I'm not following what your getting at. AT&T's Block-B is all 700MHz, too.
Remember, AT&T's stated position on going for Block-C was the requirement to support open access, though I suspect cost was the primary factor. I think they choose well by going for Block-B and then buying Aloha, the largest owner of the 700MHz spectrum in the US. According to Wikipedia, "Aloha currently owns 12 MHz of spectrum covering 60% of the United States - including all of the top 10 markets and 84% of the population in the top 40 markets" and "covers 196 million people in 281 markets."
Saving $3 Billion looks like a great move, but let's see what they do with it. AT&T doesn't have the need to move to LTE the way Verizon does so it'll be a few years before we really get to see who made the better play.
AT&T purchased Aloha's spectrum in the 700mhz B block before the auction. Then then purchased most of the B block that the FCC auctioned off. The value to AT&T is the Aloha B block and the auctioned B block are next to each other. AT&T now owns a 24 mhz band across most of the country with no restrictions, while Verizon was stuck with the 20 mhz C band with restrictions.
But, do not assume that LTE will only roll out on 700 mhz. I would expect both Verizon and AT&T will use the 700 mhz spectrum to cover wide areas and for building penetration and suppliment it with some of their higher frequency holdings in densely populated areas. They also will likely convert much of their 800 mhz band to LTE down the road as customers switch over and they need more spectrum for LTE.
The most important note from the auction is that the rich got richer. AT&T and Verizon have a big advantage over Sprint and T-Mobile now because they own the 800 mhz blocks, and now they are the only ones with 800 and 700 mhz spectrum. Sprint and T-Mobile are stuck in the higher bands which have their plusses in some areas, but which make wide rural coverage and building penetration difficult and expensive. Sprint has been able to piggyback on Verizon for CDMA coverage, but I am not sure what they plan to do when Verizon eventually turns much of that network off.
i think 'not worried' is their code for 'no our contract doesn't end until 2012' myself
I think that may be part of it, but I think they also know that Verizons network is no where near as good as their reputation. Only 15% of Verizon customers have smartphones, and most of them have been low users of data. Compare that to AT&T's customer base which is 40% smartphones with the heaviest data users.
Things are changing fast now. Verizon can not afford to hold back their customers with crap phones and expensive ala carte pricing anymore. Android users are already starting to put a load on Verizons network and it is going to start to get much worse as the popularity of those phones takes off. AT&T is probably expecting many of the issues they went through to hit Verizon in the next year or two and by time the exclusivity ends, Verizon customers will no longer be smugly proclaiming the superiority of their network. Unlike AT&T and T-Mobile which have the incremental upgrade path from HSPA to HSPA+ to LTE, and Sprint who has WIMAX, there is not much Verizon can do exept push for LTE. Unfortunately for them, LTE was not ready in 2008 or 2009, nor will it be in 2010 either. They will not get LTE phones until sometime in 2011 now, and all the 3G smartphones they sell in the meantime will be on 2 year contracts on their slower and soon to be overloaded CDMA network. In that context, Verizon may have more to worry about a Verizon iPhone than AT&T does!
"He said even if the iPhone is available elsewhere, AT&T believes it can retain those users."
You think you can retain NYC and SF users?? I think not.
Even though AT&T's cell phone service is a little better than a year ago, when it was claimed that one in three calls were dropped... it still is terrible. No comparison to Verizon's call quality.
As a result, I don't make many phone calls on my iPhone (I call mostly from Vonage on my home phone) and I currently have over 3500 AT&T rollover daytime minutes. I'll never use them. And the year-old minutes just keep expiring.
Please, please, please Steve Jobs, let there be a Verizon phone this year. (My AT&T contract expires in August.)
FACT: ATT SUCKS
FACT: Verizon ROCKS!! When I had Verizon I had 2 dropped calls in 14 years.
Look at speed tests, up and down, and reliability tests, and make sure you get through the artical deep enough that you read the smartphone results on Verizon's net. Voice and text don't cut it in 2010, and Verizon's performance with a Droid looks a lot like AT&T with the iPhone Circa 2008.
Typical Android fanboy, ignoring the facts....did you miss the part about Apple being the #6 or #7 mobile phone manufacturer in the world?
You are both talking about the future.
When doing so, facts are less important, as they are mere snapshots of static reality. Trends are more important when predicting the future, because they take into account the temporal dimension.
The trends show that Apple and Android are both growing. But Android is growing much faster.
I use to love Verizon, and it had great customer service. However about seven months ago, Verizon burned its bridge with me. I won't go back, and I won't wait for a Verizon iPhone. AT&T here I come.
De La Vega says that he is not worry about Verizon selling the iphone. I bet he is! I think ATT may lose about 7-10% of their iphone customers, and that means alot of customers! I don't think we will see a massive move beyond those percents to Verizon.
But what about Verizon? I think they may increase the customer base by around 5-7%, the reason not 7-10% because I know alot of people who owns phones on both networks (I am one of them).
Also I think that apple will sell about 20% more iphones in the first year with Verizon. That figure is based on the amount of people who owns smartphones (a growing group) and the new customers coming into Verizon. In the long run, and depending on the iphone innovations eventually Verizon wil have more iphones than all the other networks combined here in the US. It will not happen immediately because customers contracts and a lot of users loving their androids. But in order to happen, Apple MUST keep innovating to be ahead of the curve. The Iphone 4.0 seems pointing to the right direction.
Comments
I'm not following what your getting at. AT&T's Block-B is all 700MHz, too.
Remember, AT&T's stated position on going for Block-C was the requirement to support open access, though I suspect cost was the primary factor. I think they choose well by going for Block-B and then buying Aloha, the largest owner of the 700MHz spectrum in the US. According to Wikipedia, "Aloha currently owns 12 MHz of spectrum covering 60% of the United States - including all of the top 10 markets and 84% of the population in the top 40 markets" and "covers 196 million people in 281 markets."
Saving $3 Billion looks like a great move, but let's see what they do with it. AT&T doesn't have the need to move to LTE the way Verizon does so it'll be a few years before we really get to see who made the better play.
AT&T purchased Aloha's spectrum in the 700mhz B block before the auction. Then then purchased most of the B block that the FCC auctioned off. The value to AT&T is the Aloha B block and the auctioned B block are next to each other. AT&T now owns a 24 mhz band across most of the country with no restrictions, while Verizon was stuck with the 20 mhz C band with restrictions.
But, do not assume that LTE will only roll out on 700 mhz. I would expect both Verizon and AT&T will use the 700 mhz spectrum to cover wide areas and for building penetration and suppliment it with some of their higher frequency holdings in densely populated areas. They also will likely convert much of their 800 mhz band to LTE down the road as customers switch over and they need more spectrum for LTE.
The most important note from the auction is that the rich got richer. AT&T and Verizon have a big advantage over Sprint and T-Mobile now because they own the 800 mhz blocks, and now they are the only ones with 800 and 700 mhz spectrum. Sprint and T-Mobile are stuck in the higher bands which have their plusses in some areas, but which make wide rural coverage and building penetration difficult and expensive. Sprint has been able to piggyback on Verizon for CDMA coverage, but I am not sure what they plan to do when Verizon eventually turns much of that network off.
i think 'not worried' is their code for 'no our contract doesn't end until 2012' myself
I think that may be part of it, but I think they also know that Verizons network is no where near as good as their reputation. Only 15% of Verizon customers have smartphones, and most of them have been low users of data. Compare that to AT&T's customer base which is 40% smartphones with the heaviest data users.
Things are changing fast now. Verizon can not afford to hold back their customers with crap phones and expensive ala carte pricing anymore. Android users are already starting to put a load on Verizons network and it is going to start to get much worse as the popularity of those phones takes off. AT&T is probably expecting many of the issues they went through to hit Verizon in the next year or two and by time the exclusivity ends, Verizon customers will no longer be smugly proclaiming the superiority of their network. Unlike AT&T and T-Mobile which have the incremental upgrade path from HSPA to HSPA+ to LTE, and Sprint who has WIMAX, there is not much Verizon can do exept push for LTE. Unfortunately for them, LTE was not ready in 2008 or 2009, nor will it be in 2010 either. They will not get LTE phones until sometime in 2011 now, and all the 3G smartphones they sell in the meantime will be on 2 year contracts on their slower and soon to be overloaded CDMA network. In that context, Verizon may have more to worry about a Verizon iPhone than AT&T does!
"He said even if the iPhone is available elsewhere, AT&T believes it can retain those users."
You think you can retain NYC and SF users?? I think not.
Even though AT&T's cell phone service is a little better than a year ago, when it was claimed that one in three calls were dropped... it still is terrible. No comparison to Verizon's call quality.
As a result, I don't make many phone calls on my iPhone (I call mostly from Vonage on my home phone) and I currently have over 3500 AT&T rollover daytime minutes. I'll never use them. And the year-old minutes just keep expiring.
Please, please, please Steve Jobs, let there be a Verizon phone this year. (My AT&T contract expires in August.)
FACT: ATT SUCKS
FACT: Verizon ROCKS!! When I had Verizon I had 2 dropped calls in 14 years.
FACT: ATT SUCKS
FACT: Verizon ROCKS!! When I had Verizon I had 2 dropped calls in 14 years.
FACT: Spring 2009 was a year ago.
FACT: Things change over time.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/18959...ance_test.html
Look at speed tests, up and down, and reliability tests, and make sure you get through the artical deep enough that you read the smartphone results on Verizon's net. Voice and text don't cut it in 2010, and Verizon's performance with a Droid looks a lot like AT&T with the iPhone Circa 2008.
Typical Android fanboy, ignoring the facts....did you miss the part about Apple being the #6 or #7 mobile phone manufacturer in the world?
You are both talking about the future.
When doing so, facts are less important, as they are mere snapshots of static reality. Trends are more important when predicting the future, because they take into account the temporal dimension.
The trends show that Apple and Android are both growing. But Android is growing much faster.
Whether these trends hold is anybody's guess.
FACT: Verizon ROCKS!! When I had Verizon I had 2 dropped calls in 14 years.
But what about Verizon? I think they may increase the customer base by around 5-7%, the reason not 7-10% because I know alot of people who owns phones on both networks (I am one of them).
Also I think that apple will sell about 20% more iphones in the first year with Verizon. That figure is based on the amount of people who owns smartphones (a growing group) and the new customers coming into Verizon. In the long run, and depending on the iphone innovations eventually Verizon wil have more iphones than all the other networks combined here in the US. It will not happen immediately because customers contracts and a lot of users loving their androids. But in order to happen, Apple MUST keep innovating to be ahead of the curve. The Iphone 4.0 seems pointing to the right direction.
George