A guy that works for at&t perception of verizon

[macdaddybuff]

Been having lengthy discussions with a guy from at&t.. I will post some of his insane comments below

A couple of thoughts on this. Sprint doesn't offer 4G, they may market a 4G offering, but WiMax is not 4G, nor is it even close. That's like saying my iPhone is
4G when connected to a wi-fi access point.

Furthermore, as I've stated before, Verizon offering a 4G network with no LTE devices on the market means nothing.

AT&T is a GSM carrier, as such we can deploy HSPA 7.2 as a bridge to LTE, Verizon has no bridge so they have to rollout LTE earlier, but with no device portfolio to support it.

The real race is in emerging devices, in this race the score is >1M in Q4 09 for AT&T, zero for Verizon. Since the inception of the "connected device" battlefield its AT&T >8M and Verizon zero. The AT&T network gets has a bad reputation, but why is it Kindle and iPad run on AT&T and not Verizon? What about Nook, Garmin, Tom Tom? Throw in the Vizit pictue frame, the pet tracking dog collar, the pill bottles that alert doctors when patients are missing their medication intervals. There are a hundred more coming and fast, and all of them are choosing AT&T and each such connection counts as a subscriber. So if the network sucks so bad, and if the VZ flavor of LTE is to be superior, why is every single emerging device manufacturer selecting AT&T? I'd guess AT&T will overtake Verizon in subscribers by the end of this year.

I won't even talk about the flawed FiOS buildout which cost 10 times more than the Uverse buildout which is kicking the hell out of FiOS. Nor will I mention the fact that Verizon recently fired the adertising agency that rolled out the "There's a map for that" campaign. Things are falling apart at VZ HQ, poor leadership.

VZ has a good voice network, but data is the future and their data network simply can't attract customers.

Actually no, we are the best positioned company to bring these products to market today thanks to forward thinking and critical partnerships forged in late 2008. Just take a look at the upcoming FierceWireless covention, who is missing?

http://www.fiercewireless.com/events...rref=5.19blast

By the way Glenn Lurie is one of the smartest people alive and he doesn't lose. One of the few non-Oklahomans at the officer level in AT&T.

Damn, I get paid to think about this all day and now I'm still talking it up when off work...what is that called? Oh yeah, pride.

 

[gruss]

Wow. I'm not a fan of Verizon and I do like the u verse concept but this guy is nuts.

 

[byteware]

Damn, I get paid to think about this all day and now I'm still talking it up when off work...what is that called? Oh yeah, pride.w

Kool-aid... in my opinion... but hey, that's just me.

 

[jmt9779]

That's one hell of an ignorant and opinionated friend you've got there. I'm glad he likes his network. He can have it.

 

[3devious]

My mom has Uverse, I've got FiOS.
FiOS > Uverse but Uverse doesn't suck either, so if you're a cheap bastard, get Uverse, you won't be sorry.

 

[Montpelerin]

Wow - it seems that if the interview went on much longer, he'd start telling us about Thetan levels and E-meters...

 

[tsanuri]

Some of what he has said is true. WiMax does not fit the standards of 4G but neither do LTE. Both are pre 4G standards but LTE is a lot closer than WiMax.

But most of what he said does not even make sense. First off both AT&T and T-mobile will be running HSPA+ networks with max speeds up to 21Mbps.
FIOS is way better than anything that any major company is launching.
And as to devices on AT&T if you want an iphone they have the best selection on any network if you want anything else go elsewhere.

 

[ylexot]

About the "offering 4G with no devices", it is really difficult to offer both simultaneously. You'll either have the network without devices or devices without the network initially. But that won't last long. They will eventually have both.

 

[DeathBySnooSnoo]

VZ has a good voice network, but data is the future and their data network simply can't attract customers.

Data is the future. But since their voice network is as rough as Demi Moore's vocal cords, their network is going to suffer. If there is no voice coverage, there is no data coverage. Period.

I switched from VZW (a customer for over a decade) to AT&T 1 1/2 years ago because I wanted the iPhone. I knew what I was getting in to. 13 months later I was back on VZW on a Moto Droid. Better *overall* network and that's what matters. I'll take slower speeds over reliability *any* day.

Anyone have a wet-napkin? I need to wipe off my cool-aid mustache.

 

[Demache]

My mom has Uverse, I've got FiOS.
FiOS > Uverse but Uverse doesn't suck either, so if you're a cheap bastard, get Uverse, you won't be sorry.

I've got an 8 year old Motorola digital cable box. You can watch the on screen graphics being rendered letter by letter. And the EAS override is borked along with the volume bar. I think that's the awesome stuff and you guys get Fiber lines to your houses.

 

[elrabin]

The AT&T rep is a big time kool-aid drinker.

I recently got off AT&T after being with them for 6 years in the Tri-state area.

Where did i go to? Verizon and the HTC Incredible.

I had on AT&T a black Moto Razr V3, Blackberry 8800, HTC Touch Pro and then finally an HTC Tilt2(Touch Pro 2)

Over time my service quality went down and down and down.

This degradation in service coincided with the launch and growing popularity of the iPhone.

As more iPhone's raped AT&T's network, my ability to use data and make calls diminished.

This year it got so bad that even in full 3g coverage, i would have to re-dial calls 3+ times to get it to connect. Data wouldn't properly push, emails would take hours to come through despite being on 15 minute sync. Voice mails would be delayed by hours and sometimes texts wouldn't appear for days.

Now on Verizon, not a single dropped call, push email hits my phone faster than it does my computer usually.

Call quality is fantastic and data is shockingly fast.

The week before I swapped, I was at the Engadget show in NYC, i was chatting with some iPhone users in line and we ran speed tests using the Speedtest.net app. my Tilt2 was getting 300kbps down and 150kbps up.

I went to the Engadget show again the other week with my new HTC Incredible, for laughs, i ran the Speedtest.net app again. WOW was i surprised. Standing in the same physical location, i was now getting 1600kbps down and 600kbps up.

Also, have you guys SEEN the new price/plan structure on AT&T for data?

Horrifying.

I use Pandora for ~2 hrs a day and do a lot of surfing, email and streaming video.

According to this Data Calculator

a mere hour a day of Pandora and 20 minutes of streaming video a day puts you right to their new 2gb cap.

Thats no websurfing, no email, NOTHING but an hour of Pandora and 20 min of streaming video a day.

Thank god for my unlimited data plan on Verizon.

 

[Eugene]

The reasons all those other devices run on ATT is cost and GSM. Verizon does cost a little more and its easier to design all thse other devices with GSM radios and sim card slots to make them work worldwide rather than design a CDMA version and a GSM version for the rest of the world.

 

[droid_head]

i love the iPhone, but without it, AT&T is nothing. And, their plans are expensive as shit!

 

[fiskadoro]

21 Mbps is great and all, but having experienced fluctuating 4G signals and latency issues (albeit, 4G is in its early stages), I'd take a way lower figure "per second" without the latency or dropping signals!

 

[IOWA]

Lol id love to school this guy... where's he at? If any of you read my gsm vs cdma article that I wrote, you know I know my shit. I've schooled a many cell reps and ill do it plenty more.

Maybe you should throw out hspa has nothing to do with gsm itself, and is actually a cdma technology.

Fios offers 50/25. Mbit speeds, uverse can't touch it with a ten foot pole. Att uses inferior gsm tech for voice.

See here for why http://androidforums.com/lounge/82363-why-cdma-better-than-gsm.html

And verizon zero? Please.. selling over a million of the moto droid when there are over 50 android handsets worldwide is no fient feat.

And forward thinking huh? That's why att is currently known as drop call city, and most iphone owners hate att. Want to know the real reason all these companies use att? Att pays them kick backs, and lives off their name, which is being tarnished more and more everyday. Att is going to drop to #3, easily. Especially with sprints/vzws clearly superior more reliable 3G/4G networks vs att's 3G... wait... is that map really all the 3G att offers? Damn, sure glad I don't use att.

Glad you have pride in your ancient, outdated, and tiny network.

Feel free to use my rebuttal.

Tapatalk. Samsung Moment. Yep.

 

[ekyle]

GSM is cheaper which is why the other carriers go with them. The Nook? B&N already had an AT&T WiFi deal with them. iPad, again exclusive deal with Apple was already in place. Without the iPhone AT&T wouldn't be where it is now. Does VZW have its' faults? Of course they do. But I can make calls

 

[c_aus]

Wow, definitely a kool-aid drinker. I'm actually ending my Uverse service today due to constant outages, tech visits and general unreliability. I have probably had about eight months free over the past two years from all the 'saves' they have done to keep me, but there comes a point that it isn't worth the hassle of leaving work early to go sit at home and wait for their tech to arrive during a five hour window, who will only uncover things the prior tech didn't do correctly. Granted, I have to leave work early again today to go wait for the cable company, but I am looking forward to being 100% AT&T free in a few hours.

 

[yankeeboy]

Actually, I will offer you a uniquely agnostic perspective, as I worked for AT&T for 6 years (ATT Wireless/Cingular), and VZW for the past 3 yrs until the Spring.

Clearly, this guy is a kool aid drinker, however, its hard not to with the daily crapola these guys feed you on a daily basis.

When I left Verizon a few months ago, I was convinced that I needed my first iPhone - and promptly got my wife and I (2) iPhone 3GS. Living in NYC, I frankly was not sure what the heck I was thinking, but I figured that it couldnt really be THAT bad, right? Wow, was I wrong. 5 Bars of coverage - and I received the "Call Failed" message at a minimum 10 times per day, dropped about 30%-35% of my calls (But hey, that's an acceptable range, right AT&T/Apple), have exchanged my iPhone (4) times, and my wife's (3) times. The Quality of Service is downright unacceptable, and there are no excuses. From my inside perspective, this is a similar problem the company had when it was switching from its TDMA service in the Northeast to GSM...I remember feeling like I needed to defend the service - heck it was a major challange getting people to like and believe in that little orange guy, but they did. Yes AT&T, you cover 97% of all Americans - yet how well do you cover them? The problem is that areas like here dont have 850 MHz upgrades, and are lacking backhaul. They tout that they have all this spectrum that they have won in previous auctions, but they way they built out there network - they have NO SPECTRAL EFFICIENCY. The HSPA+ track is clearly a faster, better and more useful technology, but not if you dont build it out right. If they dont get their s&*% worked out here in NYC, I can tell you that there is no more patience here for it. You have your iPhone fan boys that will have nothing else and hear nothing else of any other device, but Android has changed who Verizon Wireless is in the past 12 months. I live in a large apartment building where at least 1/2 of the people have an iPhone - and they ALL want to hear about how much I like my Droid Incredible.

Secondly, Verizon Wireless (oops, its Verizon now). They really know how to build networks - thats what they are is a network company. Whomever ran their marketing and product development departments over the past XX years until 2008 should be shot. Whoever came on-board from 2008++ is the real hero of this organization....the partnership with Google was genius, Skype was strategic. When you consider the new devices that have come out over the past year - its really Verizon who seems to have the first crack on about everything but the iPhone. With the ecosystem of partners they have willing to jump onto the Android bandwagon - I don't really believe that iOS can keep up with the development machine that Google has become. With so many different form factors, they are likely to appeal to so many people. AT&T has the Backflip (earth shattering) and the Aria (mind boggling). Verizon had become the #1 seller of BlackBerry in the US last year, AT&T always was #1 in that category. While I think BlackBerry is dying a slow death, they are still king of the enterprise. I am, on the other hand very surprised that Verizon has chosen to not at a minimum continue its EVDO buildout and stop at Rev. A. Upgrading to Rev. B isn't a "forklift" upgrade, and would give them similar speeds and functionality to HSPA - voice/data simultanious, etc...it would give them time to build out their LTE network without falling too far behind in the speed races.

Finally, I am not an AT&T hater or a Verizon lover, just speaking honestly. I have had my Droid Incredible for 2 weeks, and have yet to drop a call or have a slow data session. There were SO MANY opportunities for me to chuck my iPhone out of my 36th floor window, but I figured it would be worth more on eBay than in a million pieces. I literally was on a phone call from Western NJ to Boston the other day without dropping one time on VZW. I used to have calls with my wife on AT&T where we would have to re-connect the call 10-12 times PER CALL...thats the difference. Its not the technology, its how you execute. Verizon is quickly becoming smartphone king, and I would not expect that to stop anytime soon.

Oh, BTW - I f^(*@ love my FiOS.

 

[IOWA]

Actually, I will offer you a uniquely agnostic perspective, as I worked for AT&T for 6 years (ATT Wireless/Cingular), and VZW for the past 3 yrs until the Spring.

Clearly, this guy is a kool aid drinker, however, its hard not to with the daily crapola these guys feed you on a daily basis.

When I left Verizon a few months ago, I was convinced that I needed my first iPhone - and promptly got my wife and I (2) iPhone 3GS. Living in NYC, I frankly was not sure what the heck I was thinking, but I figured that it couldnt really be THAT bad, right? Wow, was I wrong. 5 Bars of coverage - and I received the "Call Failed" message at a minimum 10 times per day, dropped about 30%-35% of my calls (But hey, that's an acceptable range, right AT&T/Apple), have exchanged my iPhone (4) times, and my wife's (3) times. The Quality of Service is downright unacceptable, and there are no excuses. From my inside perspective, this is a similar problem the company had when it was switching from its TDMA service in the Northeast to GSM...I remember feeling like I needed to defend the service - heck it was a major challange getting people to like and believe in that little orange guy, but they did. Yes AT&T, you cover 97% of all Americans - yet how well do you cover them? The problem is that areas like here dont have 850 MHz upgrades, and are lacking backhaul. They tout that they have all this spectrum that they have won in previous auctions, but they way they built out there network - they have NO SPECTRAL EFFICIENCY. The HSPA+ track is clearly a faster, better and more useful technology, but not if you dont build it out right. If they dont get their s&*% worked out here in NYC, I can tell you that there is no more patience here for it. You have your iPhone fan boys that will have nothing else and hear nothing else of any other device, but Android has changed who Verizon Wireless is in the past 12 months. I live in a large apartment building where at least 1/2 of the people have an iPhone - and they ALL want to hear about how much I like my Droid Incredible.

Secondly, Verizon Wireless (oops, its Verizon now). They really know how to build networks - thats what they are is a network company. Whomever ran their marketing and product development departments over the past XX years until 2008 should be shot. Whoever came on-board from 2008++ is the real hero of this organization....the partnership with Google was genius, Skype was strategic. When you consider the new devices that have come out over the past year - its really Verizon who seems to have the first crack on about everything but the iPhone. With the ecosystem of partners they have willing to jump onto the Android bandwagon - I don't really believe that iOS can keep up with the development machine that Google has become. With so many different form factors, they are likely to appeal to so many people. AT&T has the Backflip (earth shattering) and the Aria (mind boggling). Verizon had become the #1 seller of BlackBerry in the US last year, AT&T always was #1 in that category. While I think BlackBerry is dying a slow death, they are still king of the enterprise. I am, on the other hand very surprised that Verizon has chosen to not at a minimum continue its EVDO buildout and stop at Rev. A. Upgrading to Rev. B isn't a "forklift" upgrade, and would give them similar speeds and functionality to HSPA - voice/data simultanious, etc...it would give them time to build out their LTE network without falling too far behind in the speed races.

Finally, I am not an AT&T hater or a Verizon lover, just speaking honestly. I have had my Droid Incredible for 2 weeks, and have yet to drop a call or have a slow data session. There were SO MANY opportunities for me to chuck my iPhone out of my 36th floor window, but I figured it would be worth more on eBay than in a million pieces. I literally was on a phone call from Western NJ to Boston the other day without dropping one time on VZW. I used to have calls with my wife on AT&T where we would have to re-connect the call 10-12 times PER CALL...thats the difference. Its not the technology, its how you execute. Verizon is quickly becoming smartphone king, and I would not expect that to stop anytime soon.

Oh, BTW - I f^(*@ love my FiOS.

VZ needs to get their ass to chicago with some fios love. Stuck on comcast.

 

[sergey]

You can talk it up all you want with facs, figures, who works where.
But it is the experience that says it all.

 

[IOWA]

You can talk it up all you want with facs, figures, who works where.
But it is the experience that says it all.

Yes because personal perception and relativity which is often influenced by bias and personal preference is so much more reliable than scienticfic data.

Tapatalk. Samsung Moment. Yep.

 

[woofermazing]

The belief that iPhone users are to blame for the AT&T networks poor performance, and that they would overwhelm any other network is also pretty absurd. Verizon and Sprint were 1st and 2nd in wireless data traffic volume last year.

Verizon Wireless and Sprint Each Carried Over 16 Billion More Megabytes of Mobile Network Data Than AT&T in 2009, Says ABI Research - MarketWatch

AT&T even has more activated data devices.

 

[Scblacksunshine]

Wow, would this person happen to also be a loyal tea party supporter? Seems to have about the same logic and common sense as Palin ..Btw, I have been with At&t since 95 when they were LA Cellular , Pacbell, Cingular then finally At&t..more drop calls then I care to remember, plus crappy OSP customer care. I finally pulled the trigger and switched to Verizon last month and so far couldn't be happier, voice call sounds better, data connection is more consistent. I used to try to stream online radio on my drive to work, with At&T 3G service, it would constantly drop left and right, kind of frustrating to rock out to a song and have it stop in the middle and buffer for 5 mins. Now on Verizon, my streaming is rock steady and if it does drop, it will take less than couple of seconds to reconnect. At the end of the day, results count and so far VZW deliver and At&t fail at that miserably.

 

[IOWA]

Wow, would this person happen to also be a loyal tea party supporter? Seems to have about the same logic and common sense as Palin ..Btw, I have been with At&t since 95 when they were LA Cellular , Pacbell, Cingular then finally At&t..more drop calls then I care to remember, plus crappy OSP customer care. I finally pulled the trigger and switched to Verizon last month and so far couldn't be happier, voice call sounds better, data connection is more consistent. I used to try to stream online radio on my drive to work, with At&T 3G service, it would constantly drop left and right, kind of frustrating to rock out to a song and have it stop in the middle and buffer for 5 mins. Now on Verizon, my streaming is rock steady and if it does drop, it will take less than couple of seconds to reconnect. At the end of the day, results count and so far VZW deliver and At&t fail at that miserably.

Try to keep politics in the politics forum. Tea party and palin have absolutely nothing to do with this thread.

Tapatalk. Samsung Moment. Yep.

 

[byteware]

Wow, would this person happen to also be a loyal tea party supporter? Seems to have about the same logic and common sense as Palin

While I'm not a card carrying Tea Partier, I do support their goals.

And FYI, most tea partiers don't like Palin either.