“There's a Lawsuit for That” – AT&T Sues Verizon
Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 6:58 pm
“There's a Lawsuit for That” – AT&T Sues Verizon
by; Brandon Hill
AT&T has had enough of Verizon's commercials.
Early last month, Verizon began assaulting AT&T with new commercials which were an interesting twist on the AT&T-backed iPhone "There's a app for that" commercials. Verizon turned the ads around to point out all of the holes in AT&T's 3G coverage and numerous dropped calls that have been reported with the service.
The Verizon commercials came right on the heels of reports that a 30 percent dropped call rate in New York City for the iPhone was considered "normal".
It was only a matter of time, but it appears that AT&T has had enough of Verizon's commercials which mock its 3G coverage in the United States. According to the Wall Street Journal, AT&T is going after Verizon with a lawsuit.
AT&T noted the following according to Engadget:
In essence, we believe the ads mislead consumers into believing that AT&T doesn't offer ANY wireless service in the vast majority of the country. In fact, AT&T's wireless network blankets the US, reaching approximately 296M people. Additionally, our 3G service is available in over 9,600 cities and towns. Verizon's misleading advertising tactics appear to be a response to AT&T's strong leadership in smartphones. We have twice the number of smartphone customers... and we've beaten them two quarters in a row on net post-paid subscribers. We also had lower churn -- a sign that customers are quite happy with the service they receive.
According to the WSJ, AT&T had complained to Verizon about the appearance of a lack of coverage in large parts of the U.S. in the ads, but the changes Verizon made to its spots weren't enough for AT&T, hence the lawsuit.
For its part in the matter, Verizon spokesman Jim Gerace responded, “Our ads clearly explain that non-3G coverage is available elsewhere. I think it's interesting that AT&T's chose to focus on the white areas and not the blues area of their map. We think it calls into question their own fastest 3G claim as the map clearly shows where 3G doesn't exist."
by; Brandon Hill
AT&T has had enough of Verizon's commercials.
Early last month, Verizon began assaulting AT&T with new commercials which were an interesting twist on the AT&T-backed iPhone "There's a app for that" commercials. Verizon turned the ads around to point out all of the holes in AT&T's 3G coverage and numerous dropped calls that have been reported with the service.
The Verizon commercials came right on the heels of reports that a 30 percent dropped call rate in New York City for the iPhone was considered "normal".
It was only a matter of time, but it appears that AT&T has had enough of Verizon's commercials which mock its 3G coverage in the United States. According to the Wall Street Journal, AT&T is going after Verizon with a lawsuit.
AT&T noted the following according to Engadget:
In essence, we believe the ads mislead consumers into believing that AT&T doesn't offer ANY wireless service in the vast majority of the country. In fact, AT&T's wireless network blankets the US, reaching approximately 296M people. Additionally, our 3G service is available in over 9,600 cities and towns. Verizon's misleading advertising tactics appear to be a response to AT&T's strong leadership in smartphones. We have twice the number of smartphone customers... and we've beaten them two quarters in a row on net post-paid subscribers. We also had lower churn -- a sign that customers are quite happy with the service they receive.
According to the WSJ, AT&T had complained to Verizon about the appearance of a lack of coverage in large parts of the U.S. in the ads, but the changes Verizon made to its spots weren't enough for AT&T, hence the lawsuit.
For its part in the matter, Verizon spokesman Jim Gerace responded, “Our ads clearly explain that non-3G coverage is available elsewhere. I think it's interesting that AT&T's chose to focus on the white areas and not the blues area of their map. We think it calls into question their own fastest 3G claim as the map clearly shows where 3G doesn't exist."