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This is hardly surprising given the iPhone monopoly they’ve enjoyed. It’s time for Verizon and others to come to the party and provide some competition!

Just for the record, I am not “connected” — to Verizon or any other company. The Dow Jones Code of Conduct forbids it, as does my own personal code as a journalist.

These issues that you mention — complaints about AT&T’s service, claims that Apple could sell more iPhone’s if it were to end its exclusivity deal with the carrier, etc. — they’re all based on research– analyst reports, consumer satisfaction surveys, etc. There are clearly very real problems driving the wave of AT&T-negative sentiment we’re currently seeing. That said, my guess is that those same problems would have been visited upon any carrier who won the very first iPhone contract.

But the situation is this: AT&T currently holds an exclusive on the hottest smartphone on the market. That is driving subscribership, but it is also driving alot of bandwidth usage — more than anyone had forseen and so much that it’s causing network problems. For AT&T, that’s the makings of a consumer relations nightmare. For Verizon or other AT&T rivals, it’s the makings of a killer new marketing campaign.

J

I think you have done AT&T a lot of disfavor. You do not defend a company or a person by trying to bash another person. Your article tries to create suspicion without your audience being presented the benefit of the facts. My experience with AT&T during the years around 2000 was absolutely awful – which occurred in the reign of CEO Mr. C.M.A. Those were the years of dismal service at AT&T, which was well publicized; so AT&T deserved the criticisms it received. And so I left AT&T for another carrier.

It is hard for AT&T to catch a break these days because their network has been overloaded with iPhone induced bandwidth usage, which has caused a lot of customer complaints. I think a lot of people, including analysts were blindsided by MCI. As much as I have been hard on analysts, we need to note that even the best analysts are consumers. If a company’s accountants cook the books, how do you expect the analysts to know? My main complaint is when analysts provide opinions that are subjective, with no reasonable justification for those views. But I believe the views expressed in this article are well founded. Verizon is in competition with AT&T, and they as a company are expected to exploit all of their competitive strengths in their marketing. Unfortunately for AT&T, Verizon’s claims are factual – and in life you cannot argue with the facts. AT&T’s only recourse is twofold. One is legal, which appears very weak (I have no legal background!). And two, marketing; by running ads showing that AT&T’s voice and data network covers most of the USA, but without explicitly referring their 3G coverage. I will not suggest any more ideas; isn’t that why they pay their executives big money?