Among the dull roar of criticisms about iPhone I have to endure, one in particular stands out as the most irritating and unfounded – the attack against AT&T. I hear these slanderous indictments all the time…“Why did Apple choose AT&T?”, “AT&T sucks! They should have gone with Verizon or Sprint”, “AT&T is evil”. Blah blah blah.
Here’s a bit of schooling for you numbskulls – What you don’t understand is that the quality and reliability of wireless service in the U.S. is subjective and varies from one location to another. For example, in my specific locale, Sprint offers the worst reliability and coverage of any major carrier. T-Mobile is practically non-existent. Verizon offers great service, but their selection of handsets is abysmal. So, for all practical purposes, AT&T is the “best” wireless carrier for me. Your experience will vary. A friend of mine who lives in Redmond Washington (no, it isn’t Bill Gates) says that T-Mobile offers the best coverage and voice quality in his area, while Sprint is teh suck. So which one of us is right? We both are.
Unlike other parts of the world like Asia and Europe, wireless infrastructure in North America is less ubiquitous and unevenly distributed. This is the reason why we suffer through so many dropped calls, poor voice quality, and latency.
So yes, AT&T does suck. And so does Verizon. So does Sprint. So does T-Mobile. And so on. There is no “best” wireless carrier, only best in your location. Live it, learn it, be it.
Germany’s biggest retailer says iPhone mania is sweeping the land of Beer and Wursts. A spokesperson told to German newspaper Tagesspiegel that it receives more than 1,000 inquiries a day about iPhone, asking when it will be available.
As a nice segway to the earlier story posted today revealing that 25% of iPhone users have switchted to AT&T, more than 50% of Germans say they too would switch carriers to get an iPhone.
Sehr gut!
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American Technology Research today reported from sources unknown that more than 25% of iPhone users are “switchers” coming from other wireless carriers. The firm also sees iPhone’s potential to lure users to a particular carrier as a stong bargaining chip for Apple as it negotiates exclusive contracts to one lucky European carrier.
You know the execs at Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile have to be drinking lots of pink medicinal liquid right about now.
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Posted on Wednesday, Jul 11, 2007 by admin
File Under:Uncategorized; Tags: News, Wireless
Every once in a while our overpaid representatives on Capital Hill actually do have a clue, when pockets are lined with the right amount of ahem generous contributions. A Congressional hearing on Wireless Innovation and Consumer Protection, two things our Legislature knows nothing about, debated the topic of exclusivity deals between carriers and handset makers.
Democrats led the charge outlining the evils of these seedy agreements that undermine competition and erect walled gardens around carrier’s subscriber base.
Massachusetts Rep. Ed Markey quoted a popular song by the Eagles, when describing the five year exclusive contract between Apple and AT&T.
“The problem with the iPhone is that the iPhone with AT&T is kind of like a ‘Hotel California’ service. You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.”
Hah! Eddy, you may not be my Congressman but you got my vote. The real comedy from this hearing came when lawmakers addressed the forum while waving their iPhones around in a threatening manor. That’s the kind of pork barrel spending I can appreciate. sigh
Sadly very little came out of this debate as no bill or formal proposal has been put forth (yet) to create legislation. But I’ll bet you a shiny new quarter that if iPhone really does spark a large migration of Verizon and Sprint subscribers to AT&T, they will eagerly embrace congress’s efforts in order to unlock AT&T’s stranglehold on the iPhone. And so would Apple. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if contributions from Cupertino are behind this chatter. After all, Apple more than anyone stands to benefit from exclusivity breakup.
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From the Department of Highway Robbery comes word that AT&T will be impossing an additional $175 early termination fee for customers who back out of their contract. Ouch!
Granted, early termination sanctions are nothing new in the wireless industry. Many years ago I once had to pony up $300 to free myself from the shackles of Centennial Wireless (a carrier I recommend avoiding), so this is nothing new. But this story points out the unrestricted power that carriers extend over enslaved customers. Rather like our our government, wouldn’t you say?
Hang on a sec, there’s a knock at my door. Some nice gentlemen in a black van just pulled into my driveway. Be right back…
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Along with the rollout of iPhone comes new data plan pricing, according to AppleInsider.
Meanwhile, Carter hinted that iPhone “may offer cool features such as unlimited Web browsing.” However, customers should be prepared to pay extra for that luxury.
“Regardless of which device you’re using today, you pay us a certain amount for (voice) minutes, and you also pay us for data units,” he said. “That is also true on the iPhone.”
Wait, what? I already pay $19, on top of voice, for unlimited data, which includes all-you-can-eat web browsing. Is AT&T planning to further sodomize me with some form of premium iPhone-only data plan? In the words of the great Chinese philosopher, Confucius, “that’s bullshit!”.
[UPDATE:]Now AT&T is saying it will announce data pricing before launch day. Oh well, doesn’t matter. The news won’t be good. We’re still getting screwed.
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From the department of delusional thinking comes this delightfully oblivious statement from Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg speaking at press conference at NXTcomm.
“We just added four new devices in the past month,” he said. “The new BlackBerry is flying off shelves. The way we see it, our customers have price points and service packaging that is different.”
“The way we come at this is to let the iPhone hit the market,” he said. “I don’t think it changes the game plan for how we approach the market. But we need to see the impact. The burden is on (AT&T and Apple) to prove the market will change.”
“The iPhone will add excitement and stimulation to the market,” he said. “If we have done our job, then we will be a beneficiary. I hope it does reasonably well.”
Oh Ivan, you silly little man. Not only doesn’t he see iPhone as a threat, or so he claims, he goes further in asserting that iPhone will aggregate positive growth for his company. Hmm, let me see if I understand his logic correctly – so, if I were an existing Verizon customer, I am (in his mind) so pumped over the iPhone that I will stick with my contract and upgrade to a BlackBerry Curve? Yeah, that makes sense.
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A poll conducted by research firm M:Metrics in May concluded that nearly 19 Million (queue Dr. Evil voice) cell phone users here in the land of the free are willing to shell out $599 for an iPhone – and intend to do so on June 29. If this survey translates into reality, Verizon and Sprint may see a huge defection among their subscriber base as customers migrate to AT&T in order to get an iPhone.
I don’t put much faith behind polls, but I do believe that all the iPhone haters out there are going to be left with egg on their face as June 29+ will reveal some rather interesting surprises.
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Whether iPhone becomes a huge success or a lukewarm seller remains to be seen. But it’s a safe bet the product will achieve iconic status. When you look at the current handset landscape no clear challenger emerges, and that’s going to present Verizon, Sprint, et al., with an enormous disadvantage and something to sweat over as iPhone’s launch date looms.
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European Operators are hot happy with the fruity company from Cupertino. Apparently Apple is not playing friendly with its iPhone distribution plans for the EU market.
“Operators consistently told us, not for attribution, of course, that they had spoken to Apple and found the company ‘unbelievably arrogant’, making demands that ’simply cannot be justified no matter how hot the product is’,” Avi Greengart, a principal analyst at Current Analysis, wrote in an advisory on Monday.
“Several [operators] were adamant that they will never offer the iPhone.”
[Via Vnunet]
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