I have to say i disagree with you...
I have to say i disagree with you on most of your points except one, the first one, the federal government is insanely out of control.
However as for AT&T never wanting this merger to go through, if that were the case they would have never agreed to nearly $6bn in breakup fees. yes $6bn, despite this article saying $4bn, the total value of the breakup clause is $6bn +/-, $3bn in cash, $2bn worth of wireless spectrum and a roaming agreement between the 2 companies thats said to benefit t-mobile by $1bn +/-.
I dont know what area you're in, but in the greater phoenix area, T-Mobile's coverage is quite good! I rarely drop calls on my end, ironically, calls get dropped all the time when speaking with my father, on both his personal phone and his business phone. His personal phone is on AT&T and his business phone is Sprint, go figure... Several very good friends also have AT&T and i giggle at them as i watch them drop call after call all day long. They both try to tell me its the other people carriers that's the problem, they just dont get it...
As far as customer service goes, yeah they're kind of brain dead, and kind of stupid, but as long as you dont give up, you will eventually find someone in the company that understands what the hell it is you're talking about and can fix the problem. After having dealt with Sprint and AT&T's customer service (as a customer) I have to say that T-Mobile is by far the lesser of 3 evils. Sprint was the worst but AT&T wasnt too far behind them. I've only dealt with Verizon's customer service as a 3rd party helping others, but i do have to say that my few and limited experience with them has been good.
As a happy and proud T-Mobile customer, every news story i read that talks about this merger failing or brings news of it coming one step closer to failure, brings a smile to my face...
,,!,, AT&T... And get your checkbook cause this fuck up comes with a fat price tag...