AT&T and T-Mobile team up to serve customers affected by Sandy

They were almost bound together by a merger, but now AT&T and T-Mobile are coming together out of necessity. In the New York-New Jersey area, where Hurricane Sandy did her thing, communication by cellular service remains difficult. AT&T and T-Mobile have agreed to allow whichever of the two carriers is operational in certain areas, to carry calls made by customers of the other company without any additional charges. Even if a customer's phone indicates that they are on the other carrier's network, there will be no extra costs applied to the call.

Because both carriers use the GSM technology, this arrangement can be made. We have to say that we know what it is like to not have a cellular signal in the aftermath of a hurricane and those in the New York-New Jersey area are lucky to have these two carriers working together for the good of the community.There is no world on how long this arrangement will continue for.

Last year, AT&T offered to buy T-Mobile for $39 billion but regulators objected to the deal and AT&T eventually backed away from the planned acquisition.

source:AT&T, T-Mobile