AfterDawn: News

T-Mobile, AT&T make network agreement in NY, NJ following hurricane

Major carrier rivals AT&T and T-Mobile USA have agreed to share their networks to customers of the other company in areas affected by Hurricane Sandy, namely in New York and New Jersey.

Millions of customers were affected by power outages and flooding after the two day hurricane rolled through the East Coast.



The network roaming agreement calls for no fees or charges to their current rate plans if they roam.

"AT&T and T-Mobile customers will be able to place calls just as they normally would, but their calls will be carried by whichever network is most operational in their area," the press release reads. "This will be seamless for AT&T and T-Mobile customers with no change to their current rate plans or service agreements even if the phone indicates the device is attached to the other carrier's network."

AT&T and T-Mobile use the same GSM and UMTS standards, making an agreement possible. Sprint and Verizon use different CDMA standards.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 31 Oct 2012 18:22

• Previous article

• 'Halo' franchise has raked in $3 billion since launch

• Next article

• Samsung Galaxy S IV to feature Exynos 28nm quad-core processor?

• 9 comments

• KillerBug

  I have to wonder about all the customers on T-Mobile who have unlimited free roaming in their contracts...T-Mobile completely disabled roaming for those people a few months ago.

  31.10.2012 19:39 #1

• Notcow

  Wow, this seems like a very benevolent thing for these companies to do. Unless I misunderstand, there will be a huge amount of free data given away by at least one carrier. But, regardless of the reasons, this is helpful of them.
  

  31.10.2012 20:28 #2

• ZeusAV

  Originally posted by KillerBug: I have to wonder about all the customers on T-Mobile who have unlimited free roaming in their contracts...T-Mobile completely disabled roaming for those people a few months ago. Roaming is still free on T-Mobile. They just say that if you roam excessively now that they will cancel your service and for some people I know, they've also charged the ETF for this.

  31.10.2012 22:42 #3

• Mysttic

  Quote:Wow, this seems like a very benevolent thing for these companies to do. Unless I misunderstand, there will be a huge amount of free data given away by at least one carrier. But, regardless of the reasons, this is helpful of them. Be that as it may, data transferring cost pennies - dimes for these carriers and there's no "more" data going through a portable device when roaming, comparing to when you don't, it's the exact same; so at the end it costs neither company anything except profit loss otherwise generated through roaming charges.

  1.11.2012 07:24 #4

• Mrguss

  Originally posted by ZeusAV: Originally posted by KillerBug: I have to wonder about all the customers on T-Mobile who have unlimited free roaming in their contracts...T-Mobile completely disabled roaming for those people a few months ago. Roaming is still free on T-Mobile. They just say that if you roam excessively now that they will cancel your service and for some people I know, they've also charged the ETF for this. I have T-Mo & cross the border very often. 1 mille into Mexico and the phone start roaming and I get charge if I use the service :(
  

  +5000

  1.11.2012 16:21 #5

• deak91

  Originally posted by Mrguss: Originally posted by ZeusAV: Originally posted by KillerBug: I have to wonder about all the customers on T-Mobile who have unlimited free roaming in their contracts...T-Mobile completely disabled roaming for those people a few months ago. Roaming is still free on T-Mobile. They just say that if you roam excessively now that they will cancel your service and for some people I know, they've also charged the ETF for this. I have T-Mo & cross the border very often. 1 mille into Mexico and the phone start roaming and I get charge if I use the service :( its simple charge the people your sneaking back over the border extra money and you'll cover the roaming charges
  

  1.11.2012 19:19 #6

• Mrguss

  Originally posted by deak91: its simple charge the people your sneaking back over the border extra money and you'll cover the roaming charges Thx. for your little thinking.
  

  +5000

  1.11.2012 19:26 #7

• deak91

  lol my bad i thought you were complaining about how hard the life of a coyote was
  
  my correct response is get a phone with a dual sim card and have one sim from the us and one from mexico and you should be good
  

  1.11.2012 19:31 #8

• Mrguss

  Originally posted by deak91: lol my bad i thought you were complaining about how hard the life of a coyote was
  
  my correct response is get a phone with a dual sim card and have one sim from the us and one from mexico and you should be good I have second phone a "Mexican" Black-berry. Thx. tho.
  

  +5000

  1.11.2012 19:36 #9