Silly We're-The-Best-Wireless-Network Dispute Moves To Court
from the sue-sue-sue dept
Earlier this month we pointed out how ridiculous it was that every mobile operator in the US seemed to somehow claim their network was technically superior. Each worded the claim slightly differently, because when you define the metrics in your own way, you can make anything come out on top. As we noted, Alltel claimed to have the "largest" network, Verizon "the most reliable," Sprint "the most powerful," and Cingular "the fewest dropped calls." It would appear that there's now a bit of tussling behind the scenes over these claims. Sprint claimed that Cingular's "fewest dropped calls" was false advertising, and complained to the National Advertising Division of the Better Business Bureau. Whatever they concluded is secret -- but it would appear that Cingular came out ahead, as they've now gone and filed a lawsuit so that a judge can claim publicly the fewest dropped calls claim is not misleading, while at the same time saying that Sprint's "most powerful network" is misleading. Isn't there something better these companies can do than waste money on something like this? By this point, everyone knows that all of the different networks have their pros and cons, and no one really cares whose network is the most powerful or has the fewest dropped calls. They want to know if the network works for them, if the plans are reasonable and if the phones are decent. That's it. If one firm has the fewest dropped calls, but I live in a deadzone, I don't care about the advertising campaign. If another firm has the "most powerful network," but the phones suck, it's not going to matter either. Instead of squabbling over ridiculous advertising phrases that no one believes anyway, why not focus on giving customers better service?Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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cell phones
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Re: cell phones
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Actually
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Re: Actually
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Ummm
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Re: Ummm
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Re:
idiot.
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Re: no cell phone
The same thing happens when you are having a conversation with someone, and several others or even two other people startup nearby with no regard to the interference with the parties who were already having a conversation.
I don't agree that you are allowed to set in silence in public and have noone chatting on a phone nearby.
Nor will you blame distractions on the part of people using cell phones on the phone. It is just another stupid way that senseless people can be distracted and do things like have traffic accidents, or whatever.
Dumb comment about cell phones.
the problem commented on by techdirt where Cingular asserts any claim to have good service is silly, as they have been pulling out equipment (at least cellular) rather than installing it. I have a digital / cell phone that has gotten nearly to the point of uselessness, and it would require me to sign a ridiculous contract to get a replacement, when all I wanted was continuing service from the phone. Now I'll never re-sign with them just to have them pull out all the infrastructure for the next phone I get from them in a few years and try to force another contract on me.
Stupid company (s)
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Re:
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My network is bigger than yours
If it works for you use it, if not try someone else next time, or pay the early termination to find out that they're all about the same when there is equal tower saturation in a given area.
I use Cingular even though I am a Bell baby (My dad worked for bell AKA Verizon) and many members of my family use Verizon. The roll-over minutes are great, but not really the selling point for me, the courteous and fast service is nice (and from what I hear, I've been lucky with that), but the biggest selling point and renewal point is that even in the middle of Amish country here in PA, I have only encountered 3 dead zones between here and Philly, the Poconos, and the shores.
Dropped calls are very rare for me, and no service is even more rare. From the Poconos to southern Maryland or New Jersey, my personal Cingular phone service has out performed my companies Nextel service every time.
I haven't, and probably won't upgrade my phone for the Cingular PTT feature, but it has to be better than Nextel's. In this area a child's $5.00 walkie talkie works better, but that might just be here.
Oh and didn't Sprint just change there name to something like Embarg? Or is that just a division of Sprint.
Stupid "Way back" moment here
Does anyone remember the time when Sprint wireless was called A9 or circle 9 or something goofy like that? I had that, and their predecessor, and pathetically enough, I still have the brick of a phone they offered. No longer used, but the batter weighs 3 or 4 time more than any modern cell phone.
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Re: My network is bigger than yours
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Well, I'll be...
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Is that you, George W?
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Is that you, George W?
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advertisements
"Actual milage may vary"...."This suit does not make you fly"..."Do not attempt this stunt"...."The content may be hot"...ect ect ect
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The largest, but you've never heard of them
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RE: agreed
I ended up cancelling my contract and switched to Verizon. I haven't had one dropped call with them and pleased with their service. I have to laugh every time I see the Cingular commercial with "fewest dropped calls". Everyone that I know who has Cingular in South Florida is living a nightmare - something that CIngular fails to mention.
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Re: RE: agreed
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Re: RE: agreed
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OVER CHARGE BY VERIZON
THE TELEPHONE COMPANIES ARE TAKEN THE CONSUMERS TO THE CLEANERS. WHAT CAN WE DO TO DEAL WITH THIS MATTER ?
TXRE1937@HOTMAIL.COM
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cell service
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alltel bill
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Sprint Customer
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Cingular
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Wireless Network
what i want is to make a wireless network to reuse the same equipemnt on other project. but the main use is we cannot have a proper communication as far as internet is concern we r use wireless divice for it but we cannot use a wireless divies for LAN network and company systems which is sensitive when the link is broken or the link is less in speed performance.
What do u guys think what we have to do we r scard to make wireless network for LAN + Internet+ Compnay software. we have good servers (dell) and can spend money on wireless but still we dont go for it just bcoz of low speed or link broken.
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Re: Wireless Network
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cingular
the most dropped customers.
Less customers = less dropped calls
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I need help
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Cingular/AT&T connection problems
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