If T-Mobile and AT&T merge, you'll have to replace that new Android phone if you want 3G

In what can only be looked at as down right annoying for anyone who has just recently purchased a new Android phone (or any phone for that matter) from T-Mobile, if this apparent merger goes through, you'll need to replace it already with one that supports AT&T 3G bands if you want to have 3G speeds.

While this may not exactly be gaming related, it does affect everyone, especially those on T-Mobile and we do have a lot of readers who are on T-Mobile. AT&T recently announced that they plan to buy T-Mobile for $39 billion and, if all goes well, would make them the largest wireless provider in the USA with what some people are stating as an 80% market share. Sounds like what Microsoft used to be back in the '90s.

While this would give everyone on T-Mobile or AT&T a lot more device selection and, hopefully, some pretty awesome service, it is already coming to light that there will be some drawbacks when it comes to this merger for the consumer and your pocketbook. If you have recently purchased that shiny new Android phone from T-Mobile (or any phone for that matter) and you want 3G speeds, you'll have to replace it with one that supports AT&T's 3G bands.

No word yet on how T-Mobile plans to handle all the customers who are going to be really pissed off about this due to having just used their upgrade to get a new Android phone or new customers who just bought a phone. The deal is planned to be finished over the course of the year if all goes well with related government agencies who need to approve the deal.

Let us know what you think about all this in the comments! Being on T-Mobile myself, this really annoys me although I'm lucky enough to have not used my upgrade yet.

Update March 21st, 2011 9:01am: Just to clarify how this would all come about, I shall quote the Yahoo article which explains it best.

This would mean T-Mobile phones would be left without 3G.

Website Referenced: Yahoo via AndroidFeens Twitter