In war of words, T-Mobile vs Verizon spat has misleading statements on all ways

Posted on by Jules Wang

T-Mobile CEO John Legere took four minutes and twenty-two seconds to rat out its largest competitor by far, Verizon, over its recent advertising campaign against the Un-carrier, specifically when it comes to unlimited data.

Verizon has been picking on both T-Mobile and Sprint through the use of Jamie Foxx in some ads. The nation’s number three and four carriers by subscriber base recently introduced unlimited data plans with some stipulations — data speeds can be limited for streaming music, video and gaming and if users eat up too much data in any given cycle.

Big Red frames the offerings as “limited” when it comes to speed and, thus, HD video — unless you’re willing to pay “a lot” extra for it. Verizon also proclaims that it brings the best value with “all the data you need” without overage charges.

Typically outspoken Legere decided to respond to Verizon from a T-Mobile call center in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Let’s take John point by point.

  • Is T-Mobile closing the technology gap with the checkmark? In terms of LTE coverage and through implementing more LTE-Advanced technologies, then yes. In terms of speed and reliability metrics, it depends on the study you pick. Like this one.
  • Did Verizon lose postpaid subscribers in the third quarter, as Legere claimed? Not in the slightest — it made a net add of 442,000, actually. That growth rate is only about a third of what it gained in the year-ago quarter, but by no means does it represent a loss.
  • Verizon did not say that T-Mobile doesn’t offer unlimited high speed data — it is mention in its ads that customers pay (way) extra to have it.
  • Legere mentions Big Red’s PopData program, which allows users unlimited high-speed data access for up to 60 minutes at a time for a charge of up to $3 per session. Legere disingenuously calculates a monthly cost for continuous high-speed data on 30-minute sessions to be $2,880. PopData isn’t designed to be for continuous use, but that’s Verizon’s prerogative.
  • The rebel of a CEO did make a valid poke at a recent rash of complaints about Verizon charging data overages out of the blue. Customers reported frequent, unaccounted for “data usage events” on their bills, leading to overage fees mounting to, in some cases, thousands of dollars. The Plain Dealer out of Cleveland reported thousands of complaints to the FCC. Verizon insists that the issue mostly involves the iPhone’s Wi-Fi Assist feature that favors cell towers over local networks, that the problem is not systematic on its end and that it will work with every customer if they report an issue with their bill.

He ends with a social media campaign push for those who’ve felt tossed around by Verizon with a hashtag of #DontGetVerizoned. Legere is also testing waters with three poster ads, asking his followers to retweet on Twitter or like on Facebook their choice for which ad should get a national push.

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Verizon PopData gives users unlimited data for up to an hour at a time

Posted on by Jules Wang

You don’t need unlimited data plans. At least, that’s what Verizon says.But you can have all the data you can use while not having it count toward your data bucket for the month for up to an hour with Verizon’s new account feature called “PopData.”PopData lets you have 30- or 60-minute unlimited data sessions at a time on your cellular ...

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