Verizon goes after Sprint's 'most dependable 3G network' ad claim
By Nilay Patel 
posted November 24th 2009 7:21PM
posted November 24th 2009 7:21PM
posted November 24th 2009 7:21PM
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@(Unverified)
Sprint already has months ago- have you compared what a smartphone plan is like on Sprint vs. Verizon with data, messaging, and GPS? Oh and don't forget about any mobile any time and nights and weekends.
Sprint is like 50% of the cost of Verizon...
Well maybe on one survey they do but one doesn't explain it all. PC World did their own test of the 3G networks and Sprint was the most reliable. I'm not saying this one test they did is the end all be all but it does give some insight.
http://www.pcworld.com/zoom?id=167391&page=1&zoomIdx=1
http://www.pcworld.com/article/167391/a_day_in_the_life_of_3g.html
while i think that verizon may be correct with this lawsuit. since they own most if not all of the 800mhz spectrum after alltell buyout. Sprint works on the 1900mhz band which doesn't penetrate buildings very well, and when i tried the Sprint Hero in NYC i couldn't get a 3G signal in my office. While Verizon/AT&T can get 3G because they both operate on the 800/850mhz bands which are stronger.
with that said i think Verizon needs to be smacked down, its getting out of hand with all these assaults. what will they do next put a map of Sprints 3G and say we have 3x more 3G than Sprint and we are more dependable than Sprint.
Who's next T-Mobile and their 3G network? Its getting pathetic i hope AT&T and Sprint come back at Verizon playing hardball since Verizon wants to be the bully in the scene.
It's one thing to attack AT&T since it's Verizon's direct competitor but attacking Sprint? That's like attacking a baby. Hey Verizon, pick on someone your own size!
Verizon must be hurting if they feel the need to go after Sprint like this. Low blow on their part.
oh SNAP!! i'm starting to see a strategy! go at the strongest competitor (AT&T) then Sprint.....T-Mobile, get ur shit together you're next!!
@revengeofthenerd
Verizon: "Catherine Zeta Jones is actually a dude"
HAHAH F YOU VERIZON AND YOUR CRAPTASTIC NETWORK!
Verizon is WAY off base. PC World Magazine did scientific tests earlier this year (March & April) that proved that Sprint had the most reliable 3G network. They sure must be bucking for more free PR. The Sprint press release is here: http://newsreleases.sprint.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=127149&p=irol-newsArticle_newsroom&ID=1305748
Doesn't a scientific study have more meaning than a survey of users? A survey is very subjective; what happens if survey participants answer in a particular way because they don't care for some other facet of a carrier's service (other than 3G)? BOO, Verizon.
Yeah, Verizon's going a little crazy here. I like their network, but really if the Droid was on Sprint I would still be with them. Sprint's network is decent and their prices can't be beat.
huh..huhuhuh...huhuh they said 4G...huhhuh
LOL - I'm a Sprint customer but Sprint has ignored their own customers so much in the past two years I enjoy bad things happening to Sprint. I don't know who is going to buy out Sprint but I can't imagine that the new management could work any less effectively than Dan Hesse and his current team.
Yes clearly the way to judge a reliable data network is by the amount of dropped calls.
A few points to make about the current cellphone industry. These are a few things I learned while taking networking recently.
-3G offered by all these companies is not actually 3G. It is in reality 2.5G, which the "industry" being all of these cell phone companies decided to call 3G. In reality 3G is actually a higher rate of transfer than what is actually offered.
-4G currently can only be used by companies with CDMA towers. This means the companies that don't (AT&T and most of Europe), will not have access to 4G speeds. There is currently no software available to make the change possible from the non CDMA towers.
TLDR- 3G = 2.5G in reality, Companies w/ no CDMA towers (AT&T and Most other countries) = no 4G.
Here is a chart of the different technologies.
http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/4361/techmigration.png
@Minions
Dude i don't know where you got your info from but its all wrong!
EV-DO / HSPA are 3G technologies they provide speeds of up to 2mbps in the read world whcih is considered broadband speeds.
4G has nothing to do with CDMA or GSM its a matter of whcih 4G technology they will use.
Verizon a CDMA company with be doing LTE for 4G but the network is not live yet.
Sprint CDMA will be doing Wimax for 4G which is currently live at the moment.
AT&T a GSM company will do LTE for their 4G network.
@Minions you don't know what you are talking about.
By your own chart, At&t has 3G. HSPDA is WCDMA based. All of the major US cell carriers offer 3G service. 4G does not require CDMA. Current 4G standards are WiMAX and LTE (at least for the US). Neither of these has anything to do with CDMA.
Verizon is going to get exactly what's coming to them! The iphone and the palm pre....... Good ole fashion strong arming & exploitation, mixed wit a bit of tattle telling still gets the squeaky wheel oiled... Puffs!
Fuck off Verizon. Honestly
@The Missing Link - X2
Yo AT&T/Sprint,
I'm really happy for you, I'm gonna let you finish, but Verizon has one of the best networks of all time.
Yep. Verizon's a dick like Kanye.
Heh. I tried to go to Sprint's website to see what phones they were offering, just to compare my options with Verizon and the others. But, their site wasn't working. So maybe I'll skip on the ole' reliable Sprint network.
@Abe Do you have Verizon DSL?
Sprint.com loads up just fine for me, and I can see my cheap bill.
Oh, and Palm Pre, HTC Hero, BB Tour and Samsung Moment.
@(Unverified) and you can also see your usage history to decide if you need to upgrade or downsize your plan (at no charge).
Ok, the Verizon against AT&T ads are great and very true. They compare apples to apples (or 3G to 3G). Now they're attacking Sprint's call droppiong and 3G? Those have nothing to do with each other. I dropped Verizon 2 years ago for sprint and to be honest I've never had issues with either dropping calls, but again that's nothing to do with 3G. I've also happened to have wireless cards for both verizon and sprint at the same time. But as usual, based on where I was located, one or the other worked better, with Sprint mostly winning in the areas I used it most, so Verizon was out completely FOR ME.
Again 3G has nothing to do with calls dropping. They got it right with AT&T, but now they're the ones all mixed up with Sprint. Keep showing those ads Sprint, cause they're probably the best cell commercials ever. And thanks for the free mobile-to-mobile (any network), my usage has dropped to nearly nothing now!
I think this is what happened
Verizon: AT&T, you suck.
AT&T: but... but... you suck more
Verizon: HA HA, truth hurts. Oh hey Palm, when are we going to get the Pre?
Palm: Sorry dude, we're still exclusive with Sprint
Verizon: WTF? Sprint, you suck!
Sprint: Huh? But... what...?
Whoa, Whoa, Whoa! This is like laughing at a buddy making Mama jokes to another guy. It's not so funny when it's your mama that is the butt of the jokes. :)
Verizon, it was great when you were going after AT&T but leave Sprint alone. I love Sprint. I've been a customer since 2001. My Service has always been great with Sprint. The Call quality is great, they don't lock down their phones, the Data has always worked for me and they have a great selection of phones. How Dare you Verizon! All you do is Hate, Hate, Hate! No wonder Sprint Made the 3G commercial! Wahhh!! Leave Sprint Alone!!
verizon are a bunch of attention whores
desperate and greedy they all are
In other news.... your a dumbass. My company uses VZW, my personal phones are with sprint. more often than not the office calls my personal phone to reach me. Al least that the case here in the midwest. In urban areas VZW works fine, but the moment we hit the sticks coverage gets spotty. We all cant live and work in large urban areas (thank goodness).
You seem to try to be witty with your comments in your articles, but usually you end up looking silly. People don't buy into half the crap you try to dish out. Keep trying.
@slipdisc
I think YOU'RE the dumbass for not knowing the difference between YOUR and YOU'RE
@surgex oh ok.ya got me.
You're going to get over-extended Verizon!
This is ridiculous. Verizon won its court battle against AT&T because it separated the 3G network from the 2G network, and yet they ignore this in their latest lawsuit against Sprint. Verizon's favorable outcome against AT&T should be used as a precedent in this case since voice calls and data calls are two separate things on a 3G CDMA network. You cant have dropped calls on Sprint or Verizon's 3G network - because you cant technically make calls over the 3G network.
Define "Dependable" and the meaning of "is"
Verizon seems to work pretty well in NYC. U can't front with sprint, a few friends have it and works fine. I only stood with Verizon because the motorola android came with a qwerty keyboard, otherwise Sprint would had been my option.
Well one thing that no one seems to have mentioned yet is that Sprint claims it's bringing us the first wireless 4G network in this ad...OK, so where are these 4G Sprint phones and when can I get one? Oh wait, you mean there aren't any available yet? Bummer!
The way I see it is every single commercial on TV has at least one major lie in it, if not more.
The best way to take any commercial is to deny every claim it makes right off the bat, until you can see actual proof that it's true.
Thank god for google :)
@surgex
They said they were bringing you the first 4G network and they have.
Chicago, Seattle, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Baltimore, Portland, Washington DC, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, Philadelphia, Boston, and a ton of small cities here and there have all launched.
NYC, LA, and lots of others are coming next year -as are the 4G phones.
@COCOViper
I should probably also make the point in case you aren't aware that all mobile networks get datacards first and then transition to handsets. It's what happened with 3G and it's what is happening now with 4G. Sprint has 2 4G\3G cards (U300 and U301) available with a few more coming up soon.
Handsets will follow once the tech to build them into smaller dimensions and deal with all the SAR issues develops.
I just recently tried out both networks. I have been with Sprint since March, my bill is about 65$ with employee discount for the 450 everything data plan which includes unlimited text and pics, data, GPS, call to any mobile phone for free.... well I think we all know Sprint throws in everything with these packages. I've also found that "overage relief minutes" are a bargain. 10$ for 200 instead of paying 0.40 per min. Sprint is very wallet friendly. I have never had a dropped call with Sprint. And the internet is very fast for me, especially using Skyfire browser. I have the Touch Pro 2 now, which I am very pleased with. Their customer service is terrible though. But the drones try, I do have to admit.
I fell for the hype and tried out the Droid on the 6th. I returned it within a week. My boyfriend and I both purchased one on a family plan, believe 1400 minutes, and the 10$ text for me and the 5$ text for him, about 200$ a month (could have family unlimited everything data plan with Sprint for 95$ and 1500 mins). I experienced a bunch of dropped calls and my boyfriend exchanged his phone at least 2 times for issues. I hated mine, and I still hate his. For some reason, the screen always turns on during a phone call which ends up hitting buttons and muting my end for whatever reason. Yes, I could have just gotten the Touch Pro 2 with Verizon, but their network and call quality just plain sucked when compared with Sprint. Plus, I never did receive a phone call back from Verizon that they promised me. So no win on customer service either. And WTF is with the ETF now?
I'm trying to talk my boyfriend into a TP 2 so we can save 100$ per month and have more. Sprint will win this one and may even gain more customers.
Oh and, with Sprint I get yearly upgrades along with nights starting at 7.
Verizon can suck my nuts though. I'd go with Sprint 1000x sooner than I'd sign up for Verizon.... even if they do have the Droid and the Storm 2. Verizon is crap. I'd get MetroPcs phone before getting Verizon.
@(Unverified) I'd go without before I would sign with them.
Verizon can suck my nuts though. I'd go with Sprint 1000x sooner than I'd sign up for Verizon.... even if they do have the Droid and the Storm 2. Verizon is crap. I'd get MetroPcs phone before getting Verizon.
@Unverified
I would like to know where you're getting your statistics when you claim Verizon is #1 in many things, but particularly in the customer department. AT&T took many customers away from many carriers because they were the only American carrier to take on the iPhone. Verizon may be #1 in cellular coverage, 3g coverage and douche baggery but when it comes to customers I think not or it would have to pick out everyone else's flaws.
Tell that to my Blackberry Storm Verizon. I do a lot of travelling to rural areas, and your 3G service has been less than stellar. I'm not exactly thrilled to have to rely on my Pre for data and tethering when my damned company-paid Blackberry storm is roaming on US Cellular.
Get bent.
They should go for the kill on T-mobile crappy network too. VERIZON FINISH THEM!
OK Verizon is a great carrier but where I live my service is not always great especially when it comes to how reliable there data which sucks. I do have Verizon jus to let you know and it works great in other places except when I'm at home. As for Sprint they are a good company as well but their phones well the Hero is good. My uncle has Sprint he says he likes the service but hates it when it comes to customer service he is always threatening Sprint Reps every time one little thing on his phone goes wrong. BTW my uncle has the Moto Q. But all I can say Verizon should not bother Sprint they are both just as good but one may just perform better than the other that's well all I could have just said.
They all suck. I know someone on every major US carrier and at some point in time they all drop calls, they all fail to complete calls, they all screw up text messaging. They're advertising is based on us accepting failure as the norm: "the fewest dropped calls" is like a fast-food restaurant advertising "the fewest cases of food poisoning."
Plus it's ridiculous that both AT&T & Verizon are both allowed to call their technology "3G" when they're so different in how they work and what they can do. There's a lot of technical differences others have mentioned, but for the average consumer it boils down to this: Studies show that nationwide Verizon has more geographic coverage and fewer connection problems. But AT&T has faster data speeds and you can use voice and data simultaneously on smart phones (that's right, if you're browsing the web on your Droid anyone who calls you goes straight to voice mail).
It's up to the consumer to ignore company claims in advertising and do a little research on their own. In the meantime, watching these idiots argue over who gets to say "we suck less" is almost laughable.