How Would a T-Mobile-Sprint Merger Affect Your Cellphone Bill?

 T-Mobile’s proposed merger with Sprint would create a new national wireless giant capable of taking on Verizon and AT&T. The combined company, which would be called T-Mobile, would cover about 100 million customers.

But how, exactly, will all those customers fare if regulators sign off on the deal? And what about the millions of customers who use Verizon and AT&T?

Here’s what you need to know.

Will my bill go up?

Possibly, but not immediately. It’s difficult to promise that prices will remain at their current levels, even though the companies say consumers should expect the deal to lower prices.

But more competition is generally regarded as better for consumers. After all, look at what happened after regulators denied an attempted merger by T-Mobile and Sprint in 2014.

That year, after regulators signaled they would reject a deal, the two companies began a price war that rippled across the industry. Then in August 2016, T-Mobile was the first carrier in the United States to offer unlimited voice, text and data plans. The next day, Sprint began offering a $100 unlimited voice, text and data plan for two lines. Six months later, Verizon and then AT&T followed with similar offerings. Over all, wireless prices declined 13 percent from March 2016 to March 2017, according to the Labor Department.