AT&T On The Defensive
If you own a TV, you have seen the countless commercials by AT&T’s biggest competitor hitting them with everything they have. And who can blame the,. just a few years ago they were in hot water as they lacked the iPhone while AT&T could provide it.
Today the playing field is fast becoming less about the iPhone and more about network reliability. Verizon has charged on a number of occasions, that they have the better setup. And if you ever go driving through rural areas like Montana, you will find that Verizon is right – AT&T is spotty at best in these regions.
Here in the near future, I suspect that we will once again see AT&T get their network up to snuff and potentially, give Verizon a serious run for their money in the PR field. Mind you they are a ways off for this, but it could happen.
2 Comments
Gary Bing
November 18th, 2009
at 3:56pm
My sister would kill me if she knew I posted this going through several name changes in her thirty plus years at again back to the name AT&T. I asked her “What are they going to do when everyone seems to have either dumped their landlines or are considering it?” She said , ” Many of my coworkers have done just that. We are bound to survive it. There will be new technologies you needn’t worry, I don’t.. I didn’t have the heart to tell her the recent statistics showing massive land line disconnects going right to Verizon Wireless. Consumer Reports rated Verizon as the best wireless company prompting my best friend I’ve known since the 60’s to pay a ridiculous early termination fee from his former carrier after he read the report , not being satisfied with his current carrier. It seems it would behoove carriers to pick up the tab of new customers early termination fees and waive their own as a decent option for a promotion. But that would just be too easy wouldn’t it? As it is I get no discount with AT&T but I do have $12 a month cost with them with a friend on her family plan. Can’t beat that. Don’t have to worry about minutes we have tons of rollover.The sound quality has much to be desired, hence I rarely use it. So you need not be jealous of my low rate.Verizon is going to have a massive amount of new business when The IPhone’s exclusive ties with AT&T are severed. ( oddly my sister and her family don’t have one) The legislature is about to act on the issue of early termination fees as they seem to be just as pissed by them as we are, maybe more so. Verizon should not wait for them, however and welcome their new flood of customers by waiving early termination fees both ways once and for all, and all the others will follow and this being a revenue source will go by way of a” house of cards..” It may get rid of “subsidized” phone prices but a cheaper way of buying a phone may be this thing called a loan or credit card rather than be tied (more like shanghaied) into less than stellar contracts that go from one year to two and then what? And earrly termination fees “subject to change without notice.”
davidbanther
November 19th, 2009
at 7:45am
I really think AT&T has a horrible 3G network. Here in Tampa, while you may see a full 3G signal, calls going directly to voicemail – and dropped calls are common. Forget about going into rural areas of the state. I keep my 3GS on EDGE – much more stable. Verizon has a far better network, AT&T can spin-it all they want, but it’s the truth.