3G coverage fracas intensifies

It was only a matter of time until it got this ugly, but the network coverage bickering between wireless industry powerhouses Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility got a few degrees warmer this week as Verizon Wireless accused its rival of not being able to handle the truth.
Countering a lawsuit filed last week, Verizon Wireless this week filed comment’s with an Atlanta court opposing AT&T Inc.’s request that the carrier’s current advertising campaign touting its 3G network superiority over AT&T Mobility’s 3G network coverage be clarified.
In its filing with the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division, Verizon Wireless says that AT&T’s opposition to its current “There’s a map for that” advertising campaign was not filed because the claims were untrue, but because “Verizon’s ads are true and the truth hurts.”
Verizon Wireless goes on to say that it has invested billions of dollars into its 3G network since 2004 and that the claims of the ad campaign that is current 3G network has five times the coverage of AT&T Mobility’s 3G network just highlight the facts.
“AT&T now is attempting to silence Verizon’s ads that include maps graphically depicting the geographic reach of AT&T’s 3G network as compared to Verizon’s own 3G network because AT&T does not like the truthful picture painted by that comparison,” Verizon Wireless states in its filing.
The fracas heated up last week when AT&T Mobility posted a letter on its Web site countering claims by Verizon Wireless’ advertising campaign. The letter notes that Verizon Wireless’ ads do not include data services provided by AT&T Mobility’s EDGE network that it claims covers 301 million potential customers or its GPRS network that covers 303 million pops. It also notes that it’s HSPA-based 3G network currently covers 233 million pops or 75% of the population.
Verizon Wireless claims its CDMA2000 1x EV-DO-based 3G network covers 284 million potential customers.
AT&T Mobility also noted that the advertisements indicate that customers with 3G devices would not have voice or data services outside of its 3G coverage areas, a claim Verizon Wireless dismisses.
Of course, the basics of the lawsuit comes down to the coverage maps shown during the advertisements that do seem to indicate that Verizon Wireless’ 3G network offers substantially more coverage than AT&T Mobility’s 3G network. This was recently helped through the acquisition of Alltel Communications L.L.C., which offered EV-DO services across a broad geographic swath of the western U.S. that covered a lot of miles, but not a lot of pops. AT&T Mobility on the other hand has said its initial 3G network focus has been on covering more densely populated urban markets and letting its EDGE and GPRS service handle data services in rural areas.
Following the merger of Cingular Wireless L.L.C. and AT&T Wireless Services Inc. the carrier spent considerable time and effort in combining their respective operations while at the same time Verizon Wireless began spending billions on adding EV-DO updates to its network. That robust network updating initially lead to a beef between Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp. over who had the most 3G network coverage, with both claiming superiority with the addition of each upgraded cell site. Sprint Nextel claims its 3G offering now covers 269 million pops.
In its letter, AT&T Mobility does counter that its 3G service is faster than Verizon Wireless’ offering, and that the difference should grow in the future as it rolls out HSPA 7.2 enhancements that are expected to offer peak download speeds up to 7.2 megabits per second. The current HSPA technology deployed tops out at 3.6 Mbps on the downlink. Verizon Wireless’ EV-DO Revision A network offers peak downlink speeds up to 3.1 Mbps. All of these numbers mean very little in the real world though as customers typically experience only a fraction of these theoretical speeds with most speed tests conducted on loaded networks showing fluctuating downlink speeds of around 1 Mbps and uplink speeds around 500 kilobits per second.
While the slap-fest over 3G coverage is currently garnering all the headlines, the battle over 4G coverage is right around the corner. (This despite the fact that there are no set standards for what constitutes 4G service, but I digress.) Sprint Nextel has the early upper hand claiming its mobile WiMAX-based network is currently available in around 30 markets with plans to cover 120 million potential customers by the end of 2010. Verizon Wireless has announced aggressive plans for its LTE-based network that is already available in Seattle and Boston with plans to cover 120 million pops by the end of next year. AT&T Mobility, which is also planning on deploying an LTE-based network, said it will begin rolling out the network beginning in 2011.