AT&T responds to Verizon's 3G ad campaign -- by bragging about EDGE
By Nilay Patel 
posted Nov 12th 2009 7:17PM
posted Nov 12th 2009 7:17PM
My iPhone 3GS, in downtown Chicago, as I wrote this post.
Right, right -- the only difference. That must be why Apple named it the iPhone EDGE Slightly Faster.With both 3G and EDGE coverage, customers can access the Internet, send e-mail, surf the Web, stream music, download videos, send photos, text, talk and more. The only difference – with some data applications, 3G is faster than EDGE.
Now, AT&T has a valid point when it says that its 3G map covers 75 percent of the nation's population, and that Verizon's conflation of total 3G coverage with actual network quality is slightly misleading. But you know what? We watch our iPhones drop from 3G to EDGE and even to GPRS all day long in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco, and that has nothing to do with the damn map, and everything to do with AT&T's actual network quality. Let's put it this way: Verizon's ad campaign would be totally ineffective if it didn't ring so true, and the best way for AT&T to counter these ads is to build a rock-solid network, not filing lawsuits and issuing press releases bragging about freaking EDGE. We all clear on this? Good.
where does the whole Ma Bell thing come from? Serious question
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_System
I'm thread jacking here but, EDGE isn't that bad, it's only in new york city, where I happen to be that AT&T sucks. The second you leave the city it rocks, 3G is marginally better, but EDGE is just find for most shit when it's not being raped by 5 million people.
The Bell Telephone Company was founded in 1877 by Alexander Graham Bell's father-in-law Gardiner Greene Hubbard, who also helped organize a sister company — the New England Telephone and Telegraph Company. The two companies merged in 1879 to form the National Bell Telephone Company, which in 1880 merged with others to form the American Bell Telephone Company
John Elbridge Hudson joined the firm as counsel in 1880 and served as president from 1889 to 1900.
Bell Telephone Company in turn became the American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T). AT&T would later undergo mergers with SBC Communications and BellSouth to become the New AT&T.
@ tyler.brock
i live in southern california and i can tell you that at&t absolutely sucks. i cant get more than a couple bars anywhere between riverside and LA. im dropping calls all the time and i'd say 20% of the time i cant make a call due to 0 bars. i can never make calls in grocery stores or department stores either. it's also killer on my battery life since the phone is always trying to connect. i've fought with them for almost a year now for them to do something about it but they keep switching me back and forth between customer service and the local store. the funny thing is, if you look at at&t's coverage strength map my house is literally inside a giant circle of their strongest coverageand yet to make a call i have to go upstairs and stand right next to the window. in june im switching to verizon because most of my friends have it and they ALWAYS have full strength service. sure the iphone is sorta cool but it's just a phone and it's really not so cool that it's worth sacrificing service for it. and for those who will down rank me as an apple hater, im using my mbp with my airport extreme and i also have a 2g touch. im simply an at&t hater.
They've got the ill communication.
Well now officially we are just "at&t" lower case. no longer new or caps. DEE DEE DEE
Well I get awesome coverage with AT&T, Verizon is quite the opposite in my area.
Well it goes back farther than this but this should suffice.
Southwestern Bell became SBC which then bought AT&T
@tpd: No, I'm tellin' ya it's sabotage
By no means am I a lawyer, but the assertion that these maps imply that AT&T has no coverage over most of the country seems like something of a stretch, even for the technically disinterested. Most phones, including the aptly named iPhone 3G, make a point of talking up their 3G capabilities, which for even the lay person is pretty well understood as "faster internet", not service or no service. Also, I assume its become a given that the high adoption of the iPhone has led many purchasers to conclude that AT&T 3G networks has serious reliability issues.
For those too lazy to go to Wikipedia, I just wanted to point out that the majority of the phone companies in the US used to be a part of the Bell family of companies at one point or another. Bell used have a monopoly on telecommuinications until it was forced by the government to split up in 1984. People sometimes refer to the Regional Bell Operating Companies as "Baby Bells" with "Ma Bell" literally being a parent company. Some of the RBOCs kept the Bell name but others went through several name changes and/or mergers. Qwest used to be USWEST, Verizon used to be Bell Atlantic and NYNEX, and what is now known as at&t has gone through the most changes. Ameritech, Southwestern Bell, and Pacific Telesis merged to form SBC. SBC bought AT&T and then Bell South. When they bought Bell South, they started using the at&t name again. The Verizon name did not emerge, to my knowledge, until they bought/merged with GTE. All this is just the land line services. It gets even more complicated when you look at the wireless divisions. Is anyone else exhausted from all this?
this is a cool fight, so now, AT&T is lashing Verizon out with this. I wonder what would be Verizon's reaction to this next!
http://bit.ly/att-vs-verizon
Let's all gloss over the absolutely huge difference in EVDO versus 3G together, shall we?
@v3xx I couldn't agree more. I just moved into a new place by Culver City. Inside the apartment when I do manage to make or receive a call I can be assured that it will inevitably drop at some point. Calls often go straight through to voicemail. The signal is so bad that even the google maps app on my iPhone won't locate me most of the time. Everywhere in my aparment, with the exception of right beside the window, the signal strength on my iPhone is -114 db, which is thoroughly crappy. By the window it is -99 db, which is still crappy but will sometimes let me get through 5 minutes worth of a calls without dropping.
For those of you who are also on an iPhone and complaining about constant dropped calls what sort of signal strength are you getting? You can check your signal strength on the iPhone by dialing *3001#12345#* (note if you try to save that number to an address book entry and auto-dial from there, it will not work)
As an iPhone owner, I approve of this post.
Also, the Land of Misfit Toys commercial had me laughing so hard I cried - then I wrote Santa a letter asking for better AT&T coverage (currently I can't maintain conversation at home OR work for more than a couple minutes without a seemingly random dropout - and I'm not even moving but SITTING THERE).
I love how the phone can just sit on my desk all day and go from 4 bars to 2 bars to No Service and back like magic. *sigh*
In the United States, telephone service was provided for many years by the Bell Telephone Company. Eventually Bell Telephone Company became known as American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T), which still provided all telephone service in the country.
Eventually, government regulations/antitrust lawsuits (I don't remember the exact history here) caused the AT&T to get split up in the 1980s, forming AT&T (focusing on long distance service) and local telephone companys, known as Regional Bell Operating Companies or "Baby Bells".
Eventually government deregulation resulted in many RBOCs merging to form Verizon, AT&T going through various splits and mergers, and eventually one of the few RBOCs not part of Verizon (SBC) purchasing AT&T.
So it's pretty much Ma Bell on Ma Bell action going on here.
Wow, I detect some real emotion coming from you guys. I haven't seen this side of you before
I just came over from facebook, and I was looking for the "Like" button on this article :(
@Brian Phillips
"Wow, I detect some real emotion coming from you guys. I haven't seen this side of you before"
I know, it's giving me a chubby.
hey - if it's not apple fanboyism isn't something else
i'm really proud of you engadget for having some articles that aren't all - 'love u iphone'
So by AT&T logic it's better to promote an slower and obsolete technology...than fix the better faster technology.....
Hmm makes sense..Must have the Engadget comment section creator back there somewhere pulling the strings...
EDGE is faster than CDMA 2000 1XRTT
If Verizon paint its CDMA 2000 1XRTT coverage as 3G,
then it's totally fair that even if AT&T paints their EDGE as their 3G coverage
*If someone wants to argue that CDMA 2000 1XRTT is 3G, (even though it is slower than EDGE), just because CDMA 2000 is 3G;
then EDGE is 3G too, by International Telecommunication Union's standard
http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/imt-2000/DocumentsIMT2000/IMT-2000.pdf
@ Raymond
No, the majority of VZW's markets are EVDO enabled. There isn't any foul play going on.
@macfan4321
no, Raymond is correct. i posted a long comment about this in another article the other day. CDMA2000 is a hybrid of 1xrtt and evdo. cdma2000 is classified as 3g even though it includes 1xrtt, which is 2.5g. verizon is showing their entire "cdma2000" coverage map as their 3g map. edge is faster than 1xrtt, so raymond is absolutely correct that an apples to apples map would include edge on at&ts map.
AT&T, can we be honest for a moment?
You suck. You always have. You still do.
Quit whining like a big baby and get fixed.
Your pricing and tendencies to brag about yourself and whine about your competitors are too high, while your network speed, 3G coverage and reliability, and customer service quality are too low.
At this rate, you should be charging less per month than Sprint and T-Mobile for everything you offer.
Wasn't Verizon used to be part of Ma Bell? Bell Atlanta?
Verizon was formed by the unholy combination of Bell Atlantic and NYNEX (both ex-Bell System), and GTE (which was most definitely NOT part of the Bell System)
But the NYNEX types in New York run it, so I guess it's fair to call it a Bell System descendant.
Yea, but they broke it off and split up and became the companies they are today.
And Verizon Wireless, which is a separate company, is 55% owned by Verizon and 45% owned by British telecom Vodafone.
heh EDGE...? might as well be carrier pigeon.
Don't undermine the speed of the pigeons.
http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/south-african-pigeon-transmits-data-faster-than-local-dsl/
There's a protocol for that:
http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1149
Can South African pigeons carry a coconut?
So that's what these darned kids mean about "Tweeting"
yeah - Steve, don't be an idiot. The iPhone has no problem doing things like web surfing or getting email while you're talking on the phone at the same time. This is a serious drawback to going with Verizon.
This is all AT&T's fault. The average person didn't know/didn't care what 3G was until AT&T wouldn't shut the fuck about it when the iPhone 3G came out. Suddenly Verizon and Sprint both started using 3G in their ad campaigns after that, and now it's coming back to bite AT&T in the ass. People "care" about 3G now, and they simply don't have the same 3G coverage as Verizon at this point, plain and simple. There's nothing misleading in the ads.
Hey! EDGE isn't all that bad! I remember when it took 5 minutes to download a ringtone! I--
--OK, it sucks -_-
Ah but 3G is so 2006 (or so), I want my 4G now. And take your stinkin' outdated 3G crap and put in on your EDGE towers. 4G 4G 4G
but something NOBODY mentions is that CDMA won't do simultaneous voice and data.
So all this verizon 3g coverage doesn't mean squat if you're on the phone and trying to pull up a map or e-mail.
So what....are you arguing it's better to have unreliable voice and data, dropped calls and slow downloads as long as you get to talk on the phone and look at a map at the same time?
I think most people would much rather prefer to have reliable and consistent coverage, no dropped calls, and fast 3G service wherever they are.
Something that also doesn't matter if your phone can't multitask in the first place.
I would MUCH rather have solid 3g coverage pretty much everywhere I go and do either voice OR data, rather than stand in that one magical spot where a unicorn shed its tears and obtain voice and data at the same time.
AT&T = Fail.
Please insert .25 cents and try again.
I also would like to comment about something that was said at theiphoneblog.com which is most happy AT&T customers feeling:
"In other words, AT&T is saying Verizon’s 3G coverage of mountains and lakes is impressive for the fish and eagles, but they think they have the humans and their “cities” covered just fine, thanks."
I think it's funny how AT&T only cares about those who live in densely populated areas. I for one was close to jumping ship to the iPhone a while ago, only to find out that where I live (population 5,000), the AT&T 3g is non existent. Meanwhile I have a full 5 bars of EVDO 3g sitting in my house with Verizon.
Easy choice.
Forgive me if I am wrong, but isn't it impossible to do voice and data if you are on EDGE anyways? If so, than that kinda doesn't matter anways, since the majority of places 3G doesn't work.
@pureplayan >> "but something NOBODY mentions is that CDMA won't do simultaneous voice and data."
Almost every Blackberry I see that people have for business are on Verizon or Sprint ---> CDMA. They obviously don't miss simultaneous voice and data. Hell, neither do I... I have a Verizon Blackberry Curve.
Since Verizon is the biggest cell phone carrier in the USA... does that meant it's not that big of a problem? Or is it just a talking point when discussing AT&T's "superior" network?
I am on Verizon network, and not only my phone does simultaneous voice and data, it also does simultaneous voice and tethering, so I can browse Internet on the laptop and receive voice calls at the same time.
@steve I take it your comment is aimed at the iPhone? I'm assuming you have not used one. It's quite simple to use maps, email, safari etc whilst simultaneously having a phone conversation (multitasking). Just put the call on speaker, press the home button and open the app you require. The call is indicated at the top of the screen by a green glowing bar which you can press to return to the phone app.
@Steve
I'm assuming you are trying to point out the multitasking problem with an iPhone. While true, it won't run multiple third party apps at the same time, an iPhone running on AT&T's 3G network has no problem with having someone be in the middle of a call while also using any application on the phone. Any application will still have the normal internet functionality during that time, so even if you are blabbing away to someone for 2 hours, e-mail still comes through, maps still work, and even updates to facebook could be posted. I'm actually kinda annoyed by this at times, as the iPhone will still vibrate to indicate new e-mail when it's next to your face during a phone call.
The same is true if the phone has WiFi access.
Yes, it is a valid point to bring up, as no phone on Sprint or Verizon can do this via 3G. Does it overcome AT&T's network issues in certain places that only certain people are troubled by? Depends on the person. I personally have no issues with AT&T in Austin, outside of the congestion problems when tons of iPhone users are in one place.
I'm on Verizon and it works pretty well. Only thing is, where I'm at I only seem to get 1xRTT or EV-DO Rev.0 speeds, which is somewhat equivalent to GPRS and EDGE. When I do get EV-DO Rev. A speeds, it's still not as fast as what I would get with AT&T.
That is, not including all the dropped calls and whatnot...
I guess I'd prefer a better reliable slow connection than a spotty faster one.
I wonder how Verizon's network would be if all the current iPhone users were on their network. Although VZ has excellent coverage, I hear they might not have a capable enough backend network to handle tons of data...
Guess what? Neither does EDGE.
I would rather only talk on the phone than drop calls and not load maps at the same time.
We did some testing early on with the iPhone on Edge, and found that when surfing the web, calls would go straight to voicemail. This wasn't the case with an Edge Blackberry on AT&T, so somehow the call would interrupt and take precedence.
So based on that scenario, yeah data and voice not working simultaneously could be a very big deal, if you like answering phone calls at least.
ok so this is a little off topic but i can get and send email, stream video and even instant message while i am making a call when on t-mob 3G. why can you not do it on at&t or verizon?
I can't watch more than 5 feet in NYC without having my call drop with att.
*walk
LMAO @ JOE P
Freudian slip, methinks.
So... That's what? Three people walking by, one of them an amputee? Then a dropped call?
ditto...and data is useless, screw att, i really want to take this phone to vzw
and engadget, for the love of christ, check your messages!!
I used AT&T for the past two years here in SF and for a couple of years in Austin before that. Since getting my new Droid, I'm amazed at how GOOD a mobile network can really be. AT&T has gotten to the point where they're not even usable half the time in SF. I saw my Bold degrade to GPRS plenty of times recently.
Agreed. I'm in the same boat. Walkng around amazed at the Verizon network after leaving AT&T. Plus, having used Droid for a week and experiencing awesome Apparel like Locale, my last three iPhones don't seem so special. And push Gmail rocks!
Valid point.
I like Apple products, but I simply will not buy an iPhone while it is on AT&T. They need to seriously work on their network issues.
If I had a choice between no data service and EDGE, I think I would choose no data service.
EDGE is just too painful.
And AT&T needs to get the bug out of their ass. Try expanding your G3 network instead of being a cry baby
EDGE really is not that bad when the signal strength is good. I came from an EV-DO Sprint phone to a Curve 8310 (Edge only) a few months ago. While I won't argue theoretical maxes or peaks, I have to say, I tethered for about 5 hours a few days ago with the Curve just about every site I use on a regular basis loaded just fine for me (including engadget).
3g is great, but Edge is hardly intolerable. Not to mention Edge is a whole lot better than the 1xRTT Sprint would drop down to outside of the city/suburbs.
You would rather have nothing than EDGE? That's idiotic.
The most frustrating thing about my AT&T service is that I can't get any connection at all even though it clearly says right on the phone, "3G" and four bars. AT&T is a fraud.
My Edge is Southwest Kansas clocks in a 0.2kpbs, Way to go AT&T! You are the best.
What I think is hilarious is AT&T changed their coverage map since this morning earlier, it showed which areas had 3G coverage, no the map just says "Data Coverage". C'mon AT&T stop being a bitch your like the kid on the playground the says "I going to tell my daddy(Lawyers) on you. Dude if you did something about your half-assed network you wouldn't have any issue.
Personally...
I'd much prefer that AT&T stop all the wussy-butt crying and put more resources towards bettering their marginal service.
Agreed.
I have a friend who was in a bad situation (on a bicycle facing a guy with road rage) and tried to call 911. His call didn't connect. Three times he dialed, three times it failed.
This is in an area of Los Angeles that has businesses, govt buildings, and a major university.
What gives, ATT?
Once more, for everyone who says this: They're likely doing both. I'm sure the legal teams are on retainer whether these ads are responded to or not.
Amen and freaking Amen. Tmo customer since the Voicestream days. Work offered my an iphone so I took it. Phone is what it is, but AT&T simply blows.
as an iphone 3G and 3Gs, we are LOUD and clear.
i was treated to very poor service and numerous mistakes on Verizon network. im probably one of the few people that went from Verizon to ATT and got an iPhone for reasons other than the exclusive rights to the iPhone. even with less 3G coverage than Verizon (far less) i'd say im personally still happier using ATT than i would be with Verizon with the same phone. thats not to say ATT is perfect though, in fact far from it.
all US carriers seem to be very flawed. unfortunately.
I was with the original AT&T (not this cingular with an identity crises crap) and was very satisfied with them up until the merger. Wow, what problems they had moving over account information and all that fun infrastructure stuff. I couldn't understand why it was that difficult to do but apparently AT&T has problems with any kind of infrastructure, whether computer database or otherwise (according to comments I'm reading here). I have the same phone number now as I did 8 years ago, and I only ported it (once) to Verizon 2 years ago. I experienced exactly what you experienced with Verizon, except I experienced it with AT&T.
Point is, none of us should defend our mobile carriers. They all suck and we're all getting shafted by them. We can't even pick the lesser of two (or more) evils in this situation cause they all blow.
More proof that 3G is a bag of hurt. Good job protecting us from information overload, Stevie J!
....Explain to me why your dragging Jobs/Apple into this?
Because he agreed to send millions and millions of data hungry iPhones to one US carrier. And that one US carrier turned out to not be able to handle it.
Ok, so let me break it down laymen style and school some of the n00bs! See, the term “3G” from a spec perspective is applied differently for CDMA/CDMA 2k -vs- GSM/EDGE/UMTS Networks. In the CDMA world equivalent EDGE/EDGE+ speeds (2.5G in the GSM World) are allowed to be referred to as “3G” in the CDMA world. So if Verizon was being “honest” in their advertising they would include at&t’s 2.5G network in those so called “blue maps”. Once again another attempt by Ivan the Terrible and the V gimp masters at subterfuge!
Don’t get me wrong. The rubes over at at&t in my opinion are fighting this battle the wrong way! Instead of legal ramblings with the lawyers and marketing suits they should ask some industry tech heads and engineering expert ;^) and then fight back accordingly in their advertising!!
Again, glad to see Motorola back in the game in a big way and Google’s Android is great but one good phone product does not turn “tech Sinners to Saints”. So until the V truly changes its gimping ways across the full phone catalog line, and stop this latest attempt at trying to “Gimp our Minds” with BULSHIT advertising, F’EM!
" In the CDMA world equivalent EDGE/EDGE+ speeds (2.5G in the GSM World) are allowed to be referred to as “3G” in the CDMA world."
wrong. completely wrong. EVDO is "3G" in the CDMA world. EDGE is 2.75G, while 1xRTT was the equivalent in speed to EDGE, and that was 2.5G. EVDO is 3G speed, along with HSDPA.
Theoretical and actual speeds, my friend, are two different things. I don't care if AT&Ts spec goes up to 1.21 Gbps, you'll never get close to that speed. Quite frankly, VZWs EVDO rev. A has actual speeds greater than AT&Ts 3G service
Pretty sure 3G for CDMA networks only applies to EV-DO. And if I'm not mistaken, both Verizon and Sprint have 100% of their EV-DO network running Rev A.
see and that is what ATT should be talking to the public about. that 3G isn't a standardized term.
put it into practical terms. what is the true typical speed range of Verizon's 3G and how much of ATT has coverage at those levels.
also, look at the ratio of towers to subscribers in various areas. this plays a part in speeds, dropped calls etc. NYC gets horrid marks on service cause hundreds if not thousands are hitting each ATT tower daily. How does Verizon stack up to that. same, better or worse. take 30 cities, including the majors and do a side by side.
these are things, not whining to the courts, that ATT should be doing. cause the public ain't stupid and generally appreciates it when they aren't treated that way
Basically the same point....
http://appadvice.com/appnn/2009/11/the-truth-about-verizons-3g-coverage/
And whats with all this "V" love all of a sudden? Droid (i.e. Moto/Google = Good / V and their gimping ways = Bad)
We (tech heads) know how the do! Gimp, gimp, gimp. All those years of phone gimping to make you pay through the arse.
And now you're letting them "gimp your mind" with deceptive BS ads? Come on we're better than that!!
AT&T has a lot to learn from MS
I dont see one coverage map on their site that shows 3G across "75%" of the nation.
Here's their 3G coverage layered on top of Voice:
http://www.wireless.att.com/coverageviewer/#?type=voice&3g=t&lat=37.265625&lon=-96.416015625&sci=1
Ahh nations "population"... damn thursday and its funky wordplay schemes
75% of the *population*. Not by square mileage.
Actually if you know your cellular history, Verizon is the Ma Bell of cell phones. When the old AT&T was split up Verizon got the biggest cellular network started by your "Ma Bell". Everyone else was basically stuck building a network from ground up. Every other cell company has just been playing catch up and the new at&t is the only network to get close thanks to SBC's deep wallets. I'm not saying at&t is the best, but its better the the majority; give them a few more years and they will be on top.
The Ma Bell cellular network (analog-only, 1G and has been entirely shut down at this point) was divided amongst the Baby Bells. However, Pacific Bell and US West spun off their cellular divisions, and those were bought by AirTouch, which was bought by Vodafone, which merged it with Bell Atlantic Mobile and GTE Mobilnet to create Verizon Wireless.
Meanwhile, the wireless assets of Ma Bell in Ameritech, SBC and BellSouth areas both became part of the at&t network for the most part, before analog was shut down.
And the SECOND AT&T Wireless, which was built up by the original AT&T post-divestiture, was bought in its entirety by Cingular, which became at&t. (I tend to use lowercase to distinguish between the renamed SBC, which uses lowercase letters in its logo, and the original corporate entity, which always used uppercase)
All these ATT issues are more regional then anything, Here in the LA area ATT kicks Verizons butt all day and every day. AND within 60 days we will have 7.2mps speed that no one else can touch.
As to the Droid comparison to the iPhone, I had the opportunity to work work with both of them, the iphone was slick and fast and the Droid was slow and balky on the Verizon3g netowrk..It was barely a step above an LG Vovager as far as screen responses are concerned.
Iphone killers ===> Storm ===> Pre ===> Droid ===> Talk about the island of Misfit toys!
Just because the standard can support UP TO 7.2 Mbit/s doesn't mean you will get close to that.
Ahmen, Verizon doesnt even work at my house and its coverage map says it does...!!!
Ahhh - Just wait until you hit the Verizon 1RX zones (they"re everywhere) and you'll be praising EDGE - Can you say 36baud modem dialup? Sure you can if you get out of any sizable city and try to connect on Verizon. The Verizon maps are a scam from my experience
yeah i carry a droid and an iphone around all the time and lately i keep turning towards my iphone for data related stuff. I knew VZW's network was slow on the 3g/2g side but dam its slower then edge only areas and thats down right sad. AT&T needs to attack them with speeds its been proven AT&T has the fastest 3G network.
http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/atandts-3g-comes-out-on-top-in-speed-tests-will-only-get-faster/
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9083559/Review_Which_3G_network_is_the_best_?taxonomyId=15&intsrc=kc_feat&taxonomyName=mobile_and_wireless
http://gizmodo.com/5111989/the-definitive-coast+to+coast-3g-data-test
Lawsuits are cheater than making actually better product... or in this case, actually improving your network.
I have looong resisted the switch to Verizon no matter how much my friends have said their network is better (and it is - they get 5 bars in places I get 1 or 2), but now with a better selection of phones, I'm dropping AT&T as soon as my contract is up.
I have a friend who I hang out with quite a bit and it never fails, when I don't have service, she has no problems over and over again. I used to have Verizon and never experienced anything like I have with AT&T.
Oh...my...god. Verizon's ad is clear. Of course it attempts to be slightly misleading. Welcome to advertising. If you want to say this ad should be banned then fine, but you're also going to have to ban probably half of all advertising.
AT&T... I... HATE... YOU
The major problem with EDGE isn't the speed, it's the latency. It makes browsing the web painful as you wait on every element to load.
Ha they need to get it in Gear. Rogers is faster and better then all of them :P i get 3g where ever i go!....*cough* i only pay $100 bucks more *cough*