Geeky vehicle spotters are already on the lookout for the Google Street View car. Now keep your eyes peeled for a white van with a bunch of things stuck to the back windows—the Verizon Wireless test car.
At the CTIA Wireless trade show today, I got a tour of one of Verizon's test vans, the vehicles they use to monitor not only their own coverage but their competitors' networks, too.
That means going to the stores to buy Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile, and even Cricket and MetroPCS modems and phones – and paying a lot of overage fees as Verizon's test software pumps data through their competitors' networks day after day.
"We pay what normal consumers pay," laughed Tom Badger, director of network system performance for Verizon's southern California region. "We're some of our competitors' best customers."
The "Can you hear me now?" guy's job has been replaced by a machine.
They have had these test cars for quite a while, including during the tenure of the "Can you hear me now" guy. I remember seeing a story several years ago about this titled something like 'The real "Can you hear me now" guy'
They have always had test cars. Or at least people driving around test cars and doing the testing.
Network Quality Testing
Verizon Wireless' team of test men and women travels across the country to monitor and test the network every day to ensure efficient operation.
The company's nationwide team of test men and women drives specially equipped vehicles more than 1 million miles annually on Interstate, US and state highways as well as major roads and surface streets in high-population areas, based upon US Census counts, to test network performance, call quality, and data network performance on the Verizon Wireless network and the networks of up to seven other wireless carriers.
I wish they would put out more network facts and statistics like how many MB/GB of data and amount of calls/minutes used. Would be cool to see. Maybe like a ticker on their website.
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I wish they would put out more network facts and statistics like how many MB/GB of data and amount of calls/minutes used. Would be cool to see. Maybe like a ticker on their website.
Yes they have. But not many people have seen inside one, knew what it did, or even realized they did this. Let alone what it looked like and knew what to look for.
And if Verizon was smart they would have the unlimited voice plans, unlimited text plans, and the unlimited data plan while it was still available on AT&T.
Yes they have. But not many people have seen inside one, knew what it did, or even realized they did this. Let alone what it looked like and knew what to look for.
And if Verizon was smart they would have the unlimited voice plans, unlimited text plans, and the unlimited data plan while it was still available on AT&T.
Oh, I think Verizon knows exactly what they're doing. They concentrate on getting coverage to people while AT&T has to make up for it by offering cheaper or more attractive packages.
My coworkers are leaving AT&T in droves to Verizon simply because they're fed up with the spotty coverage. They're willing to pay more for less (in terms of text/minutes/data) simply to hold a single conversation on the drive home. And that is no exaggeration.
Just today I was saying to one of them "Why doesn't AT&T simply drive from here to San Francisco on a phone call and then fix the network in each spot the calls consistently drop in? Why is that so difficult?"
So whatever Verizon is doing with these vans, they're doing it right.
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Oh, I think Verizon knows exactly what they're doing. They concentrate on getting coverage to people while AT&T has to make up for it by offering cheaper or more attractive packages.
My coworkers are leaving AT&T in droves to Verizon simply because they're fed up with the spotty coverage. They're willing to pay more for less (in terms of text/minutes/data) simply to hold a single conversation on the drive home. And that is no exaggeration.
Just today I was saying to one of them "Why doesn't AT&T simply drive from here to San Francisco on a phone call and then fix the network in each spot the calls consistently drop in? Why is that so difficult?"
So whatever Verizon is doing with these vans, they're doing it right.
But that comes down to area. Where I'm at many people are tired of the craptacular 3G speeds and horrid voice quality on Verizon here and have been jumping to AT&T which has the faster speeds and better voice quality here. At the same time they are getting about equal if not better coverage here for cheaper prices plus the benefit of what I just mentioned.
There are plenty of places Verizon isn't even a decent option. Either because of lack of availability or just horrid service.
Whatever they are doing with those vans, well it seems they have missed quite a few areas too and not just backwoods USA areas. In some areas LTE may be Verizons saving grace and in other areas it may not be any better than AT&T's HSPA+. Especially from some of the Verizon LTE speedtests I've seen online.
I've also seen conflicting reports on HF too. I've seen some people say AT&T or Verizon sucks where they are at and back it up with speedtest results. Then someone else comes along, says they are or were just recently in that same area and they show conflicting results. They then both go on making their claims. It's like ok, who do you believe?
Some will say they drop calls with AT&T all the time where they are at, yet others have had no problem in the same area. Personally I've talked to people that have dropped numerous calls while I have dropped zero with AT&T regardless of time of day and in both cases we were bouncing off the same tower. Some people also tend to blame towers or carriers for their craptacular phones quality. Could be a bad antenna or bad software affecting things and instead they blame the tower of carrier.
And too many people tend to think because one carrier is better where they are at, that that carrier is automatically better everywhere. When they may not be. They then get surprised when they see another carrier like AT&T getting better service or coverage where they are at than they are and act all surprised about it. Like, really? It's like that for every carrier.
What is more amazing IMO is how well AT&T still does, regardless of the surveys by companies like JD Power, or by those that blast them online. It's also fun watching people whine and complain about their crappy AT&T service on AT&T's Facebook page, then you go to the Verizon Facebook page and see people whining and complaining about the same things and in both cases threatening to switch to that other carrier.
Yes they have. But not many people have seen inside one, knew what it did, or even realized they did this. Let alone what it looked like and knew what to look for.
And if Verizon was smart they would have the unlimited voice plans, unlimited text plans, and the unlimited data plan while it was still available on AT&T.
And this is based on your years of experience running a profitable multi billion dollar company? LOL. I love it when people say that a company, whom they know very little about (inner workings/politics, etc) should do something. I say just keep your mouth shut if you don't know what you are talking about (and you obviously don't).
But that comes down to area. Where I'm at many people are tired of the craptacular 3G speeds and horrid voice quality on Verizon here and have been jumping to AT&T which has the faster speeds and better voice quality here. At the same time they are getting about equal if not better coverage here for cheaper prices plus the benefit of what I just mentioned.
There are plenty of places Verizon isn't even a decent option. Either because of lack of availability or just horrid service.
Whatever they are doing with those vans, well it seems they have missed quite a few areas too and not just backwoods USA areas. In some areas LTE may be Verizons saving grace and in other areas it may not be any better than AT&T's HSPA+. Especially from some of the Verizon LTE speedtests I've seen online.
I've also seen conflicting reports on HF too. I've seen some people say AT&T or Verizon sucks where they are at and back it up with speedtest results. Then someone else comes along, says they are or were just recently in that same area and they show conflicting results. They then both go on making their claims. It's like ok, who do you believe?
Some will say they drop calls with AT&T all the time where they are at, yet others have had no problem in the same area. Personally I've talked to people that have dropped numerous calls while I have dropped zero with AT&T regardless of time of day and in both cases we were bouncing off the same tower. Some people also tend to blame towers or carriers for their craptacular phones quality. Could be a bad antenna or bad software affecting things and instead they blame the tower of carrier.
And too many people tend to think because one carrier is better where they are at, that that carrier is automatically better everywhere. When they may not be. They then get surprised when they see another carrier like AT&T getting better service or coverage where they are at than they are and act all surprised about it. Like, really? It's like that for every carrier.
What is more amazing IMO is how well AT&T still does, regardless of the surveys by companies like JD Power, or by those that blast them online. It's also fun watching people whine and complain about their crappy AT&T service on AT&T's Facebook page, then you go to the Verizon Facebook page and see people whining and complaining about the same things and in both cases threatening to switch to that other carrier.
So goes life in the wireless world I guess.
Its obvious AT&T does worse in the real world. They have SO many inconsistencies in the speeds of their network, less 3G coverage, and way more complaints. Complaints don't magically appear, and surveys are always paid for. We know Verizon *sucks* in your area which is why they are bringing LTE there, but you don't even have Verizon and haven't for a while so you won't even know when Verizon's 4G runs all over AT&T's network. But its not like your area is on the top list for anybody, especially with such a low population.
And thats just it, you don't know. You only know how LTE vs. HSPA+ is online yet have a huge bias for AT&T yet they DIDNT EXIST there a year ago. The ONLY reason why you have a faster network with AT&T is because of the technology AT&T is using, they just deployed a new network, and its a low populated city and state.
You can be thrilled you can get 5mbit/s at 12:00 A.M. all you want, but AT&T has 0 *4G* in your are and probably won't for a long time.
And your rural area is a former Alltel area which you were in the Alltel forums all the time. The other rural areas in this country where AT&T provides service are not fortunate enough to have the FCC staring them down.
Look at Tennessee for example, Verizon has more LTE coverage than AT&T has 3G. Thats pretty pathetic, considering how quickly they converted Alltel areas from a totally incompatible technology and the ragged old roamers network, and launched UMTS.
Its very pathetic how they can't even finish converting their EDGE network to UMTS. 500kbit/s is a LOT better than 50kbit/s on an overloaded GSM/EDGE network where you can't even hold a call because AMR-HR sounds so bad.
You always down Verizon, yet you never can respond to anything negative about AT&T and accept it, even when its your own post.
Originally Posted by whitetigergrowl
Thank you for better explaining that. It seems that whenever it has been done (only twice), that it has fixed the problem. But of course they never really explained what it meant. It was the first I've heard of it. Now it kinda makes sense.
In Spearfish, SD they've been having some tower issues it seems. Whenever I call in I explain that the voice seems fine, usually around 4-5 bars. But the data has really started to hit the skids. They say that the towers look fine from what they see. But I explain that while the voice has been fine, it's the data that's went downhill. At the time it seemed confined to a specific area, so they did the network refresh. Problem is, now it seems to have went city-wide.
But at least now I understand better what it means and does. Thank you.
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It's the one after that!
Originally Posted by HF305
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