Are the Commercials All Wrong: Is AT&T Better than Verizon?

We've all been taunted by the commercials of the rivaling wireless networks: AT&T vs. Verizon Wireless. For anyone who has not caught a glimpse of the commercial, it plays out something like this: there is one map of the United States covered in red, representing the area that Verizon Wireless covers within its network, and off to the other side of the screen is a map of the United States with a few splotches of blue, which represents what the AT&T network covers ... or lacks to cover for that matter. At the end of the commercial your Verizon Wireless tag line is: "There's a map for that".

For me, these graphically enhanced commercials offer me a sigh of relief as I hold onto my Verizon Wireless blackberry in my pocket, and can sit back and know that I will have good coverage just about anywhere in the U.S. And for those of my friends who sit on the couch next to me with their AT&T iPhones, and are engaged in their latest app purchase, they are forced to cringe a little as Verizon Wireless' marketing scheme just completely squashes any marketing scheme that AT&T has constructed thus far. Anyone who has paid attention to the marketing battle between all wireless companies must think that Verizon Wireless is not only on top, but very much ahead of the rest of the pack ... but is there a chance that the facts and the marketing we see is not exactly level with one another?

According to a recent NYT article AT&T actually carries the better phone. The article states that although AT&T's iPhone may be causing some airway problems with its "air interface" problems, AT&T does not dare speak ill of Apple because of the strengths and brains it brings to the table for AT&T. The statistics of which wireless carrier is better seems to be clear according to one paragraph of the recent NYT article, which stated the following:

"This year, Root Wireless ran 4.7 million tests on smartphones for each of the four major carriers, spread across seven metropolitan areas: Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles/Orange County, New York, Seattle/Tacoma, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Washington. In every market, AT&T had faster average download speeds and had signal strength of 75 percent or better more frequently than did Verizon."

I think anyone who watches television can agree that if this is the case, AT&T needs to hire someone to take the bull by the horns in terms of marketing, and Apple's iPhone gadget may need to open its ears to AT&T's "techies" who can assist on the mechanic side of things. But, for now, I will still find some sort of comfort as I see the heavily shaded red on the map of the U.S. and grin a little with AT&T's confused coverage marketing scheme!