Coverage debate: AT&T vs. Verizon

By now you've all seen the Verizon ads on television proclaiming the superiority of its 3G network to AT&T's. Verizon claims that their 3G coverage far exceeds AT&T's offerings, thus providing faster download times and an overall more user-friendly experience. My friends and I, some with AT&T, others with Verizon have been waging an ongoing battle about which service provider is the actual winner. Considering that I've been an AT&T customer since 1999, and am the proud owner of an iPhone 3G-S, I think it's safe to say I'm a bit partial; but now there is empirical datat to confirm what I knew all along.

AT&T IS BETTER...

I came across an NY Times article that reported the findings from third-party companies who research and monitor service provider performance. How are these tests perfomed you ask? According to the article, "third-party services that run network tests for the major carriers... dispatches drivers across the country with phones and laptops equipped with data cards. They have covered more than three million miles of roads this year, while running almost two million wireless data sessions and placing more than three million voice calls."

So these companies actually sent people out through the cities, suburbs, rural areas, bridges, tunnels, dead zones, etc. to collect a year's worth of cell service data. The verdict: AT&T has the better service.

I won't repeat what was said in the article, but here are a few key points that make a strong case for AT&T as the better provider:

-iPhone’s “air interface,” the electronics in the phone that connect it to the cell towers, had shortcomings that “affect both voice and data.” In Lehman's terms this means that if you haven't been happy with your iPhone at times more than likely it was the phones fault and not the carrier.

-AT&T does not publicly defend itself because it will not criticize Apple under any circumstances.

-“AT&T’s data throughput is 40 to 50 percent higher than the competition, including Verizon" which means it will most likely take you twice as long to download that YouTube clip or Facebook photo album on Verizon than it would on AT&T.

-"In every market, AT&T had faster average download speeds and had signal strength of 75 percent or better more frequently than did Verizon."

And there you have it. So AT&T has the superior service, but the iPhone's shortcomings cause users to become disenchanted with the carrier and not the phone itself. And AT&T will not speak negatively against Apple; probably to prevent jeopardizing its relationship with Apple as the exclusive carrier of the iPhone. This is what happens when you have superior service and exclusive rights to a device that isn't as reliable as it should be...a conundrum indeed.