AT&T iPhone Owners Top Verizon iPhone Owners in Wi-Fi Usage

[Michael Essany]

An interesting new study from Mobclix indicates that AT&T iPhone owners use Wi-Fi more than individuals with a Verizon iPhone. Still, despite the Verizon iPhone being available for only one month, Mobclix’s data reveals that larger metropolitan cities already boast a higher Verizon iPhone usage - a reality that that may be a greater insult to AT&T than a compliment to Verizon.

The top cities with the most documented Verizon iPhone usage (across the Mobclix exchange) are: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, New York City and Boston. That's certainly not a small list of prominent big cities where Verizon has gained a leg up on rival AT&T, a carrier that - as we know - has endured its fair share of complaints about quality reception in large, heavily populated metropolitan areas.

All told, the Mobclix survey shows that AT&T iPhone customers use Wi-Fi an average of 53% of the time vs 38% Verizon iPhone owners. Additionally, 2 out of 3 AT&T customers who switched to Verizon's iPhone coughed up the termination fee ($325) to do so. Interestingly enough, the three paramount reasons given by AT&T customers for their switch to Verizon are: "reception issues, personal hot spot and reputation."

14% of iPhone 4 users are now on the Verizon network, Mobclix says, which - in total - only accounts for 4% of all iPhone users. But despite the small percentage of iPhone owners on the Verizon network today, Verizon's acquisition of the popular Apple handset is seen as both a tremendous short-term and long-term setback to AT&T, which all but certainly pushed its hush-hush plans to acquire T-Mobile into high gear as a result.

Sources: Mobclix, Tech Crunch

[iliveudie]

Waste of a study.

[kraziebone]

Well since my AT&T 3G takes about 5 minutes to load web pages these days, I'm definitely on that list for using WiFi every second I get the chance

[jaredb03]

I didn't have to pay the early term. fee but i did switch to Verizon due to coverage and service where i live. I'm in SE Kansas and 3g on AT&T is non existent around here. The closest 3g was about 45 minute drive, and next closet was 1.5 hours away. So I had to either use Edge, or turn on the wifi, and anyone that has used Edge knows how much that sucks. Now on Verizon i have 3g everywhere i go with a few small areas on the highway i pass through occasionally when going out of town. Very happy with the Verizon iPhone, and rarely use wifi unless I'm home using the Appstore, or Cydia.

[zeroskater61]

Am sure the reason why AT&T users use wifi a lot more then verizon users is because at&t doesnt offer unlimited data any more those ppl that weren't grand fathered already reached there data limit maybe and just decided to switch to wifi in order to avoid over fee's...

[Ipelvicthrust]

Can't really say anything bad about att I average 4 bars where I live

[will822]

Am sure the reason why AT&T users use wifi a lot more then verizon users is because at&t doesnt offer unlimited data any more those ppl that weren't grand fathered already reached there data limit maybe and just decided to switch to wifi in order to avoid over fee's...

More like since AT&T's 3G data service is so crappy that we jump on wi-fi any chance we get.

[rw5579]

Not seeing the point of this being a headline... It's like sayin people in those big cities use public transit... Sent via 5 bars of 3g coverage from Chicago :-)

[harlenm]

More like since AT&T's 3G data service is so crappy that we jump on wi-fi any chance we get.

Yeah, 3.5 megs down and 1.3 megs up on average is real crappy.

[Bluemoldycheeze88]

I mainly use wifi so my battery last longer. Only real reason.

[vbx]

When I'm home, I use WiFi (on my AT&T iPhone), because it's faster than 3G (and I get pretty good speeds on 3G where I'm at). Just about everybody I know who has set up WiFi at home uses that because that's faster. What's the point of this study?

[krosis]

This is mostly what I expected, but nice to see it in a map form.

As someone who uses an AT&T iPhone in the Phoenix area most of the time, it doesn't surprise me to see "low" penetration as AT&T has great service and speed around that area.

I'm a little surprised to see high penetration in Chicago as I've generally had good service around there, although my experience has been mostly in the suburbs, not downtown.

Very surprised to see low penetration in the D.C. area. AT&T service has been pretty poor for me there (although I haven't actually dropped a call since upgrading the the iP4).

If AT&T had free Wi-Fi calling like on T-Mobile, I bet they'd get even higher WiFi numbers.

[EskimoRuler]

When I'm home, I use WiFi (on my AT&T iPhone), because it's faster than 3G (and I get pretty good speeds on 3G where I'm at). Just about everybody I know who has set up WiFi at home uses that because that's faster. What's the point of this study?

same here, no reason to use 3G when you have wifi


Edit.: I'm an idiot

[ODB25]

I was floored to see how bad my iPhone's signal was in NY, to the point where I thought having an iPhone if one were to live there would be a headache, never have any issues w signal in Miami

[Antman217]

More like since AT&T's 3G data service is so crappy that we jump on wi-fi any chance we get.

But AT&T has faster data than verizon so wtf are you talking about. I think it's because
a. AT&T cut unlimited so wi-fi is obviously essential.
b. AT&T has more wi-fi Hotspots than verizon (if verizon even has any)
c. AT&T customers have had the iPhone for 4 years now an have gotten used to using wi-fi more for performance and battery issues as opposes to verizon customers only just getting the phone this month and not using wi-fi as much. I remember when I first got the iPhone I rarely used wi-fi but over time I realized how much better it was on my battery and now I try to use it as much as possible

[iN2K]

Only time I use wifi is when it auto logs me into "attwifi." Which is the wifi provided by AT&T and it's free for its customers. I had dinner in the middle of no where yesterday and the restaurant had AT&T wifi.

[krosis]

But AT&T has faster data than verizon so wtf are you talking about.

You shouldn't use that as a general statement. While the potential peak rates for AT&T's technology are indeed faster, you have to keep in mind that they use more bandwidth per channel. A UMTS W-CDMA channel is 5MHz, while a EV-DO channel uses only 1.25MHz. This also means AT&T puts more users on a single channel, more easily allowing a few high-bandwidth users to lower the speed for everyone else. Bottom line is that for many people across the USA, Verizon will give them better speeds than AT&T, despite being technologically inferior.

I think it's because
a. AT&T cut unlimited so wi-fi is obviously essential.
b. AT&T has more wi-fi Hotspots than verizon (if verizon even has any)

I disagree with these two points. Unless you live right next door to a McDonald's or Starbucks, the hotspots probably don't have a significant impact on your data usage. Also while Verizon still officially offers an "unlimited" plan, they changed the terms right before the iPhone launch to allow them to throttle the connection of their top 5% data users.

c. AT&T customers have had the iPhone for 4 years now an have gotten used to using wi-fi more for performance and battery issues as opposes to verizon customers only just getting the phone this month and not using wi-fi as much. I remember when I first got the iPhone I rarely used wi-fi but over time I realized how much better it was on my battery and now I try to use it as much as possible

This is a good point, and I think it is probably the dominant factor in the WiFi usage disparity.

[xxhorseriderxxx]

I don't have wifi, so I'm constantly on 3G, lol.

[IXAdamOwnzXI]

Its cause ATT 3G sucks in the city...I'm from NYC and rarely get above 3 bars. I'm obviously holding it wrong -_-

[Ochocinco]

i have wifi and can use it cause i ripped out some part for the wifi when i was drunk fixing my lock button still 3g is fast