AT&T faces setback in legal battle over Verizon ads
A federal judge Wednesday denied AT&T's request to pull Verizon's critical commercials from the air, despite the fact that they might be "sneaky" and most TV watchers are "semi-catatonic." [Updated with new response ad by AT&T]
The judge ruled Wednesday that while the ads may be "sneaky," they are not misleading, and do not justify any action to take them off the air. The judge did state however, that most TV watchers are "semi-catatonic" and therefore can easily misinterpret information presented.
A follow-up hearing date was set for Dec. 16, giving lawyers a second chance to present their case for an injunction. Verizon has claimed that AT&T's suit is without merit
In a new ad comparing the 3G networks of AT&T and Verizon, AT&T claims that it offers a better "3G experience" when compared to Verizon. The ad, which features actor Luke Wilson, points viewers to a website, TruthAbout3G.com that contains the tag-line "When you compare, there's no comparison. AT&T. A better 3G experience."
Both the ad and website tout the speed and features of AT&T's network, with the website claiming that AT&T's 3G network covers 230 million people across the nation. The TV ad makes no mention of 3G coverage area or signal quality.
Verizon's series of ads compare 3G coverage maps of the two companies, with Verizon's maps covering more of the United States than AT&T. The accuracy of the maps are not what is in question, AT&T concedes that they do show the overall 3G coverage areas of both networks. AT&T called the ads in question "false and misleading" because they confuse customers into believing that AT&T has no coverage in the areas highlighted as being devoid of 3G coverage.
AT&T had previously contacted Verizon on Oct. 7, requesting that the ads be withdrawn or modified. Verizon responded by dropping the phrase "out of touch" from the ads and added the words "Voice & data services are available outside 3G coverage areas."
In a response to the initial suit, Verizon stated, "AT&T did not file this lawsuit because Verizon's 'There's A Map For That' advertisements are untrue; AT&T sued because Verizon's ads are true and the truth hurts."
AT&T announced Tuesday that it has plans to upgrade its 3G nationwide network by 2011, a total of 1,900 cell sites are slated to be added by the end of 2009.
The judge ruled Wednesday that while the ads may be "sneaky," they are not misleading, and do not justify any action to take them off the air. The judge did state however, that most TV watchers are "semi-catatonic" and therefore can easily misinterpret information presented.
A follow-up hearing date was set for Dec. 16, giving lawyers a second chance to present their case for an injunction. Verizon has claimed that AT&T's suit is without merit
In a new ad comparing the 3G networks of AT&T and Verizon, AT&T claims that it offers a better "3G experience" when compared to Verizon. The ad, which features actor Luke Wilson, points viewers to a website, TruthAbout3G.com that contains the tag-line "When you compare, there's no comparison. AT&T. A better 3G experience."
Both the ad and website tout the speed and features of AT&T's network, with the website claiming that AT&T's 3G network covers 230 million people across the nation. The TV ad makes no mention of 3G coverage area or signal quality.
Verizon's series of ads compare 3G coverage maps of the two companies, with Verizon's maps covering more of the United States than AT&T. The accuracy of the maps are not what is in question, AT&T concedes that they do show the overall 3G coverage areas of both networks. AT&T called the ads in question "false and misleading" because they confuse customers into believing that AT&T has no coverage in the areas highlighted as being devoid of 3G coverage.
AT&T had previously contacted Verizon on Oct. 7, requesting that the ads be withdrawn or modified. Verizon responded by dropping the phrase "out of touch" from the ads and added the words "Voice & data services are available outside 3G coverage areas."
In a response to the initial suit, Verizon stated, "AT&T did not file this lawsuit because Verizon's 'There's A Map For That' advertisements are untrue; AT&T sued because Verizon's ads are true and the truth hurts."
AT&T announced Tuesday that it has plans to upgrade its 3G nationwide network by 2011, a total of 1,900 cell sites are slated to be added by the end of 2009.
Comments
As I posted in the iPhone forum, Suck it AT&T! Nobody is falling for your bull****. Beef up your 3G network and stop whining so much.
HAHAHAHAH...
After having just left them for an iPhone after nearly 10 years of service, you can be sure I hate Verizon and their anti-customer practices, but boy does AT&T need to "nut up" on this one. They got caught with their pants down and I say more power to them to put AT&T in their place and get them to actually improve their crappy network.
On a related note, I actually compiled my own nationwide AT&T 3G map from all the little regional ones they show you and made a graphical comparison to Verizons and posted it on this forum a while back.. I'm surprised it took Verizon this long to do so. I wonder if they saw my map?? lol
This campaign by Verizon does tell the truth. Most people it seems do not do their homework on coverage, they just see the iPhone and they want it now, no matter how bad the service is.
You have two choices between these two companies:
Verizon- little choice, best network
AT&T- lots of apps and customization on iPhone, worse network
Too bad Verizon has to cripple their phones and provide great service, it would be a lot easier if there were two positives to speak of with one of these companies.
Too bad Verizon has to cripple their phones and provide great service, it would be a lot easier if there were two positives to speak of with one of these companies.
To be fair, the new Android phones (the Droid twins) aren't crippled. Hopefully, verizon keeps it that way.
Oh and after being thoroughly embarrassed by VZW, they put out a poor counterad with an overweight Luke Wilson, why dont you spend your money upgrading your pathetic ass network AT&T instead of spending it on actors?
Oh and last time i checked, my friend was surfing the web while talking on his droid AT&T, maybe you should beg Apple to give you their advertisement guy?
HAHAHAHAH...
After having just left them for an iPhone after nearly 10 years of service, you can be sure I hate Verizon and their anti-customer practices, but boy does AT&T need to "nut up" on this one. They got caught with their pants down and I say more power to them to put AT&T in their place and get them to actually improve their crappy network.
On a related note, I actually compiled my own nationwide AT&T 3G map from all the little regional ones they show you and made a graphical comparison to Verizons and posted it on this forum a while back.. I'm surprised it took Verizon this long to do so. I wonder if they saw my map?? lol
Word!
To be fair, the new Android phones (the Droid twins) aren't crippled. Hopefully, verizon keeps it that way.
PDANet still works over here. How about in Apple land?
AT&T has proven time and again that they don't think like businessmen but like government bureaucrats who think they should be able to decree what reality is. "Out of touch" may not describe their network but it does describe their executive suite.
I do believe that Verizon is taking advantage of how stupid we consumers are - regardless of whether they say the map is comparing 3G coverage only - we consumers (for the most part, and this generalization is appropriate in this case) see the lack of coverage on ATT's map as being just that - lack of coverage. The white areas on the map aren't viewed as non-3g areas, but rather as no service areas.
I work in sales and marketing of consumer products and they've done a brilliant job showing we consumers a "true" apples to apples comparison that really just takes advantage of how stupid we are.
As far as the iPhone is concerned, I like the phone and its features and how it works perfectly with my MBP and the apps it offers. What I really don't care is what network it runs on. I'm not beholden to ATT, Verizon, Sprint, etc and as far as 3G, it is going to become a moot point very quickly as the move to 4G speeds up. If Apple really wants to keep leading, it needs to force the "next" technology on the carriers and partner with whoever is willing to move things forward.
In a separate note, I'm getting to the point where I would like to find a carrier that is willing to go back to 1G, spotty service. This push to be continuously connected and available makes it difficult to live a normal life. I remember traveling in the day when I couldn't connect to the office unless I could find a pay phone or get to the hotel at the end of the day. You could actually have down time in the day. Now the expectation is to reply to emails and texts and calls immediately or face the scrutiny of the powers that be.
Most people it seems do not do their homework on coverage, they just see the iPhone and they want it now
However, it makes you wonder if Steve Jobs did his homework on AT&T's coverage and their capability. I mean, why create a product that people just see and they want it now and have it tarnished because of the carrier you partnered with. I wonder where the iPhone would be today if it were on Verizon? MMS sooner? Tethering by now? Larger US iPhone user base?
Instead, Jobs chose to partner up with AT&T despite the rancor coming from the Apple faithful about hooking up with Cingular/AT&T.
And the Apple faithful, once again, had to bend over and take it and suckle up to the Apple tit for it's nutritional daily dose of Apple goodness!
We're the phone company. We don't care, we don't have to...
Oh and last time i checked, my friend was surfing the web while talking on his droid...
Why don't you ask your friend to refresh the page or navigate to a new one and then see what happens.
Or go off WiFi onto EVDO.
Nowhere near enough to come even close to Verizon's 3G map, they need 10x that if they're really serious about catching up... Pathetic.
New AT&T ad.
Is that the BEST they can do? That was so incredibly weak. And Luke Wilson? Hell, his uglier, crooked nose brother gets more roles and pu**y than him
Nowhere near enough to come even close to Verizon's 3G map, they need 10x that if they're really serious about catching up... Pathetic.
I hope they aren?t focused on ?catching up? to Verizon?s map. It makes no sense to build into low populated areas with 3G when their highly populated areas are taking on more and more data heavy devices per tower. This is a seemingly exponential problem that needs to be addressed with more towers, more bandwidth per tower, better and faster HW and a switch to 850MHz spectrum.