All Things Digital

Skip to main content.

SEARCH
Digital Daily

Digital Daily by John Paczkowski

The Digital Daily FeedFollow John on Twitter

Verizon to AT&T: Do Yourself a Favor and Shut Up

by John Paczkowski
Posted on November 17, 2009 at 5:31 AM PT

Print Post to Twitter

misift1 “AT&T did not file this lawsuit because Verizon’s ‘There’s A Map For That’ advertisements are untrue; AT&T sued because Verizon’s ads are true and the truth hurts.”

So begins Verizon’s (VZ) response to AT&T’s (T) complaints about its new ad campaign, and as you can see below, it pulls no punches. For 53 pages–all of them very obviously drafted with publication in mind–the new filing mercilessly thrashes AT&T, proving over and over again that the carrier’s carping over Verizon’s ads has transformed a no-win situation into a horrific PR disaster that only highlights AT&T’s shortcomings.

“In the final analysis, AT&T seeks emergency relief because Verizon’s side-by-side, apples-to-apples comparison of its own 3G coverage with AT&T’s confirms what the marketplace has been saying for months: AT&T failed to invest adequately in the necessary infrastructure to expand its 3G coverage to support its growth in smartphone business and the usefulness of its service to smartphone users has suffered accordingly. AT&T may not like the message that the ads send, but this Court should reject its efforts to silence the messenger.”

Brutal.

As I said earlier this month, if AT&T’s lawsuit over Verizon’s allegedly misleading “there’s a map for that” wasn’t a public relations mistake to begin with, it will be by the time Verizon gets through. And, indeed, the lawsuit already is a mistake. Below, Verizon’s reply in full:

PREVIOUSLY:


verizonresponse –

Print Post to Twitter Comments Tagged: Digital Daily, Internet, John Paczkowski, advertising, digital, mobile, telecom, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | permalink
We’ve launched a new commenting tool, Disqus. For the full story on all of its functionality, click here. To begin commenting right away, you can log in below using Facebook Connect or Disqus—you can also log in using an existing AllThingsD account. Learn more about how Disqus collects and uses information in connection with the comments tool.
  • Fred Hamranhansenhansen
    The map shown in the Verizon commercial is incorrect and a court will find that to be the case in due time. Verizon may have had a good point, but they pushed it too far with a fake map.

    AT&T should be doing a better job of PR against Verizon though. Verizon just now got their first smartphone with a real Web browser (3 years after AT&T) and Verizon's "unlimited" Internet on that phone is capped at 5GB (unlike AT&T's unlimited data) and Verizon has the crappiest 2006-era phone lineup, it is hard to imagine how people are dropping that kind of money for an old Blackberry that only works in the US.
  • charles noles
    Freds comment is inaccurate across the board. First off at&t doesn't even argue that the 3g map VZW shows of ATT's coverage is wrong. They just think people will mistake it for their calling coverage. Secondly the statement about the 5gb cap is skewed. Both ATT and Verizon have similar usage disclaimers, which basically state that if you are abusing the network by sending huge amounts of data with your phone (through open media streams ect.) they have the right to discontinue your service. The difference between the two disclaimers is that Verizon provides 5gb in a month as an example of what may be an abuse of the network and ATT does not. That does not mean that at 5gb Verizon will automatically discontinue your service and ATT won't. Make no mistake about it if either company suspects an abuse of their network they will take action to protect their networks. I challenge anyone to actually read the usage details from both companies (they are almost identical). By the way on a computer 5gb a month is a ton, but on a phone, because of compressed mobile web pages videos and apps, it is almost an unfathomable amount. Furthermore the statement that a Verizon blackberry only works in the states is also inaccurate. Most of the current pda and smartphone lineup Verizon offers have global capabilities which allow the phones to switch seamlessly from cdma to gsm networks. In fact one could make an argument that Verizon offers more global coverage than ATT because of the Verizon global phones ability to switch from cdma to dual band and quad band gsm networks rather than working in just gsm networks. I am going to leave that alone. Those are the facts take them or leave them.
blog comments powered by Disqus

Latest Digital Daily Posts

Digital Daily Archives »

Latest Digital Daily Videos

More Videos »

View All Jobs | Post a Job Job Listings

A sponsored service from SimplyHired

Digital Daily Posts by Date

Digital Daily Posts by Category

Digital Daily Posts by Tag

AAPL acquisition Amazon Android antitrust applications AT&T carrier customers data Dell earnings handset IBM Intel iPhone iPod iTunes Jerry Yang lawsuit Mac market Motorola network online operating system Oracle Palm PC platform Pre price revenue sales share shares smartphone Sprint Steve Ballmer Steve Jobs Verizon Web Windows wireless YouTube

More Digital Daily Tags »

About John

John Paczkowski has been poking fun at the tech industry and the personalities that drive it since 1997. From 1999 to 2007, he wrote the award-winning tech news Web log Good Morning Silicon Valley for the San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley's daily newspaper. Read more »

Ethics Statement

Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.

Read more »

alt.misc

Older at alt.misc »