Tag Archives: AT&T

I must think like an ad person…

Posted on by
Reply

You’ve likely heard by now that AT&T has offered to acquire T-Mobile for roughly $39 billion. The move would position the new AT&T/T-Mobile as the largest wireless carrier in the U.S.

What was the first thing you thought of when you heard the news?

If you’re like me, it wasn’t “I wonder if my current data plan will be cheaper on a larger network?” or “Sweet! More iPhones that don’t need to be jailbroken!”

The first thing that popped up in my mind was T-Mobile’s latest ad campaign, which directly slams AT&T, and puts T-Mobile’s agency behind the campaign (Publicis Seattle) in a rather awkward position.

The tough part about being an agency for a company going through a major transition is the uncertainty of what will happen when the dust settles. Taken in to account that T-Mobile’s latest campaign is direct attack on AT&T’s endlessly criticized data network, Publicis must be sweating bullets…

It’s an old story: corporate mergers, agency shakeups, media dollars getting moved around…  I just found it interesting that while the first thing that many people might think of would be the merger’s impact on products or data plans, my first thought was the ad campaign and the agency that will have their work cut out for them on clean-up duty.

 

 

Verizon to carry Palm Pre and BlackBerry Storm 2 “in about six months”

Posted on by
4

palm-pre

Being a Verizon customer, I have seethed with how infrequently they offer new smartphones to their customers. It seems to me that every new smartphone, especially BlackBerry devices, go straight to AT&T. Aside from the BlackBerry Storm – which had its own slew of problems – every new BlackBerry makes its way to AT&T almost immediately it seems. The Bold? AT&T. The Curve 8900? AT&T after T-Mobile had it. The Apple iPhone? Duh, AT&T…

This has caused me to wonder why I am with a service provider that, although the coverage is terrific, the selection of phones is ridiculously limited. It seemed to me that since Verizon is playing the “our coverage is better than [insert competitor here]” card, they should have the selection of new, high-tech devices to back it up.

Verizon claimed, in an email response to me from their customer service department,

“Verizon Wireless will not offer a product or service unless it meets the high standards our customers have come to expect. Verizon Wireless is constantly improving the services, features, and wireless phones we offer to our customers for their communication needs. There are several wireless phones being tested for functionality and reliability with our network.”

Anyway, all my ranting aside, finally some light at the end of the tunnel surfaced today in an Engadget article, where it was made clear that Verizon Wireless will soon (as in next 6 months) be carrying the Palm Pre. Lowell McAdam, a top exec at Verizon and Vodafone, was quoted to say: “Over the next six months or so you will see devices like Palm Pre and a second generation Storm.”

This is huge. While I have been itching to switch over to AT&T to get the iPhone or test out the Palm Pre when AT&T picks it up, but hesitant to do so because of coverage issues with AT&T, this news has certainly made me more optimistic and enthusiastic to stick with Verizon.

What do you think? Any other Verizon customers out there that are excited about the new BlackBerry Storm 2 or the Palm Pre?

AT&T or Verizon?

Posted on by
Reply

Ok, so I’m trying to figure out what cell phone company to go with…Verizon or AT&T. Currently I’m using Verizon, and the service has been pretty good. I rarely ever get a dropped call. There are some gripes I have with Verizon though…

I’m not a huge fan of the crappy OS they put on their phones. I was “upgraded” to the Motorola RAZR on Verizon and it was one of the slowest phones I’ve ever used. I almost went back to my old phone because I hated how I had to wait for about 5 seconds after pushing a button for something to happen, and how I had to wait about 5 minutes to delete all my text messages whenever the phone got too full of msgs. This annoyed me because the phone I had before that was faster on all fronts…

Now I have a BlackBerry on Verizon, and its OK at best… I get my emails and all that like I should, however I don’t like how Verizon does not let you connect via Bluetooth to anything but an earpiece. I would like to be able to transfer files/media/contacts via Bluetooth from my phone to my laptop, however Verizon does not allow this due to “Privacy” issues.

I also have been angry with Verizon for a long time over the lack of smartphones they offer.  Verizon offers only 4 BlackBerrys while AT&T has many many more than that. I like having the freedom to choose, and when something limits that, it doesn’t sit too well with me.

Next, the Verizon network: Their EVDO network is not really changing. While the rest of the world is on GSM which is able to handle 3G now or at some point soon, Verizon is not making any indication of changing their network.

I’m a big fan of how AT&T is upgrading their network, and 4G is in the works currently.  I havent’ had an AT&T phone so I don’t know much about their service, but one of my best friends has been on AT&T for years and loves it still. He also has an iPhone 3G and has not had any of the problems some other fellow 3G iPhone users have been having with connectivity problems. I’m also leaning more towards AT&T becuause they are getting all the new smartphones it seems (BlackBerry Bold and iPhone)

I think in the end I will probably end up switching to AT&T and giving them a try, but I’m at a fork in the road between some of the new BlackBerry’s and the new iPhone.