![Screen shot 2009-11-04 at [ November 4 ] 7.04.42 PM](http://www.mobilecrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Screen-shot-2009-11-04-at-November-4-7.04.42-PM.png "Screen shot 2009-11-04 at [ November 4 ] 7.04.42 PM")
Needless to say, AT&T’s none too happy about Verizon’s “Theres a Map for That” campaign. AT&T first complained about the ads back in October, saying they were misleading. Verizon responded by adding a few extra words and an itsy bitsy disclaimer – but that wasn’t enough for AT&T. Early this morning, AT&T filed a false advertising suit against Big Red, presumably in an effort to get the ads off the air as soon as possible.
This afternoon, AT&T sent out an internal memo regarding the lawsuit, and we’ve obtained a copy.
AT&T keeps the memo about as simple as they possibly can: Yes, they’re filing a lawsuit. Yes, they feel Verizon is misleading potential AT&T customers. But if anybody asks? Use it as an opportunity to tell them how totally awesome AT&T is. When a memo is less about the details and more about how to avoid talking about the details, that’s just good ol’ fashion spin.
A copy of the memo follows:
Channels: COR, DMDR, LD, and NR Internal
Roles: Reps & Above
Markets: All
Contact: Your ManagerAT&T filed a lawsuit on November 4, 2009 against Verizon’s “There’s a Map for That” advertising campaign. Independent research shows that the maps in the advertisements mislead consumers into believing that we do not offer any wireless service in the vast majority of the country. In fact, AT&T’s 2.5G EDGE network covers 1.75 million square miles of the United States, reaching some 296 million people, roughly the same number reached by Verizon’s network. This network supports popular services like e-mail, surfing the Web, texting, and voice calling, including the activities shown in the Verizon TV advertisements. In addition, our 3G service, the nation’s fastest, is available in more than 9,400 cities and towns.
We filed the lawsuit in Federal District Court in Atlanta and asked that Verizon be prohibited from misleading consumers regarding the scope of our wireless network.
How should I respond to customers who ask about the lawsuit?While we cannot speculate on the complaint filed, it is a great opportunity to remind customers of AT&T’s many advantages that over 81 million customers enjoy, including:
- Best Network
- The best coverage worldwide (More Bars in More PlacesTM).
- The nation’s fastest 3G network and the only national 3G carrier providing simultaneous voice and data usage.
- The most devices that work in the most places including Japan and South Korea (3G 2100 MHz device required).
- The nation’s largest wireless and wireline broadband provider.
- The nation’s largest company-owned and operated WiFi network with more than 20,000 hotspots, including Starbucks, McDonald’s and Barnes and Noble, as well as access to over 120,000 hotspots around the world.
- The leading provider of local and long distance voice services.
Greatest Value – The fairest value with Rollover® allowing customers to keep their unused minutes month to month.
Best Products - The most innovative exclusive devices such as the iPhoneTM 3GS.
Most Convenient Services- The most customer friendly free self-service tools with *Services for checking usage, paying bills, and adding features.
- The most convenient and cost-effective way for customers to manage their accounts with Combined Billing for wireless and wireline products.
- Industry leading 30-day satisfaction guarantee.
As always, if you have an inquiry from the media, please refer them to your local media relations team member.
Hold on for as long as you can AT&T… because as soon as your iPhone exclusivity is over– I am taking that beyotch straight to Verizon.
Hellz yeah!
iPhone on Verizon… can you hear me now?
Idiot.
Your an idiot, idiot. You grandma called, she wants her teeth back.
great irony there
I heard ATT hired Barbara Striesand to cover this up.
I’d be so happy with an iPhone on Verizon.
I’m in for the iphone if it comes to verizon. Until then I will keep playing with my blackberries.
have fun.
your iphone will not work on Verizon, and verizon and iphone will not combine, 2 different technologies. but if apple did come out with an iphone for Verizon everyone would still complain, iphones use so much a data hog. btw verizon still would not have a true internet you would be on vz service
Idiot. Smart phones on VZW have the real internet. It’s called DATA!
LMAO dude
once iPhone and Verizon combine, they will be unstoppable! muhahah!
Good luck taking your GSM phone to the CDMA network
Either make a CDMA and GSM phone or throw both chips in like a few phones out there have already done. Problem solved. Why would they? It’s Verizon, which is huge in the US, which means $$$ for Apple.
What do you mean good luck with a GSM on verizon? Verizon supports both now and has for a while. Example – the Tour & Storm2 are Quad Band GSM.
I don’t find the ads misleading. ATT has crappy 3G coverage. And they can talk all they want about how great they are but Verizon covers Montana, ATT doesn’t. Thats like the middle of nowhere.
The map is for 3G coverage. Not 2.5G. The ad was clever and probably true – I sure as hell don’t get service (of either flavor) and I’m in Chicago!
I have both of those and I’m in chicago, maybe its a bug in the device, I had an issue like that when I initially moved to chicago. I have both on my iphone
Those ads are DEFINITELY true and NOT misleading. I drove across the US with an iPhone and 3G coverage was extremely rare. I did get EDGE coverage even in the most remote stretches of highway though. There weren’t that many places where there was no coverage at all on the trip, but it did happen a few times. AT&T fail.
AT&T is a joke. I have to have their stupid service because of the iPhone. They need to stop playing the victim because they are not. The real victims are the consumers that are paying AT&T money for crappy service. I applaud Verizon for getting the truth out.
So stop paying them.
you do realize you can break your contract and leave at any time, right? At most the fee would be $150 (probably not that much more than your monthly bill) and ATT prorates the termiantion fee so it would almost certainly be less. If you hate them…then leave!
you dont have to have a iphone quit complaining
lies
Just switched to Verizon after being with AT&T for three years because the service is cheaper. You really do get what you pay for – phone is frozen half the time and the sound is horrible. Now I know why Verizon’s slogan is: “Can you hear me now?” I can’t hear a damned thing.
You do realize that that’s a problem with your phone and not their service? Verizon also doesn’t make the phones, they just sell them.
If you are going to bash something, do so without being an idiot.
Isn’t Verizon the cell phone provider that makes their own firmware for all devices?
Disclaimer: I’m from Europe. :D
I switched to AT&T from Verizon because I couldn’t get a signal in my own Apartment. I live right next to a major interstate just 10 miles out of downtown Indianopolis. I just don’t understand why everybody loves Verizon so much. I have had absolutely no problem with AT&T
Do you get a signal outside the building because at my friends place they don’t get signals; and we found out it was because of what the building is made out of.
Hey Joshua, why the heck would Verizon sell phones that lock up all the time…because they don’t f’n care…all they want is your almighty dollar…so they will sell u crappy phones, take your money and now it’s the phones fault. Verizon has CRAPPY service, service includes the products they sell! You’re the IDIOT Josh…now go away and get educated. Your response shows how stupid you really are…and yes, Verizon SUCKS!
Your Stoopid.
your the stupid ass, the internet is your friend how about reading and learning it for your self, instead of talking out your ass about something u know nothing about., most people who what the iphone on verizon dont know a damn thing there talking about,,,,,,you dumb ass
The At&t VS. Verizon case is now online at the AllRise court. Join the debate and cast your vote – http://bit.ly/AllRise269
From a former Verizon customer who switched to At&t just for the iPhone, I can tell you that in Tucson at least, At&t’s 2G signal coverage sucks hardcore. No other company has “fewer bars in more places” than At&t and that’s the plain and ugly truth.
GSM/EDGE has crappy building/structure penetration. Somehow coworkers in the same building as me with Verizon never lose their signal despite the antenna being farther away. The building across the street has an At&t antenna on it (source:At&t) and I completely lose signal in my office all the time with my iPhone.
Verizon has consistently been the best in Tucson with the fewest dropped calls and best call clarity. I will kick At&t to the curb like an ugly ex-girlfriend the day Verizon starts selling the iPhone.
So say’s many people… all the more incentive to get the iPhone on Verizon? Maybe. Let’s hope in any case. Big network + big product + big demand for big product on big network = $$$? When you look at it like that, the extra cost to make it CDMA doesn’t sound half bad. And Apple was originally going to go with Verizon anyways.
right, b/c you should make blanket statements about AT&T’s overall coverage and service based on your limited experiences in….Tucson. ok.
and just for the record, everyone does realize that any and all networks have areas will poor signal penetration? Moreover, if the iphone had launched on Verizon it would have brought down their network also.
Ummm no it wouldnt have brought down Verizons network. GSM/UTMS is horribly inefficient with backhaul compared to CDMA/EVDO. Whos making generalized staments now????
hell verizon is down today without the iphone
The nature of the CDMA frequency is that it can carry more data on a thinner bandwidth, therefore the same amount of cell towers can handle a much greater amount of simultaneous users. The one downside is that the transfer rate is slightly slower with this technology, but not noticeably.
Also, there was someone who said Verizon uses GSM now along with CDMA. This is obviously not true. While some “world phones” like Blackberries come with a SIM card as well, it’s so then they can be used on the GSM networks overseas (where there is no CDMA provider). Also, the GSM on those blackberries is at a different frequency than services like AT&T and T-Mobile in the US.
To iPhone customers: I suggest you jailbreak your phones, and then celebrate the day when T-Mobile comes out with a 3G service. You’ll be able to WIFI tether and use their ridiculously cheap unlimited data plan – and the service is more or less the same*
*That’s the only thing I’ve said that I’m not 100% certain of.
Cheers,
Rich
P.S.: The Droid is an awesome phone with great capabilities. Unfortunately, VZ has disabled tethering for the time being, but they say it will be enabled in an update around January (probably when they figure out how to charge for it)
:D
1. iPhones are GSM only. No CDMA, thus no Verizon. Ever.
2. iPhones are quad-band GSM. Same as BBs.
3. Verizon would have failed worse than AT&T if they had 20M high bandwidth users added over the last 2 years. In part, because of the expanded 3G network.
If you have a problem with your verizon phone bring it to a store to have it fixed that’s why they have techs in their stores second .. DROID!!! Friday Nov. 6th droid is coming out for Verizon and it is ten times better then the iphone!! There is no restrictions on the phone at all I used to get mad at vzw for locking apps like bluetooth but the droid is 100 percent customizable and there is not one restriction that I can find .. Plus downloading simultaneous apps its gonna be awesome!!!! I can’t wait !!
Unfortunately, there’s one thing they disabled: tethering. It’s available on the v1.5 Android phones available for T-Mobile but the woman in the store tried to tell me the application to enable it wasn’t developed yet. The real reason is VZ needs a way to monetize it – just like what they used to do with GPS navigation (VZ Navigator for $10 a month! Psh.)
It will be available “January 2010″ though, so expect it around August. That and Flash 10.
It’s possible they didn’t want the network being overloaded for the launch date, but I doubt it.
I’ll be in line 7am tomorrow to pick up the Droid.
Vote with your dollars people.
Meh, I live in the DC/Baltimore area, I get perfect, crystal clear service from AT&T everywhere I go. I was reluctant to switch to them when considering buying an iphone but I don’t regret the decision whatsoever. Maybe they suck if you live in the boonies, but I’m more than satisfied with at&t.
I agree. I live in DC and I never have problems with my phone. I really can’t understand all the nonsense about the iPhone and AT&T. It doesn’t make sense to keep your iPhone if you live in an area where service is not to your standards. Move to another network and get another phone. There were phones before the iPhone, there are other excellent phones now, and there will be fantastic phones in the future.
Hey AT&T why don’t you stop complaining and start upgrading all the crappy 2.5G to a real 3G and compete. You have the better technology (GSM) but you need bigger data pipes to your wireless nodes. You got caught unprepared for the data demands current technology brings. (Ditto to Tmobile)
Verizon is kicking your trash and you want to boo-hoo. Man up, drop the “Apple tax” on services, figure out tethering and SMS, quit complaining about Google Voice and drag yourselves into the present.
My 2yr contract has been up for months and when that HTC HD2 comes to the US I am going where that phone lands (With my Google Voice acct).
are you kidding? verizon never has had a 3g network there 3g is actually 2.5g dumb ass. what dont belive me look it up. att is now at 7.2 and will go to 12 before they release hespa , which if you look you may be able to find out about it. i have tethering and google voice, u only need to look to find,
All I have to say is DROID DOES!!!! Tomorrow is the moment of truth for AT&T with the droid coming out. And the iphone will be a thing of the past like drive in theaters and 8tracks.
I am sorry IPhone will not be going over to verizon apple already said they will not join the IPhone over to verizon. Because if IPhone will go verizon that means it will have more crappy services with verizon.
JOHN
Are you an AT&T employee? Sure seems like it. Your whole “don’t like it go somewhere else” attitude is typical of AT&T. Rather than own up to their shortcomings, they attack anyone complaining and pass them off as cry-babies.
I’ve had AT&T for several years (before the whole Cingular-AT&T switch) and they used to be great. Once CIngular took over their customer service was horrible. The service has gone downhill as well. Voicemail messages that I finally get several days later after they were left? Inexcusable. Fewest dropped calls? I don’t think so. Yes, I do live in a large metro area.
Sure I could swallow the early termination fee and leave but why should I? Just give the service that matches the prices.
What’s worse is when you complain to them, their employees seem to be “drinking the Kool-Aid”. They do not recognize any problems whatsoever. They have blind loyalty. I can’t tell if it’s a matter of they are just so happy to have a job of any kind in this economy (most seem like they’re right out of college) or they are as morally bankrupt as the company they work for.
PS if you are not an AT&T employee I apologize but it’s a well known fact that some companies have employees that troll internet sites and add bogus comments praising their company and deriding anyone who dares to complain.
I am a att solution provider, not i dont tell everyone att is great, its not, but for anyone who thinks their carrier gives a damn about them is wrong, verizon is not with out its problems, i still have my wife and mother on verizon, their contracts have been up, i am selling att products and the only reason i moved 5 lines is over 157.00 they said i owed them over a laptop card which i returned in 3 days, keep in mind i had been a customer since 1998, so no they could care less just as att could care less.
i attend the meeting and the web meetings and ask the same questions some of u are asking, they change subjects or patronize me and others. But to say the iphone is going to be better on verizon is just plain stupid as it gets, because who knows the iphone will drag down their network also as it has done with att.
To be quiet honest i dont think any network is ready for the iphone and in that respect att has done a good job. i would love for verizon to get the iphone and the customers with it att network would not be overloaded then.
I knew from your comments you were an ATT employee……and the fact that you can’t spell and curse gave you away. Typical ignorant ATT employee. Don’t hate on VZW because you know they got a way superior network than you guys do. Thats why they are the largest most reliable 3G network in the United States. And I bet if VZW did have the iphone it would work a whole lot better on their network than on ATT’s. Ever heard of the DROID ignoranus? Thats the new iphone baby. And its going to work fantastic on VZW’s network. It’s going to be a DROID NATION, because everything the iphone doesn’t do, DROID DOES…………!
You wouldn’t happen to be a VZW Employee, would you?
All carrier suck – some suck less than others. AT&T and T-Mobile focused on their handset offerings while VZW and Sprint focused on their networks. Now all 4 are trying to make up for their losses.
What you guys don’t understand, speaking to those of you who keep saying the iPhone would be better on Verizon, is that it wouldn’t work. Verizon doesn’t support simultaneous voice and data. What would be the point to have an iPhone if you can’t utilize it? And to all of you who said the Droid would be the iPhone killer, notice the sales numbers….almost none sold. This is nothing like opening day of an iPhone iteration. In addition to that, if you did any research you would see that the Verizon map commercial was misleading. Actual Verizon 3G coverage is larger than AT&T, however the map they displayed in their commercial is not their 3G coverage, it’s their overall coverage. If you compared that with a similar overlay of AT&T’s EDGE and 3G, the maps would be almost identical (save for Montana). All of you are ignorant to reality and should do some research before jumping in bed with your company and defending them blindly.
The instances that you would have to use simultaneous voice and data are very few. On the flip side of that, Verizon saves a ton of cell space and provides more consistent service.
I feel iPhone users are a bit blind to service issues since the device is so great. My friend has problems with service all the time (text messages that take 3 hours to arrive, dropped calls in the middle of Times Square) but if you ask him what he thinks about AT&T when he’s playing with his phone he’ll tell you they’re great.
BTW both companies are terrible to their consumers. For example,why do I have to pay for text messaging (which is just minute amounts of data) when I’ve already got an unlimited data plan?
Also, the Droid iPhone killer talk is not unfounded just because verizon didn’t do a great job marketing it. Once non tech geeks find out what it is they will begin to start using them. It’s silly to compare first day of sales of anything to an apple product. Their marketing is so good they would have a line out the door if they were selling toenail clippers.
Written on my day-old Droid.
If the iphone wouldn’t work with VZW because of not being abe to use voice and data simultaneously, then why does it allow you to use voice and data simultaneously with the droid you bunch of jotos. DROID is the they way of the future and on a real 3G network unlike ATT’s. And that map on the commercial is correct. All the red IS VZW’s 3G coverage area. Because unlike ATT, VZW spends billions each year improving and extending their 3G network which in another year will be a 4G network. So take that all you ATT lovers. Plain and simple F____ ATT and everyone down with them. Con safo culillos.
You do know that AT&T invented wireless communication yes? You also know they invented MPLS which enables all this internet crap to both cell phones and wired computers yes? If it wasn’t for AT&T we would still be in the dark ages of electronics. without TV, Cellphones, or solar panels :-) It is amazing how televison adds work on some lol Also you do know Verizon used to be AT&T right?
I see no reason to slobber over iPhone pairing with VZ… iPod Touch makes a fine mobile computer and iPhone sux as a phone. There are *many* far better *phones*. http://crave.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/0,39029453,49303754,00.htm?s_cid=96
I have a friend who used to work for AT&T doing all their data lines for military installations. AT&T threated to fire him because he had a Verizon cell phone that HE paid for to both personal and business use because in some of the areas that he went, there was no coverage with his AT&T provided work cell phone. I thought that was funny.
I don’t see anything wrong with this memo… Am i missing something? On a side note IF verizon ever does get the iPhone, It will be 2011, and verizon had BETTER be on the LTE network by then… Otherwise its not going to happen..
All the best for dropping your GSM phones to the CDMA networks..
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