AT&T Loses First Legal Battle Against Verizon

FutureDomain writes "A federal judge in Atlanta has declined a restraining order from AT&T that would have prevented Verizon from running ads that compared their 3G coverage to AT&T's. AT&T felt that Verizon's ads 'mislead consumers into thinking that AT&T doesn't offer wireless service in large portions of the country, which is clearly not the case.' Verizon argued that the ads clearly indicated that the maps were only of 3G coverage, and that AT&T is only suing because it doesn't want to face the truth about its network."

Of course they did...

[Anonymous Coward]

because it's not LIBEL if it's TRUE.

AT&T is the laughing stock of the industry

[stox]

They were insane to bring this to court. Verizon could not have paid for better advertising. This is going to go down in the book as one of the stupidest moves in business history.

Surprised?

[purpledinoz]

Is anyone surprised at this result? Verizon advertises its better 3G coverage. It's true. Simple as that. No more debate necessary.

Now to get rid of noncompetes

[tjstork]

The unfortunate problem with a deregulated economic system is that, companies want to use deregulation but the power to enforce contracts as a way to not have to compete. Libertarian ideas about competition are just as utopian as socialist ideas about cooperation simply because the smartest thing for a company to do is to not have to spend money and take the sort of risks needed to actually compete. They confine themselves to areas they can patent, they make principals sign non-competes and non-disclosures, obfuscate the relationship between pricing and product all so they can minimize how much they have to actually compete. IF we are to say that companies are to have the means of giving themselves monopolies, then it is fair for liberals to demand that companies accept certain social obligations in exchange for that letters patent effectively granted by the government. Only if companies do not accept the government's help in reducing competition, can they morally make the claim that they are free market and should not be interfered with by the government. Only as much as conservatives demand companies have less monopoly powers can they demand that the government have less power over the companies too.

Outcome Didn't Matter Either Way...

[blcamp]

IMHO both companies's customer service are horrible, so it's irrelevant to me how good or bad their respective networks are.

They may "hear me now"... but neither has been willing to LISTEN.

Effective ads

[intx13]

I see these ads a lot; they run often during college football games here in Florida. I have AT&T on a non-3G phone so it doesn't really apply to me, but if I were in the market for a 3G phone I'd definitely want to follow-up on those ads.

I don't think they're misleading - they say "if you want to know why your friend's 3G coverage is so spotty" (or something along those lines, with 3G mentioned every time) and the examples given are all 3G-specific (high-bandwidth applications). Besides, who advertises about the breadth of their 2G service these days? It's very clear that it's talking about 3G.

Truth In Advertising

[pipboy9999]

This is a little off topic, but if there is one industry that desperately needs some Truth In Advertising laws enforced, its the wireless industry. I don't know why AT&T is so pissed. All the major carriers play up the smallest advantage they have over competitors as 'THE' deciding factor in who is the best carrier. How can Sprint AT&T and Verizon all have the best 3G networks like they each claim in their commercials?

Re:AT&T is the laughing stock of the industry

[EraserMouseMan]

AT&T is essentially putting the spotlight on it's weakest link by drawing so much attention to this trial. Now everybody will be educated on exactly what's wrong with AT&T today.

Re:Now to get rid of noncompetes

[commodore64_love]

>>>enforce contracts as a way to not have to compete. Libertarian ideas about competition are just as utopian as socialist ideas about cooperation

I agree, but you forget that you don't "have" to sign contracts. I didn't have a contract with my old Cingular/AT&T service, nor do I have one with my new VirginMobile service. I also don't have a contract with Netscape ISP, or Dish Network. I *chose* not to take their offered contracts, and you could do the same, if you don't like being locked-in for 1-2 years.

   

Re:AT&T vs Verizon

[dkleinsc]

All of us "consumers". Notice how we aren't represented in the courtroom.

Re:Can you hear us now?

[Coren22]

Well, when Bell was split up it became Verizon, so I guess you have two monopolies beating their heads against each other there.

Damn them all

[Thyamine]

It would be nice to be able to go to a generic cell service store where there's a two step process to getting a phone: 1. select a phone, 2. select a carrier. Have it all laid out right there in one store. No need to stick with one carrier because you want a certain phone, more innovation on the cell phone side since manufacturers don't have to worry about carriers laying out the rules, and carriers forced to really compete with services because they can't guarantee users through phone lock-ins. I know that probably won't happen here in the US anytime soon, if ever, but a nice happy thought to ponder while I sip on my coffee.

Who needs that much 3G coverage?

[mcb]

Just curious if people really care that much about nationwide 3G coverage. Unless you travel constantly to many different states, what matters most is local coverage.

I visited northern NH for a week this summer and didn't have 3G (on AT&T). I barely noticed.

Re:Now to get rid of noncompetes

[englishknnigits]

You are correct in that a free market cannot exist in the presence of monopolies but that does not mean they need to be regulated. It means they need to be broken up. About competition, you really don't think AT&T and Verizon are competing right now or that AT&T + iPhone didn't drive Verizon to partner with other companies to produce Droid? o.O One of us does not know what the word competition means.

Re:Truth In Advertising

[mu51c10rd]

Actually, I think Sprint advertises the "most reliable", Verizon "the widest coverage", and ATT "the fastest" or something like that. Seems they are all touting something similar, just slightly different.

Re:AT&T is the laughing stock of the industry

[Anonymous Coward]

AT&T probably would've been better off spending the millions of dollars in legal fees on their infrastructure instead.

Re:Effective ads

[intx13]

"3G" is a weak term that means different things in these two technology stacks. AT&T's 3G is a much better 3G than Verizon's 3G, and thus also much more expensive to roll out.

Very true, but prospective customers don't want to hear the details. AT&T can come back with a line of commercials advertising how their 3G is faster than Verizon's 3G and bam - competition. The point is that the Verizon ads aren't unfairly damaging or misleading and there's plenty of room for rebuttal by AT&T.

Re:Now to get rid of noncompetes

[Sandbags]

Yup, you chose to pay a LOT more over time for something you have not abandoned either, in leiu of risking a much smaller cancelation fee...

You have a 30 day window in your contract to cancel anyway. If it works for you for 30 days, you;re likely to keep it a year. If in year 2 you want to leave, it's a $150 fee (prorated even lower depending on the contract). I just paid $74 to end my wife's Verizon contract.

I be you;re paying at leats a $10 per month premium for your "choice." I'ts not like you CAN'T leave a contract, there's just a fee to do so, so why pay a LARGER fee over time?

Re:Surprised?

[Slashdot Parent]

EVDO revA is what Verizon is advertizing. HSDPA is what ATT has. Edge is also technically in the '3G' spec, and well should be shown in the Verizon ads. But honestly 3G doesn't mean shit.

If it were possible, I'd love to see the map showing real-world AT&T coverage.

Seems the usual state of affairs for iPhone users is that they have no signal at all, let alone 3G. And we're talking in major metro areas, here.

As far as I can tell, in the real world, AT&T has the worst network.