The merger of Sprint and T-Mobile will mean higher prices, fewer jobs and more privacy invasions.

Next week, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is holding public hearings on a merger between Sprint and T-Mobile. If the deal is approved by the FCC, it will lead to higher cell phone prices and crappier data plans for everyone. If we drop from 4 to 3 national cell phone providers, carriers will lose what’s left of the incentive to compete with each other on price.

The good news is that Californians who live near Fresno, Los Angeles, and San Diego can help save the country from higher cell phone bills. If we can get a critical mass to attend next week’s public hearings and convince California to oppose the deal, we can send a strong message for other states and lawmakers reviewing the deal to follow.

We need folks in California to spread the word and get everyone you know in these cities to pack the hearings. If you or anyone you know can attend a CPUC public hearing in Fresno (1/15), Los Angeles (1/16) or San Diego (1/17) it will make a big difference. You can get all the details and find out how to RSVP to attend here.

If approved, the merger will eliminate two of the country’s lowest-cost cell phone providers, Sprint and T-Mobile. Less competition means we’ll have to face higher bills, lower data caps, and crappier customer service — and Americans are already paying some of the highest prices in the industrialized world for cell phone service.

Students, low-income families, communities of color, or anyone looking for a good deal rely on Sprint and T-Mobile for affordable mobile-Internet access. If the U.S. government approves this merger, the people who can least afford it will have nowhere to turn for affordable access.

Right now the government is reviewing the deal and their decision whether to approve is expected in the next couple of months. This makes next week’s hearings super important to show the press that the public hates this deal, and convince the CPUC to turn California against it. Click here to RSVP and find out everything you need to know for the hearing.

This is about much more than affordable access to YouTube and Snapchat. This is about our democracy, too. Research increasingly shows that more and more low-income people are relying solely on their mobile phone to access the Internet, and we simply can’t afford to have them kicked offline due to high wireless costs. Imagine getting a new job, going back to school, or staying in touch with your friends and family without access to the Internet. Fighting this merger means fighting for fair access to the Internet. So, if you can, please make it out to one of these hearings next week to oppose the merger.