AT&T Sets the Record Straight About Verizon’s 3G Ads-I Set it Straighter!

If you live in the U.S., you’ve probably seen one of Verizon’s holiday themed TV commercials knocking AT&T’s 3G data network. It probably doesn’t make much sense to non-techies. But, techies and iPhone owners probably caught the humor (as painful as it might be for those of us who have had AT&T network issues). AT&T had to respond, of course. They titled their response…

AT&T Sets the Record Straight on Verizon Ads

I’ll try to make it a bit straighter. Here are AT&T’s main points. Remember that this is in response to Verizon’s criticism of AT&T’s 3G wireless data network…

- “AT&T offers the most popular smartphones in the industry.” Well, AT&T does offer the iPhone, a couple of BlackBerry devices, Windows Mobile devices and a Nokia smartphone or two. But, what does this have to do with AT&T’s 3G network issues?

- “AT&T customers have access to more than 100,000 applications”. This is simply misleading. It should read “AT&T customers with iPhones have access to more than 100,000 applications. People using other phones on their network can’t use any of the iPhone apps.” And, again, what does this have to do with the AT&T 3G network?

- “AT&T’s 3G network lets wireless customers simultaneously talk and surf the web or do e-mail”. OK, this is very true and important. But, this is a side effect of the network protocols used. And, T-Mobile USA’s customers can also talk and surf at the same time. But, hey, you can do this on EDGE or even GPRS. Again: What does this have to do with their 3G network?

- “AT&T has the nation’s fastest 3G network.” OK, finally AT&T said something about their 3G network. But, um, I don’t think that’s what we’ve been seeing in various speed tests conducted on behalf of Wired.com and CNET in the past year. And, while I understand network performance varies greatly from place to place under various conditions, this is definitely not what I find in my neck of the woods where Verizon’s 3G network is 55% faster than AT&T’s. You can see my results in this blog item…

Droid Not an iPhone Killer, But Check Out the Killer Verizon 3G Speedtest Result

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