AppleInsider published a piece this week that does a good job rounding up the latest counterarguments we’ve been hearing against Verizon’s claims in its suddenly ultra-aggressive attacks on archrival AT&T’s network — attacks that have offended AT&T right into getting the legal team involved. Both sides are applying enough spin to make you dizzy at this point, so let’s break down the latest round of pot shots, shall we?

• Verbiage on Verizon’s site suggests that swaths of its 3G network are still running at EV-DO Rev. 0 speed: false. In fact, 100 percent of Verizon’s 3G coverage has been Rev. A since 2007 — the wording refers to 1xRTT, which is the transport technology in use where EV-DO hasn’t been deployed.
• You can’t distinguish between EV-DO and 1xRTT on Verizon’s coverage map: false. Turns out Verizon has one of the more comprehensive coverage browsers among top-tier carriers. The technologies aren’t called out by name, but they’re there — they list compatible features in different coverage zones, ostensibly to reduce customer confusion since your average Joe (not to be confused with our own Joe Flatley) doesn’t know or care what “1xRTT” means.
• EDGE approaches the “low end” of EV-DO Rev. A: false. At the top end of the specification, EDGE can theoretically approach 500kbps in a cleanroom environment — but in reality, it runs at a fraction of that and suffers more severe latency issues in practice (which is sometimes a greater detriment to a mobile web browsing experience than raw speed) than UMTS and EV-DO. Heck, AT&T itself claims 75-135kbps. Meanwhile, we got 823kbps on the downlink in real-world modem use on Verizon’s Rev. A.
• AT&T’s 3.6Mbps and 7.2Mbps deployments are significantly faster than EV-DO Rev. A: true, but only in theory. We’re getting downlink speeds ranging from the low 100s — yes, 100s — to the high 800s in Chicago and New York; Chicago’s got a trial 7.2Mbps network that’s live, but even if we’re not connected to it (hard to say), we should still be on 3.6. We seriously have no idea what AT&T’s doing behind the scenes with these rollouts, but in urban areas, at least, they’re not helping. At all. And that’s assuming we can help ourselves from dropping down to EDGE.
• AT&T’s service is augmented by the nation’s largest WiFi network: we won’t even justify that with a rebuttal.
• Verizon’s gaming the system by comparing only their 3G networks: the truth hurts, AT&T. Verizon’s commercials would have you believe that by comparing only 3G coverage, Verizon wins by a country mile. And guess what? They do. To AT&T’s credit, the 3GPP’s WCDMA technology path is considerably more advanced and extensible than EV-DO Rev. A is, but beyond UMTS’s simultaneous voice / data capability, the end user’s experience is pretty similar in day-to-day use. We go where the faster real-world speeds (and the reliable calls) are.
• Verizon is “defending steep losses” with its anti-AT&T, anti-iPhone commercials: false. Verizon added 1.2 million net customers in the most recently reported quarter, excluding acquisitions.
• LTE is “still years away from viable use” on Verizon: false. They’ll have 20-30 markets commercially live in 2010, which is 20-30 more than AT&T will have. It’s not nationwide coverage by a long shot, but it gives the carrier a notable lead in the 4G transition since AT&T has sparsely detailed its LTE plans and isn’t expected to go live with any markets until 2011 at the earliest.

To be fair, Verizon’s taking a questionable angle in its advertising by trying to associate 3G coverage with call reliability — in AT&T’s case, the two are totally, completely unrelated — but the fact remains that for a bunch of New York, Chicago, and San Francisco-based Engadget editors, Verizon bests AT&T in both categories, and we’re having a hard time arguing with personal experience.

So listen, AT&T, we’re sorry Verizon made you upset, but the solution’s actually pretty simple: compete. Fix your network, keep scoring hot exclusives, and get hungry again — because in a year or two, no one’s going to give a damn that you used to have an exclusive on the iPhone.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

Editorial: Hey, AT&T — drop lawsuits, not calls originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As if a lawsuit wasn’t enough, AT&T is now taking its fight against Verizon’s ads to the court of public opinion.

In an unusual statement, AT&T attempted to “set the record straight” with respect to Verizon’s  ads campaigns, which have focused attention on the networks of the respective companies. Verizon’s ads have shown 3G coverage maps from both networks, representing Verizon, naturally, in the most favorable light.

In the most “Elves” spot, for example, note that the AT&T 3G map is decidedly less populated than the Verizon version. (My wife, viewing the ad last night, noted that the “Good luck surfing the Web with that” comment snidely implies that AT&T users can’t surf the Web outside of the 3G coverage area, while adroitly sidestepping actually making such a statement.)

It may still have a few lingering problems with the “smartbook” name, but it looks like Qualcomm is pushing ahead with the still-nascent product category nonetheless, with CEO Paul Jacobs taking advantage of a recent investor get-together in New York to show off a new Lenovo-built smartbook that will apparently be offered by AT&T. Unfortunately, neither Lenovo nor AT&T is saying anything about the device just yet, and Jacobs doesn’t seem to have offered much more than what was already known from the standard smartbook specs. There is the requisite low-res photo captured from the webcast, however, and all parties involved should be doing plenty more talking when this one makes its official debut at CES in January.

Filed under: Laptops

Qualcomm shows off Snapdragon-powered Lenovo smartbook for AT&T originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Nokia Booklet 3G is one of the nicest netbooks you can buy, with a build that aspires to be a 10-inch MacBook Pro. But it’s still just a netbook, and therein lies the problem.

Price

$300 with 2-year AT&T contract, $600 à la carte

Verdict

Nokia has built a great netbook, but they’ve done nothing to redefine the genre. Their 10-inch Booklet 3G has your typical 1.6GHz Atom, 120GB hard drive and 1GB of RAM. Running Windows 7, that means the performance is just passable. I’d be this close to pounding my head against the wall when a program would begin installing or a video would load.

That’s typical.

What’s ever so less typical is the sharp, sub-3lb unibody-esque construction (complete with sweet MacBook-like under-hatch battery and a hinge that bends nearly 180-degrees), HDMI output (not that you can really playback HD videos smoothly on an Atom) and, of course, solid integrated 3G and integrated GPS (though Nokia’s bundled Ovi software apparently requires a phone or PC to activate, and after 30 minutes of fiddling, I honestly gave up on mapping.)
The battery life is impressive, too. In nonstop 3G browsing and app running with the screen at 80% brightness, the machine’s svelte 16-cell battery ran for a bit over 6 hours and 30 minutes. That was a strenuous test, and dimming the screen and/or browsing through Wi-Fi should truly be enough to get you through the workday sans-recharge. (For instance, CrunchGear’s John Biggs reported a pretty remarkable 10 hours of movie playback.)

But alas, even for a nice netbook, the Booklet’s price is a bit too opulent for what you’re really getting: an ever-so gussied up version of the same machine you could buy from Acer, Asus, HP, etc, for half the price (before subsidies). Meanwhile, there are plenty of ULV systems in the $700 range with bigger screens, better performance and portable-minded design (of course, they’ll mostly require 3G dongles).

Give me some rhinestones and a bit more power, and we’ll talk. Or just hand me back my iPhone.

Quality build


Long battery life


Plastic monitor back makes whole thing feel cheaper


It’s still a $600 netbook

When you’re rolling out a new 7.2Mbps upgrade to your network, it naturally helps if you’ve got some compliant hardware in the stable — so to that end, AT&T has announced its USBConnect Lightning from Sierra Wireless today. Apart from 7.2Mbps downlink capability, the new model’s little more than a run-of-the-mill USB stick so there’s not a lot to say about it, though it features a trick swiveling USB connector that should make the thing more likely to work with unusual (and unusually tight) port configurations. It’ll be available on November 22 for free after rebate on contract, just in time for service launches in Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and Miami expected by the end of the year.

Filed under: Wireless

AT&T intros USBConnect Lightning for 7.2Mbps service originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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