AT&T "Maps" Out Lawsuit Against Verizon

[Michael Essany]

AT&T is taking Verizon to court. And even if you haven't heard why, there's a good chance you can suspect the impetus behind the suit filed.

If you've seen Verizon's "There's a Map for That" commercials, you've probably noticed that AT&T's represented coverage area looks nothing like the coverage area AT&T says it provides. In fact, the commercial makes AT&T's coverage look so bad, that some commentators in the blogosphere saw this lawsuit coming probably before Verizon did.

From Apple Insider:

The "Map" advertisement displays two competing 3G coverage maps, in which the Verizon coverage area is clearly more widespread than AT&T's coverage area. The suit contains an AT&T commissioned survey of the ads which found that 53 percent of those asked interpreted the non-colored areas of the maps to be total gaps in coverage.

With growing talk that Apple may drop exclusivity with AT&T next year and possibly team with Verizon to extend carrier options for Apple customers, the bad blood between AT&T and Verizon has been boiling like never before in recent weeks. The lawsuit obviously illustrates the intensity of the situation.

Verizon has released a series of aggressive ads targeted toward AT&T and the iPhone specifically in conjunction with the release of Motorola's Droid phone on the Verizon network. The Droid is scheduled to be released November 6th, and is the first phone to carry Android version 2.0 along with a beta of Google Navigator. Verizon's "iDon't" ad directly compared the Droid to the iPhone, claiming that the Droid has superior features.

Verizon is reacting to news of the lawsuit tonight saying only that AT&T's gripes are without merit and that "the ads in question clearly state that voice and data services are available outside 3G areas."

AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel says "Verizon knows we're the leader in smartphones. This whole campaign is a response to that."

The suit seeks a temporary restraining order and a injunction to stop Verizon from "disseminating misleading coverage maps" of AT&T's areas of cellular and data coverage. AT&T is also seeking damages in the suit.

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[Kruejl]

I've seen the commercial and it does make AT&T look pretty bad.

[adsonjustin]

damn

[metaserph]

...and the **** hits the fan...

[Jaholibop]

Where I live I certainly don't have 3G service, hell I barely have cell service, but is the 3G coverage that night and day different or is that misleading?

[mrguy]

I always have 3g and only dropped 1 or 2 calls over the pass 2 year I been with Att, coverage is always great, crap I have 5 iPhones in my plan and none have any problems

[austin5678]

so is this saying that the blue in the AT&T map represents no coverage and gray represents coverage, but red represents coverage in the verizon one?

if so, verizon is smart but also very sneaky.

[one1]

They're picking on us, They're picking on us, WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA Judge make them stop advertising their services whaaaaaaaaaaaa.

[THES0FAK1NG]

so is this saying that the blue in the AT&T map represents no coverage and gray represents coverage, but red represents coverage in the verizon one?

if so, verizon is smart but also very sneaky.

No, I don't think so. Thats just my opinion. I think it does represent 3g coverage, but 3g coverage NOT including voice and data services that are in the gray areas (and I have no idea what that means).

[ryan0926]

I also don't know where this anti at&t stuff comes from, I've had at&t for as long as I've owned a cell phone. I have never had a problem with at&t, once something went wrong with a bill and it took five minutes to fix. Coverage is so much better ever since I got my 3gs after my edge iPhone. There's very very few spots where I live that I don't get five bars. Maybe I just got lucky, but I've lived a few places in CO and everywhere is great...

[one1]

ATT is convinced their customers are so stupid you can dangle a twinkie in front of them and lead them anywhere. It's like Kayne is the VP.

"I'm gonna let y'all have your Verizon coverage, but ATT was the best coverage EVER".

[bbillh77]

at&t and apple = sue sue sue sue sue step up at&t instead of paying lawyers put up some more 3g towers

[Kamil18]

From what iv'e read from different sources, is that Verizon is using the maps to show only 3G coverage. Since all of verizon's network IS 3G, their using that to their advantage. Since AT&T has a much smaller 3G network, you can see where the problem arises. They didn't include 2G network, which is the rest of their (AT&T) coverage.

AT&T is trying to remove these ad's from airing by making a lawsuit over it, with the reason that people will watch this ad, think that they ment "phone coverage" not "3G coverage" and put "false" information into the minds of consumers.

[aperry]

AT&T is so lame. All the chart says is "this is where you get 3G coverage in the US". There's no deception, it's a fact that in most of the country AT&T only offers crappy Edge service, whereas Verizon offers fast 3G service. And if Verizon were trying to deceive people into thinking this chart refers to all call/data coverage then I'm not exactly sure why they labeled the thing "3G coverage".

Dear AT&T: please focus less time on these ridiculous and embarrassing lawsuits and more time improving your pathetic network. Read the surveys, every iPhone owner loves the device and despises your network and to-date no one understands what you're doing about it.

[Pcpro745]

saw that coming from the get go

[NArush]

The commercial I heard specifically says its only talking about 3G coverage. It said "voice is going to vary from 3G coverage." So I think Verizon covered their as*es & AT&T just might lose this battle.

[Boker]

AT&T Coverage Viewer

meh.

[ecd5000]

i would like to see at&t's actual coverage map cause i get 3g here but 1/4 mile up the road its edge, just weird to where this all happens in my area

[robbpell]

at&t is a bunch of fat kids that want there cake and eat it to. you get the iphone you force us pay for 3g service even if its 50 miles from the nearest 3g tower. then when someone calls you out on it you cry. got get a grip at&t.

i would like to see at&t's actual coverage map cause i get 3g here but 1/4 mile up the road its edge, just weird to where this all happens in my area

lol that really is there 3g coverage map. sad i know.

[ronfin44]

Verizon has better service here in Philly. Oh, if only they used SIM cards! lol