How Exactly Will AT&T Remain Competitive?

[lordofthereef]

What is the point of having a supper high speed network when you can only use it for fraction of the time before you get throttled ???
Phone makers can make our phones do just about anything with just cheap parts, but phone companys to upgrade cost millions...

I just don't see the point in advertising high speed data when you can blow threw it in less than a day ?????

In many ways I agree with you, however to many customers high speed data is a perk in that they get the information they want much faster. Looking up directions? It's done in an instant. Looking for a place to eat? Also fast. Loading a full webpage? No need to wait 10_ seconds for it to load. Power users are the ones that a hurt (badly) here. Average users are not.

I am generally a decently heavy data user (I have always used at least 2 GB and never on wifi). As a test I set up wifi wherever I am (assuming it's available). I am two weeks into my cycle today and have used only 130mb of data. Quite frankly I was shocked. I don't say this for any other reason than to point out that I was once the very person asking how people use such little amounts of data but have realized that I too can be in that catergory. And by the way, some of that data is while streaming Pandora on 3G while out on a run.

 

[salmoally]

They will remain competitive because Americans like to get shafted and do nothing about it.

Don't worry, we are the same over here in the UK (probably even worse for standing up for ourselves).

 

[chakraj]

Wait till LTE advanced comes out, I can see the ATT add right now.

[Takes place in front of ATT store, Actor 1 walks out of store and sees his friend actor 2]

And Action!

Actor #1; "Check out my new smartphone it has LTE advanced! I just got it this second"

Actor #2; "LTE advanced wow thats 5 Gigabitz download speed! Can I see how fast it is?"

Actor #1; " I would show you now, but in the while we have been talking I just went over my 5 gig limit, you can see it next month when I get service back"

 

[BiggAW]

Wait till LTE advanced comes out, I can see the ATT add right now.

Actor #1; "Who check out my new smartphone with LTE advanced, I just got it right now"

Actor #2; "LTE advanced wow thats 5 Gigabitz download speed! Can I see how fast it is?"

Actor #1; " I would show you now, but I just went over my 5 gig limit in 1 second, you can see it next month when I get service back"

8bits = 1 byte, so it would take 8 seconds.

 

[crc4]

How Exactly Will AT&T Remain Competitive??

Maybe stop taking all our pre-ordered phones then selling them to walk-ins on launch day, then tell us we have to wait two more weeks.

 

[Zwhaler]

AT&T's wireless division is just one part of the company... even if they lose customers they are still doing pretty well on the whole. Being on the "same playing field" as Verizon with 4G LTE doesn't make them uncompetitive. I would expect many AT&T customers switching to Verizon now that Verizon has settled in with the iPhone and many customers' contracts are expiring.

 

[BiggAW]

AT&T's wireless division is just one part of the company... even if they lose customers they are still doing pretty well on the whole. Being on the "same playing field" as Verizon with 4G LTE doesn't make them uncompetitive. I would expect many AT&T customers switching to Verizon now that Verizon has settled in with the iPhone and many customers' contracts are expiring.

There is no massive switch. This is a bunch of over-hyped BS. Even when Verizon ends up being the better iPhone network, there isn't going to be a massive switch. A lot of people are contracted in on family plans, and we have already found out that the vast majority of people don't care about 3G vs. 4G- and that's with Verizon's EVDO. AT&T's 3G network is 3x as fast as EVDO.

 

[Dwalls90]

I guess my point is that if you look at AT&T's marketing ploys, almost all of them try to jab at Verizon ("Data and Voice simultaneously", "Fastest iPhone experience").

That's no longer the case, and the proof is in the pudding. Consumer reports continue to review AT&T's customer service as being piss poor.

Considering almost all of wireless users barely touch 2Gb, the entire 3Gb ploy by AT&T is hardly a threat.

 

[ap3604]

Verizon customer service is just as piss-poor as Att's, and more expensive for less.

For $30 per month I'd much rather have 3gb than 2gb and the 90 million or so AT&T customers would also agree.

 

[BiggAW]

That's no longer the case, and the proof is in the pudding. Consumer reports continue to review AT&T's customer service as being piss poor.

Like usual, Consumer Reports has no clue what they are talking about. In general, I have had above-average experiences with customer support from AT&T, you can walk right into their corporate stores and get help on about anything.

 

[andyx3x]

They will remain competitive because Americans like to get shafted and do nothing about it.

This is exactly right.

We are too hooked on our iPhones to do anything about it. There are much cheaper and reasonable options out there and they don't get much business because folks must have their iPhone and are willing to pay lots more for the privilege.

Until this changes, the major providers will continue to walk all over their customers knowing that they can and that they won't face any resistance.

 

[tctony]

People need to stop complaining about AT&T. What people need to worry about is we may soon basically have a duopoly in this country.

We already do.

 

[BiggAW]

We already do.

Yup. We have for quite a while.

 

[Dwalls90]

Like usual, Consumer Reports has no clue what they are talking about. In general, I have had above-average experiences with customer support from AT&T, you can walk right into their corporate stores and get help on about anything.

I forgot the first law of statistics: Clearly your single unbiased case trumps a plethora of organized diversified data from an established consumer company.

 

[BiggAW]

I forgot the first law of statistics: Clearly your single unbiased case trumps a plethora of organized diversified data from an established consumer company.

I have seen many tech-related articles on Consumer Reports where their reporting is over-generalizing, technically inaccurate, or just incomplete. They are not good at tech reporting, period.

 

[trouble747]

I will look into the quality of Verizon's 4G service the next time I upgrade my phone.

In my city (Austin, TX), AT&T's data network is way overloaded and often fails to work at all in certain parts of the city during the day. Perhaps their 4G network is better, but I don't know if I want to take that chance if I hear decent things about Verizon's.

 

[jeffe]

Nobody is mentioning Sprint. Sprint will have LTE networks up in many markets by the end of 2012.

 

[Spectrum Abuser]

Nobody is mentioning Sprint. Sprint will have LTE networks up in many markets by the end of 2012.

Sprint is also staring at bankruptcy in the eyes on the other side of the fence. Until you actually see LTE markets going online I wouldn't lose any sleep over them.

 

[jeffe]

Sprint is a very attractive carrier if you live in certain cities. They have announced they will be deploying LTE in 24 different markets and will be releasing there first LTE phone shortly.

I'm sure many will be using Sprint's LTE network before the years over.

Sprint is also staring at bankruptcy in the eyes on the other side of the fence. Until you actually see LTE markets going online I wouldn't lose any sleep over them.

 

[BiggAW]

Sprint is also staring at bankruptcy in the eyes on the other side of the fence. Until you actually see LTE markets going online I wouldn't lose any sleep over them.

Exactly. Their network is a tiny fraction of the size or quality of AT&T's or Verizon's, and they charge almost as much. They are a non-player. When they decide to be a player, they will either be bought up by somebody with a LOT of money to invest in a much larger network, or they will have to switch to the value end of things, which means Android.

 

[takeshi74]

Is it just me, or should AT&T be VERY afraid of Verizon in the coming years?

Not just you but you and some other armchair industry analysts.

 

[Looon]

AT&T has the best customer service of any cell phone carrier. I got all hyped up on the hate AT&T train a while back and switched to verizon and have regretted it ever since. 1 year and 2 days left and I get to go back to AT&T

Also, nice try Verizon PR team

 

[chakraj]

AT&T has the best customer service of any cell phone carrier. I got all hyped up on the hate AT&T train a while back and switched to verizon and have regretted it ever since. 1 year and 2 days left and I get to go back to AT&T

Also, nice try Verizon PR team

Well I can see how you got your name, no offense meant. but ATT scored lowest of all carriers on customer service.

 

[cynics]

Another member was posting some speed test of AT&T on LTE and at least for his area it was quite impressive. Definitely on par with Verizon. Think he had a 66mb down test. Best I've seen with Verizon is 71mb down my personal best was 51mb down.

Personally I'm sure there will be some people switching to use Verizon's larger LTE network but nothing that AT&T will need to worry about.

I'd much rather fall back on AT&Ts HSPA+ then Verizon's 3G.

Btw I'm on Verizon.

 

[BiggAW]

Not just you but you and some other armchair industry analysts.

And anyone who knows anything about spectrum.