on big red. V doesn’t show your area any love? :(

        1. Verizon gives everyone coverage. They don’t count in this argument.

      2. And that is how AT&T will win the argument. People want coverage and will pay more for it. I like T-Mobile and am on their network, but they need to expand.

        1. Not necessarily. We’re not exactly living in the best of times. Nowadays, price is becoming increasingly important for a lot of people. I’ll give up some speed for money in my pocket. As such, check out T-Mobile’s new gosmartmobile.com offerings. This is what really has AT&T worried, especially as T-Mobile builds out there LTE network and increases their pre-paid subscribers via the MetroPCS merger. The future is starting to look good. Heck, I’ll be able to buy a Nokia 521 from T-Mobile for about $185 off-contract in a month or two.

          1. I am paying $74.90 a month for unlimited everything. Honestly, I was paying VZW $110/month for the same thing with 3G Speeds.

          2. I paid the ETF to leave Verizon for T-Mobile.

      3. Yeah,I love Tmo for the most part, but may have to switch as well :-(

        And that sucks because I always said I would never switch to the death star.

      4. What got me out of T-Mobile for AT&T was the hTC One X’s availability. Plus my company was offering 20% off for at&t… but it turned out that 20% does not apply to the full bill. AT&T sure is sneaky!!

    2. 97% of Americans wish that were true

    3. they should all come to new york. Tmobile coverage here is amazing.

    4. Hmm… In Houston, Tmo has better coverage. In HOUSTON!! You know? That urban city that houses about 2 million people?

  5. Look at Apple and AT&T. They didn’t have a ad without that damn iPhone. Then they lost only carrier rights now they went to Android and Windows phones.

  6. I can tell you why. The AT&T executives bonuses are based on how much revenue is brought in. If they buy out the competition using corporate money, revenue doubles and they get 100 million dollar bonuses without going revenue organically. Bottom line, they are greedy bastards.

    1. I get that much, but you don’t buy a broken down car just so you can get to work. You would get one that’s working.

      Eh…? I hope you can get what I’m trying to say.

      If the network was supposedly bad, you’d have to spend more money to fix it, meaning you probably wouldn’t be making any money off it any time soon. So apparently AT&T thought it was good enough.

      1. The company isn’t suppposed to make money off it anytime soon. Do they make money right away when they sell a subsidized phone? no. It works the same way if they were trying to buying a smaller company that needs major improvement.

        1. Hmm…
          Making money != Making profit.

          They could be making money to pay of their debt from buying the company. But if the company was as bad as they say, after buying it they’d still have to spend more money to fix it up. That’s what I was referring to when I said “making money”.

          And yes. They do “make money” when they sell a subsidized phone. You just sold a phone. You don’t start making a profit, but you’re still making money. Sorry, but in this case your choice of words really matters.

      2. Or they planned to kill the old equipment and reuse the spectrum, re-do the network planning, etc. Lots of potential ways to take advantage of it.

  7. I like that first ad

  8. tmobile i am glad the merger did not happen but do not act like you didn’t know what at&t was planing to do with it!! you are not that innocent you wanted it just as much as at&t did so please!!.

    1. I think saying that T-Mobile’s parent company wanted it bad is more accurate. I don’t T-Mobile management necessarily wanted it.

    2. The way you said that made it sound like boyfriend, girlfriend drama.

      1. hahaha, that is how at&t and tmobile are acting now after a bad break.

  9. I like T-Mobile’s willingness to fight back. Now if they would just expand their coverage…

  10. I like that. “…AT&T’s failed attempt…”. I’m more than sure some 22 year old Facebooker wrote that. LoL!! That’s just too funny. You just don’t hear companies using the word “fail” like that.

  11. “If TFumble wasn’t grasping at straws, then why are they posting these stupid ads?”

  12. most people think with their wallets and T Mobile is a good network in certain areas of the country and not in others. If T Mobile gave me good service where I live then I would certainly jump on top of it because they have a really good pricing plan for cellular service. Unfortunately I’m stuck with Verizon because the only ones that give me consistent service in my area. But if I could choose I would certainly rather be with T Mobile or some other prepaid program.

    1. This is exactly the point. It’s a balance between price and what works for you 90% of the time. If you rarely travel outside of your home area, Verizon’s and AT&T’s coverage really doesn’t matter. I know that when I switched to Sprint from Verizon that I was giving up some coverage, but the price was more important. Sure I get occasionally frustrated when it doesn’t work in a spot I know Verizon did, but I’m willing to live with that. If I worked for a company that was willing to subsidize me, I might feel differently.

      This is why there’s a flaw in customer satisfaction surveys. Satisfaction is based on expectations. If you pay more, you expect more so if two vendors provide comparable service in your area, you’re likely to be less satisfied with the more expensive one because you’re not getting something extra for the money.

  13. Funnuy

  14. No Tmo, they just wanted your customers. This is what happens in a maturing market. Look at banks…

  15. Oh ho ho ho… it burns! IT BURNS! xD

  16. I like them. I switched to T-Mobile from Verizon, and I am happy that I did. I did not have LTE with VZW, so I cannot compare, but I can say that my service has been impeccable with T-Mo, and it is almost $50 cheaper than VZWs 3G plan.

  17. I like the way T Mobile chose to fight back, well played.

  18. lol, saw this coming but didn’t know T-Mobile would actually point it right out and made an ad off of it, IN THE FACE, AT&T!!

  19. There is no “irony” produced by the attempted purchase and subsequent attack ad. There is at worst, an apparent inconsistency. However, anyone with half a brain can come up with myriad reasons why AT&T would want to buy a competitor’s network, even while they considered it inferior to their own. Maybe they want to buy it and improve it, so that it is at least as good as their existing network. If a competitor is eliminated from the marketplace while they improve their new acquisition, so much the better. Poor, illogical response from T-Mobile. Poor, illogical article here.

  20. T-mo is using the breakup money to do what AT&T planned to do – re-purpose their spectrum for LTE. AT&T wasn’t trying to buy the network; they were trying to buy the spectrum, and to a lesser extent, the customers.

  21. dumb add, they tried to but you to gain customers and towers. real question is why did t mo agree to sell? if they are such a great service.

  22. Umm but if T-Mobile’s network isn’t as crappy as AT&T states, why was it for sale in the first place? ;) Way to have your own attack bite you back T-Mo!

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