Lately the ad war between Verizon Wireless and AT&T has really heated up. One proclaims they have the fastest 3G coverage in the national, and the other fires back that they have the most coverage. One states their coverage area is larger, the other retorts that their coverage area is of a higher quality. All of this information can be very misleading to the average computer, and as Luke Wilson says in the ubiquitous AT&T commercial, “I'm here to set the record straight.”
Claim One: AT&T has the Fastest 3G Coverage
Debated.
3G is the 3rd generation of standards for mobile telephones as defined by the International Telecommunication Union. It provides high-speed internet access and enhanced features to mobile phones all over the world. In all of its commercials, AT&T makes the bold claim that they have the fastest of any 3G network in America. However, independent research shows that that simply might not be the case.
Independent research done by Wired Magazine found that AT&T actually had the slowest 3G download speeds (901 kilobits per second on average) of all major 3G cellular networks, while Verizon Wireless had the fastest speeds (1,940 kilobits per second).
Now of course, this is only based on the average speed across the country. A user in a major metropolitan city will most likely have blazing-fast download speeds, but the majority of Americans who don't live in one of a handful of the massive cities where there is AT&T 3G coverage are out of luck.
Claim Two: AT&T has a Larger Coverage Area than Verizon Wireless
True.
According to their commercials, AT&T has a larger service coverage area than Verizon Wireless, covering over 97% of Americans. This statement is completely true, although Verizon Wireless' coverage area is not much farther behind AT&T's. Verizon covers about 95% of Americans, which means about 6 million less people will get very good cell service with this company compared to AT&T, but that mostly applies to very rural and sparsely populated areas.
Claim Three: Verizon Wireless has a Larger 3G Coverage Area
True.
Verizon Wireless does have 5-times more 3G coverage than AT&T, as shown by Verizon's “There's a Map for That” commercials. Their 3G service does fully cover the majority of Americans and, unlike AT&T, doesn't only cover major metropolitan cities. If you look at Verizon's 3G coverage map compared to AT&T's (see image below), you can clearly see that Verizon does, in fact, have better 3G coverage across the country.
Claim Four: AT&T can Talk and Surf at the Same Time
True.
One of the claims that AT&T have bragged about the most is the ability to talk and surf at the same time, and this is absolutely true. On an iPhone, users can go to the Safari browser and navigate the Internet while talking to somebody on the phone, a task which cannot be performed by most of Verizon Wireless' phones. This can prove to be a very convenient feature that is, unfortunately not available on most Verizon Wireless phones.
Claim Five: AT&T has the Most Popular Smartphones
True.
AT&T does, in fact, have tremendously popular smart phones like the Apple iPhone that are much more popular than many of Verizon's phones, but with rumors of the iPhone coming to Verizon and the increasing popularity of the Droid, this claim might not hold true for much longer. The claim that AT&T has over 100,000 apps is also true considering the explosive popularity of the iTunes App Store. Many mobile developers focus on iPhone apps rather than Android apps, and many apps in the Android marketplace are device specific, which can greatly reduce the number of apps a specific phone can run.
The key point to remember is that advertisements can sometimes be misleading in regard to specific consumers and it is important for anyone in the market for a new cell phone to do his own research. Claims that AT&T has a larger coverage area is true, but they phrased it in a way to sound like their 3G coverage is larger, rather than their basic cell service.
Verizon also makes the claim that they have a larger 3G coverage area that is faster than AT&T, and while this is true, AT&T service may be faster in specific areas only, rather than around the coverage. When looking for a new cell phone plan, be sure to do the research to make sure claims given by cell companies actually apply to a particular situation, and things will usually work out for the best.
Nicholas Anderegg - Nick Anderegg is an experienced freelance writer who has done everything from working as a contributing writer for several online ...
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