Dallas, TX – The slapfest between AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless over which company has the better wireless coverage is spilling into court.
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Dallas-based AT&T filed a lawsuit in Atlanta federal court claiming that Verizon’s recent barrage of “There’s a Map for That” ads misleadingly imply that AT&T’s network has major gaps with no coverage at all.
The ads focus on the two companies’ 3G networks, which provide speedy Internet connections to phones and other mobile devices.
A side-by-side comparison of Verizon’s 3G coverage shown on a map of the U.S. and a map of AT&T’s 3G coverage indicates that Verizon’s 3G coverage is much broader than AT&T’s, a fact that AT&T does not contest.
What AT&T is upset about is that Verizon only colors in the 3G coverage regions on AT&T’s map, leaving the rest of the country white.
It may seem like nitpicking, but AT&T argues in the filing that white spaces on a wireless coverage map are traditionally used to indicate no coverage at all.
But AT&T’s slower 2G network is available in most areas where it does not have 3G.
“White space always represents no coverage,” said AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel.
“It’s a convention used by certain wireless companies, and I think that’s exactly what they’re doing in these ads. It’s fundamentally misleading, in our view.”
The campaign, which mocks Apple Inc.’s “There’s an App for That” ads for the iPhone, is a major marketing initiative for Verizon.
Verizon said the lawsuit is without merit.
Verizon Wireless spokeswoman Audrey Lundy said that the company has no plans to change the map. “We stand by the map,” she said. “If they have a better map, we’d like to see it.”
Lundy declined to say whether Verizon would actually be willing to redo the map if AT&T presents an alternative version with different background colors.
AT&T said in the filing that it wants the court to force Verizon Wireless to stop using white space to indicate AT&T’s non-3G coverage areas.
Maybe instead of investing money in suiing they should try to invest more in their lousy network?
Verizon may have the better 3g coverage but ATT has better coverage overall. Besides, ATT has doesn’t have something that Verizon has…. the Verizon name and shoddy reputation, which is why I bli neder would never get a verizon cell phone!
verizon has the best service but ATT has the best phones
I am not sure as to why At&t is not against this advertisement practice, only to say that the “white” bothers them. This whole advertisement is fake, because 3G is not a “standard” it’s only a “term”, so everybody can call 3G what they want, for example Verizon’s 3G is only somewhat faster from At&t’s edge service, and where At&t has 3G coverage it’s 2X faster then Verizon, and you can also browse and talk at once, vs. verizon you can’t.
Verizon is the most arrogant and most expensive cell phone company around. lousy customer service. They are way over due for a good spanking.
Here in the Midwest ,Verizon has far better coverage than ATT. Only people who “have” to have the iPhone will have ATT here.
i have att and proud. don’t like verizon
i have had in the past ATT and Spring so far no one beats Verizon’s customer service, care network, and of course phone, verizon has come out in the past year with nearly 100 new phones. oh, and lets also not forget that when i signed on with ATT they gave me refurb, phone.
verizon is till the largest and most reliable network, will never change to any other carrier.
At+t should make the same ad with color only where verizon dosent have 3g and the rest white
AT&T has the most underhanded operating practices and truly miserable customer service. They quote one price and then bill at multiples higher than that quoted and when one attempts to rectify it either by regular customer service or their higher level executive customer service, all you get is the run around with months of obnoxious agents who rarely return a call telling you that you could never have been quoted a lower price. It is a pity that on their land line service they have no competition in many areas and in my mind that is called a monopoly but one which our government has granted them. When a company tells you that you are overpaying and that they will be more than happy to lower your rate to just under $80 a month all inclusive and then starts billing at $160 $140 $125 a month (yes the amount can change monthly with absolutely no change in the usage pattern at all, there is something wrong. And unfortunately there is no other company to go to and also they do have excellent, well paid attorneys.