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Blog: Gadgets Verizon Slams AT&T in New Commercial
Shane McGlaun (Blog) - October 6, 2009 9:07 AM
Print E-mail del.icio.us 20 comment(s) - last by Yawgm0th.. on Oct 19 at 2:25 AM

Map for That Slam  (Source: Engadget)
There is a map for that, and Verizon's is better

If there is one thing that is true about the wireless industry, it is that each of the major companies tries to claim that it is the best, biggest, or most popular in some aspect. It's not rare to see some of the big companies like AT&T and Verizon claiming virtually identical things about their networks.

This leads to  some interesting commercials at times and one of the latest is Verizon Wireless taking a swipe at AT&T over its overused "There's an app for that" tagline. The commercial shows an AT&T user and a Verizon user walking and using navigation presumably. The map above the AT&T users head shows the coverage of the AT&T 3G network and the map over the Verizon user's head shows the 3G coverage area for Verizon. Verizon then proceeds to poke at AT&T's inferior 3G coverage saying “There's a map for that”.

It goes without saying that the Verizon 3G overage area is much larger if the claims are to be believed. I can believe the AT&T network is smaller, 3G coverage is notoriously shoddy with AT&T, and any iPhone user can tell you that 3G signals come and go frequently. This is one of the most humorous commercials for a mobile provider that I have seen since Alltel was doing those spots with that fat kid. A response from AT&T has to be coming soon.

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Doesn't surprise me
By Bateluer on 10/6/2009 9:53:18 AM , Rating: 1
I've been a Verizon customer since 2004, but its a minor irritation that their choice of smartphones is so lackluster compared to other carriers.




RE: Doesn't surprise me
By AlexWade on 10/6/2009 11:36:38 AM , Rating: 2
I would think the irritation would be the higher prices and crippled phones. That is the only thing keeping me from Verizon. I have AT&T, and their 3G is pitiful on a good day. But AT&T/Cingular lets me get a way with a ton of junk. I have a family plan with my brother and his wife who have lived in a different state for 4 years. That saves a ton of money. If I could get a great rate plan, a non-crippled phone, and get by with the stuff I get by with on AT&T, I would have switch 5 days ago.


RE: Doesn't surprise me
By Screwballl on 10/9/2009 3:21:58 PM , Rating: 2
I do the same thing on my parents plan under Verizon... I am in my 30s, live 2000 miles away and never had any problems... I have a FL number and they have their SD number. Saves at least $30-40 per month.


RE: Doesn't surprise me
By alphadog on 10/6/2009 12:12:21 PM , Rating: 2
Agreed. They aren't as flexible as AT&T. For our small business, they simply din't have anything suitable plan or phone-wise a year ago, which is why we ended up with AT&T. Phone coverage isn't the only factor...


RE: Doesn't surprise me
By alphadog on 10/6/2009 1:04:53 PM , Rating: 2
Agreed. They aren't as flexible as AT&T. For our small business, they simply didn't have anything suitable plan or phone-wise a year ago, which is why we ended up with AT&T. Phone coverage isn't the only factor...


RE: Doesn't surprise me
By noirsoft on 10/6/2009 5:32:07 PM , Rating: 2
I jumped from Verizon to AT&T since the latter was the first out with an HTC Touch Pro device. I've regretted it due to the number of times I've had bad connections. I will probably jump back to Verizon when my 2 years is up, since there should be a good seletion of WinMo 7 devices out by then.


Map
By bighairycamel on 10/6/2009 4:02:16 PM , Rating: 1
I can't speak for Verizon, but the AT&T map is totally bunk. I live in rural Indiana and 3g is available everywhere I have been. Looking at the map, Verizon claims 3g is only available in a few small areas in Indiana which is completely untrue. The map must be outdated or a blatant falsification.




RE: Map
By darkhawk1980 on 10/7/2009 6:20:30 AM , Rating: 3
Hate to tell ya bub, but that map is actually rather close to what AT&T advertises on their own wireless website....

http://www.wireless.att.com/coverageviewer/

Take a look. Bear in mind, in order to view 3G, you can't be zoomed all the way out, you need to be on the 2nd to last zoom setting and then you can view their 3G coverage. It's pretty abyssal compared to Verizon's. Even what Verizon has on their website matches the AT&T wireless website...

http://vzwmap.verizonwireless.com/dotcom/coveragel...

So to even begin to say the map is outdated, would mean that AT&T isn't updating their website if it is outdated. Seems kinda strange to me if it's true.


RE: Map
By Chaser on 10/7/2009 3:31:40 PM , Rating: 1
Lets see. He lives there and states his personal experience as a resident of the area with AT&T is far better than what the map(s) shows.

Do you live there too? So your point is?


RE: Map
By Chaser on 10/7/2009 3:41:48 PM , Rating: 2
Another point. I live in the state of Kentucky which is, more than likely, even more remote in terms of coverage than most of Indiana. The blurry map that is posted here for AT&T doesn't even come close to the fast 3G coverage I get in both states and I travel extensively through both.

So as "strange" as it may look wherever this chart came from it's not even close to accurate.


RE: Map
By Shining Arcanine on 10/8/2009 8:40:30 AM , Rating: 2
Is it possible that he is mistaking 2G for 3G? Having no 3G coverage does not mean you do not have service.


My 3g has been great
By aebiv on 10/6/2009 10:32:14 AM , Rating: 2
While I don't doubt the iPhone has 3G woes from everything I've read about the lackluster phone, my previous HTC phones have had excellent 3G support from AT&T, and considering that the EDGE connection is usually fast enough, and the 3G blows away any Verizon Aircards I've tried... Well, I'm happy with my AT&T




RE: My 3g has been great
By FITCamaro on 10/6/2009 11:02:35 AM , Rating: 2
A co-worker of mine uses a Verizon air card on his laptop and he's downloaded stuff at over 150 KB/s through it. It's quite quick.


RE: My 3g has been great
By aebiv on 10/6/2009 11:50:14 AM , Rating: 3
In the San Francisco area I average 3mbps download speeds when tethered to my laptop.


RE: My 3g has been great
By kmmatney on 10/7/2009 1:07:53 AM , Rating: 1
My 3G has been pretty good in Denver with my iPhone, so I really can't complain at all. One of the problem with the iPhone is that users tend to use the Apps a lot more than other phones, especially web-browsing, so 3G issues are a bigger deal.


GPRS?
By tjr508 on 10/7/2009 10:46:15 AM , Rating: 2
I know that the marketing on this sort of thing changed about two years ago or more, but EDGE is still technically 3G. This makes ATT's map much more complete. Also, since when could one expect to get Verizon 3G throughout most of rural North Dakota? If true, it must have happened yesterday since I have trouble just finding a signal without an amplifier.




RE: GPRS?
By HrilL on 10/7/2009 6:27:23 PM , Rating: 2
GPRS is 2.5G and looking at the map I'd say it is pretty much right on the dot for my area of California. You can't get 3G once you go outside of any decent sized city. And the speeds are lackluster at best. If you're outside and have full bars of 3G service you're lucky to ever get faster than 1Mb/s and most of the time you'll only get 512Kb/s.

The iphone also doesn't like to work well when switching from one 3G network to the next. my old LG phone had the same issue now that I think about it. So Maybe that is actually a network problem.

At&t claims the fastest 3G network but I haven't seen anything close to the claimed speeds they have. Most I've ever managed to get was 1.4Mb/s and this was when they claimed 3.5Mb/s max now with 5.4Mb/s or are they even claiming 7.2Mb/s now sure but you still won't get more than 1.4Mb/s with full bars. I've tested this on a few different phones. 2 different LG phones an iphone.


RE: GPRS?
By Yawgm0th on 10/19/2009 2:25:52 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
I know that the marketing on this sort of thing changed about two years ago or more, but EDGE is still technically 3G. This makes ATT's map much more complete.
But throughput is comparable to dial-up. Call it what you will, AT&T's fast data coverage is terrible if you frequently leave one of the major metro areas in which it exists at all. In fact, the Minnesota map is inaccurate in my experience. AT&T phones barely work that far west of the Twin Cities.

quote:
Also, since when could one expect to get Verizon 3G throughout most of rural North Dakota? If true, it must have happened yesterday since I have trouble just finding a signal without an amplifier.
Verizon works through most of North Dakota at full 3G speeds. ATT can only make 911 calls in much of N Dakota, by comparison.


The other day
By TGIM824 on 10/10/2009 9:16:10 AM , Rating: 2
I was watching television with the wife the other day, and this commercial came on. I started laughing my ass off. My wife said, what's so funny. Since I live in the 21st century, I hit the rewind button on the remote, and we watched the commercial again, and she said, I don't get it. I explained it to her, and she said I was geek. The next commercial break had the AT&T iphone commercial "there's an app for that", then she said, oh now I get it.




Looking forward...
By Targon on 10/10/2009 11:54:35 AM , Rating: 2
One thing that is in the works is 4G and 5G, which will be available due to that bandwidth auction. At that point, when the next generation is deployed, the replaced equipment will be pushed out into the rural areas, and 3G will be a lot more common, and it will be the 4G/5G stuff that they will be shouting about.

One thing to consider is what devices are available on each network. The iPhone has a lot of hype, but I honestly wonder how well it will do once the Palm Pre is available for AT&T and Verizon. There will be other devices released in the next few years that will also make the iPhone seem like a lot of hype compared to how good the device is as a phone vs. what features the device is.




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