Not really much to add after reading 10 pages. Thanks to everyone for their input it really helps being able to look at the situation from all sides. I have always been for a tmo sprint merge and am happy to see that it still may happen.
The best thing that could happen is to open up the n5 (g2, gs4, note3 etc) to use all tmo bands in addition to sprint. the tech is already here and vzw / att could not match that kind of flexibility.