How Exactly Will AT&T Remain Competitive?

[ilvla2]

I feel most sorry for the people like in this thread.

http://forums.androidcentral.com/showpost.php?p=1833430

Poor can't get around AT&T being what everyone around him uses and make the jump to VZW that will probably have LTE to where he lives by Christmas.

Yeah, he's definitely in a bad area for AT&T, he might consider getting a MicroCell, it wouldn't fix the coverage around him but at least he'd have 3G in his house. That said, I think he should seriously consider going with another carrier.

[mpossoff]

I feel most sorry for the people like in this thread.

http://forums.androidcentral.com/showpost.php?p=1833430

Poor can't get around AT&T being what everyone around him uses and make the jump to VZW that will probably have LTE to where he lives by Christmas.

What's there to feel sorry for? They have a choice.

[fraydog]

What's there to feel sorry for? They have a choice.

He does but mentally he is still locked in. He can't get over the mental block of everyone else around him using AT&T. People in a rural area getting locked into one carrier is a bigger problem in rural areas than some people know. That's why I want the data for market share by CMA. If that came out you would see how regionalized some of these monopolies are. VZW has these areas too, I live in one.

[GSMinCT]

Ugh. Just saw the press release that VZW is officially launching 4G in the Traverse City, Michigan area June 21st. http://news.verizonwireless.com/news...012-06-05.html

AT&T better get their sh*t in gear or VZ will have LTE in my neck of the woods before they have basic 3G running. If VZ has 4G here by december, you can bet I will be switching all my smartphone lines to a carrier that actually provides me data service.

They don't have 3G? Michigan has been the best state for AT&T, in my experience. I haven't been up to Charlevoix and Traverse City since they put HSPA+ in, but when it was EDGE, it was blazing fast for EDGE (150kbps+). Down near Detroit, I have my record speedtest of around 8mbps, and lots of 4-6mbps ones. Even back in the day, between Cingular and AT&T Wireless roaming, Michigan always had near perfect service.

[zephxiii]

Ugh. Just saw the press release that VZW is officially launching 4G in the Traverse City, Michigan area June 21st. http://news.verizonwireless.com/news...012-06-05.html

AT&T better get their sh*t in gear or VZ will have LTE in my neck of the woods before they have basic 3G running. If VZ has 4G here by december, you can bet I will be switching all my smartphone lines to a carrier that actually provides me data service.

Lol u should forward that to the office of the president!

[jseah]

They don't have 3G? Michigan has been the best state for AT&T, in my experience. I haven't been up to Charlevoix and Traverse City since they put HSPA+ in, but when it was EDGE, it was blazing fast for EDGE (150kbps+). Down near Detroit, I have my record speedtest of around 8mbps, and lots of 4-6mbps ones. Even back in the day, between Cingular and AT&T Wireless roaming, Michigan always had near perfect service.

Michigan is a huge state. AT&T didn't even roll out 3G to the upper peninsula until the spring of 2011.

[TWX]

They don't have 3G? Michigan has been the best state for AT&T, in my experience. I haven't been up to Charlevoix and Traverse City since they put HSPA+ in, but when it was EDGE, it was blazing fast for EDGE (150kbps+). Down near Detroit, I have my record speedtest of around 8mbps, and lots of 4-6mbps ones. Even back in the day, between Cingular and AT&T Wireless roaming, Michigan always had near perfect service.

Only the northwest side of the state and southern Michigan have AT&T 3G. There are a few small blobs in the Upper Peninsula, but the rest of it is EDGE-only. And the EDGE is garbage. I usually get 30Kbps down or *less* during off-peak times. AT&T hasn't given me a straight answer about the network up here and I have filed complaints with the local BBB. I'm hoping the complaint with the BBB will at least get me some decent, honest info about the 3G expansion in my area.

On a different note, I also sent a letter to my local state representative about the lack of AT&T 3G in the area. They called me today and said that he talked with AT&T last week about the problem and they told him that expanding 3G in my area would not be a smart business decision. There are not enough people to justify a 3G expansion. He also said that AT&T would have to run a lot of new backhaul to support 3G, and that costs a lot of money and time. I rebuked that Verizon has their entire network up here 3G and by the end of the year most of it will be 4G LTE. He didn't say anything to that. At the end of the call he basically said that AT&T is waiting for the federal government to throw them a bone to buildout 3G in underserved areas.

I'm still waiting on a call from the Great Lakes Region - Office of the President about the 3G plans for my area. I hope somehow the guy that called me from the state reps office was just plain wrong. If not, then I'll be heading back to VZ in late fall :/

Update: Just called CS and they looked into the case that the Office of The President opened. It said "explain that AT&T is continually upgrading its network and at this time 3G service is scheduled for his area late in 2013".

[drummer07]

My question is how much of Verizon's footprint is enhanced backhauled? Are they still using t1s/t3s? I've read that att has spent much more on network upgrades than Verizon has in the past few years. Maybe att should have gone cdma.

Sent from HTC PH39100 using HowardForums

[ggore]

Only the northwest side of the state and southern Michigan have AT&T 3G. There are a few small blobs in the Upper Peninsula, but the rest of it is EDGE-only. And the EDGE is garbage. I usually get 30Kbps down or *less* during off-peak times. AT&T hasn't given me a straight answer about the network up here and I have filed complaints with the local BBB. I'm hoping the complaint with the BBB will at least get me some decent, honest info about the 3G expansion in my area.

On a different note, I also sent a letter to my local state representative about the lack of AT&T 3G in the area. They called me today and said that he talked with AT&T last week about the problem and they told him that expanding 3G in my area would not be a smart business decision. There are not enough people to justify a 3G expansion. He also said that AT&T would have to run a lot of new backhaul to support 3G, and that costs a lot of money and time. I rebuked that Verizon has their entire network up here 3G and by the end of the year most of it will be 4G LTE. He didn't say anything to that. At the end of the call he basically said that AT&T is waiting for the federal government to throw them a bone to buildout 3G in underserved areas.

I'm still waiting on a call from the Great Lakes Region - Office of the President about the 3G plans for my area. I hope somehow the guy that called me from the state reps office was just plain wrong. If not, then I'll be heading back to VZ in late fall :/

Update: Just called CS and they looked into the case that the Office of The President opened. It said "explain that AT&T is continually upgrading its network and at this time 3G service is scheduled for his area late in 2013".

Now now now, there are those on here who will swear on a stack of Bibles that AT&T will have every bit of that EDGE up there converted to 3G/HSPA+EB by the end of THIS year! And the rest of the country too. What a crock! LOL

[zephxiii]

Durp.................

[GSMinCT]

Only the northwest side of the state and southern Michigan have AT&T 3G. There are a few small blobs in the Upper Peninsula, but the rest of it is EDGE-only. And the EDGE is garbage. I usually get 30Kbps down or *less* during off-peak times. AT&T hasn't given me a straight answer about the network up here and I have filed complaints with the local BBB. I'm hoping the complaint with the BBB will at least get me some decent, honest info about the 3G expansion in my area.

On a different note, I also sent a letter to my local state representative about the lack of AT&T 3G in the area. They called me today and said that he talked with AT&T last week about the problem and they told him that expanding 3G in my area would not be a smart business decision. There are not enough people to justify a 3G expansion. He also said that AT&T would have to run a lot of new backhaul to support 3G, and that costs a lot of money and time. I rebuked that Verizon has their entire network up here 3G and by the end of the year most of it will be 4G LTE. He didn't say anything to that. At the end of the call he basically said that AT&T is waiting for the federal government to throw them a bone to buildout 3G in underserved areas.

I'm still waiting on a call from the Great Lakes Region - Office of the President about the 3G plans for my area. I hope somehow the guy that called me from the state reps office was just plain wrong. If not, then I'll be heading back to VZ in late fall :/

Update: Just called CS and they looked into the case that the Office of The President opened. It said "explain that AT&T is continually upgrading its network and at this time 3G service is scheduled for his area late in 2013".

WOW. That shows a lot about AT&T's strategy. It seems that they don't have a full HSPA+ strategy as some have suggested, even though that's what they absolutely need to compete with Verizon. Heck, fixing the EDGE would be a start, but apparently they're not doing that either. Aren't they the only carrier with good coverage on the UP at all? That might factor into it as well.

[jseah]

WOW. That shows a lot about AT&T's strategy. It seems that they don't have a full HSPA+ strategy as some have suggested, even though that's what they absolutely need to compete with Verizon. Heck, fixing the EDGE would be a start, but apparently they're not doing that either. Aren't they the only carrier with good coverage on the UP at all? That might factor into it as well.

Actually, Verizon has good coverage in the UP due to the acquisition of Alltel. Granted there are dead spots in the really remote spots, but for the most part the coverage is solid.

The last time I was up in the area, about 3 years ago, driving from the Michigan/Ohio border north and then west in the UP to Marquette, I had entered a Verizon dead zone about half an hour east of Marquette for about 5-10 miles. The rest of the time in the state, I had solid signal.

[zephxiii]

2013 sounds about right with the 1 year delay from the merger etc., also there might be some budgeting shifting towards LTE etc.. Most likely a combo of the two and or shifting priorities to other areas.

[TWX]

The office of the president is also sending me a letter explaining the status and some general 3G plans for the NE MI network, I'll scan it and post it on here as soon as I get it in the mail.

[zephxiii]

The office of the president is also sending me a letter explaining the status and some general 3G plans for the NE MI network, I'll scan it and post it on here as soon as I get it in the mail.

Awesome. Can't wait.