“Verizon’s vaunted network is handling the onslaught of new iPhones very well, according to a report published by web application performance firm Compuware Gomez,” Steven Sande reports for TUAW. “The report states that Verizon’s mobile data performance seems untouched by the addition of hundreds of thousands of data-hungry iPhones to the network. There was virtually no change — about four-tenths of one percent slower — in the performance of the Verizon network in terms of browsing and page load times.”
Sande reports, “The firm made measurements of data performance on the Verizon network on the first four official days of iPhone availability — February 10 – 13… Compuware Gomez believes that between 500,000 and 700,000 new iPhone users are now using the Verizon network.”
Read more in the full article here.
Yet more proof that AT&T bites.
Thats not exactly proof that AT&T sucks, they kinda do but thats not good proof. A few hundred thousand extra phones is nothing compared to what AT&T went through with millions of extra phones in a short time.
Like Praus said.
At&t had an overwhelming surge of phone iphone customers on their opening days that no one ever anticipated and the data usage was also not expected. Signs of success. Whereas Verizon didn’t have that big of a demand plus Verizon already knew how to prepare and plan ahead.
Yeah At&t can still do better.
Agreed.
No one knew what a revolutionary phone the iphone would be, let alone how much usage would result.
ATT works just fine out in the west. Verizon has better coverage but ATT has been fine.
AT&T stinks it up in my area too… HOWEVER, there is something to be said about VZ network NOT allowing simultaneous Voice/DATA.
In either case the VZ customers are happy about their iPhones…
It’s not that simultaneous voice and data is not allowed; it’s that the network is not capable of it (yet—they’re working on it).
“Yet more proof that AT&T bites.”
What a bunch of f*cking assholes!!
Nobody knew how the iPhone woud impact a carrier’s data traffic when it first arrived four f*cking years ago.
Verizon has had all that time to patch up their crappy CDMA network, which still is slower than GSM, AND can’t do simultaneous voice/data.
Only the intellectually challenged will continue to harp on an issue, without first considering all the facts.
You are one of the most challenged.
I was hoping that MDN would put up a poll periodically (perhaps once a week or two) to see how readers were faring with service on Verizon, and if any reduction of network pressure on AT&T (due to users moving to Verizon) would improve their service at all. (I’m in the NY metro area and find calls to Manhattan to be disastrous at times in that it can drop out several times per single call. Not good for business. Calls in my direct area or to places more distant (aside from NYC) are not usually affected too much.)
Yeah, but you still can’t surf and talk at the same time. When Verizon can do that then we will have a true competitor to ATT.
Agreed, that limitation is a deal breaker for me. Fortunately I don’t have any issues with AT&T signal in South LA or Long Beach where I live/work.
Talk to me in a year when they have several millions on tab. Until then they are in the honeymoon phase like AT&T was with the first.
According to the research done recently, Android people are heavier data users than iPhone people. This makes sense, since Android skews heavily towards the techno (geeky) crowd, who will take advantage of the unlimited data. Moveover, Droid has also been heavily marketed as a tech gadget, and the user base is significantly more techie than iPhone.
In other words, Verizon has already gone through the same onslaught of data-hungry smartphones, the iPhone addition (or substitution) won’t really make much difference.
The fundamental cause for the difference between AT&T and Verizon is that CDMA, as obsolete as many here would make it appear, is much more frugal with the frequency spectrum, and is also much more effective in penetrating obstacles (walls, trees, etc). For the same coverage and service, AT&T must build 30% more towers and shorter distance. With the overwhelming general “not in my back yard” attitude towards these towers, it is an insurmountable challenge for AT&T to keep expanding the infrastructure.
So what happens with LTE, or ” 4G”. Are the infrastructure limitations the same for AT&T?.
LTE is a new technology, separate from the current GSM and CDMA. AT&T and Verizon are, or will, both be using LTE as we go forward. From what I’ve read, LTE is basically a combination of the advantages of each, with a few extra goodies thrown in.
AT&T didn’t have a problem at first either. Wait until Verizon has millions of iPhones on their network like AT&T does now and then make the comparison.
Verizon also has only had the iPhone for about 10 days, and only current Verizon subscribers have had it that long. New Verizon iPhone users couldn’t even get the iPhone until Feb. 10. Let’s see how things hold up with a few million subscribers.
That being said, Verizon hopefully learned from AT&T’s missteps and beefed up its network prior to launching the iPhone. All carriers had better keep increasing their networks, because as 4G comes in and more and more people get smartphones over regular mobile phones, data usage is only going to increase exponentially.
Predrag is right: The only reason Verizon is better in areas like Manhattan and San Francisco is because CDMA operates on a different spectrum than AT&T’s GSM. Verizon’s frequencies with CDMA penetrate buildings much better than AT&T’s frequencies. That’s why AT&T bought new licenses for a different frequency a year or two ago, so it could try to improve reception. Apparently didn’t buy enough, and didn’t erect enough new towers, but that’s much easier said than done.
Ok… 500-700k on the verizon network.
Where oh where is the “bloodbath” that MDN said was going to happen?
Someone needs to repost all the quotes of MDN saying that AT&T will have every iPhone user defect to verizon, like was done when the verizon iPhone was finally announced.
Cause MDN got this one wrong, not even close.
Glad verizon has the iPhone now, I sold someone on getting an iPhone now that they have it. But it’s not the end of AT&T like was predicted by MDN.
I’d like to see the numbers of verizon iPhone owners that switched from AT&T, compared to those that just upgraded from some weak ass android on verizon.
No outsiders know what the official count of iPhones on the Verizon carrier is. They’re just approximating. Gomez says he “believes” he knows some vague number, but he doesn’t know a damn thing for certain.
I’m guessing the numbers aren’t worth bragging about but so what. Any revenue Apple gets with the Verizon iPhone is pure gravy and if it takes time to build up iPhone subscribers, so what. For all I know, consumers’ wallets are still tapped out since the holidays and they’re still waiting for their credit bills to shrink a bit.
There was an article last week also claiming close to 900k iPhones on verizon.
I agree with you that no outsider actually knows the exact number.
But bloodbath? MDN isn’t even close.
Now when the iPhone 5 launches… We’ll see what happens then.
1-Apple is currently supply constrained on iPhones and were before the Verizon units went into production. Verizon can easily sell all the phones Apple can ship them.
2-Some are waiting for their contracts to expire.
3-I’m not changing from my 3GS until an LTE iPhone ships. If AT&T can do that- fine. I do know that Verizon is up in about 40 cities and my local area is supposed to be on LTE before summer.
AS to the companies- I think they are both ripoff artists.
Totally pointless article. Of course the Verizon network is “holding up”. The Verizon iPhone has been available for less than two weeks. And Verizon is sharing the iPhone load with AT&T, whereas AT&T’s network had to handle the load all by itself. Hopefully, everyone will benefit from the addition of an additional iPhone carrier.
Well, Verizon has only had 4 years to prepare, of course you’d expect them to do better.
Also note, Verizon HAS the android on the network already. There was nothing anywhere near equivalent to the iPhone when it hit AT&T. No one really KNEW what to expect. Vz knew how bad it could get and already had a nearly equivalent load, (perhaps much of which is simply changing phones from Android to iPhone, for a tiny net effect). As noted, once we have some idea of how many new iPhones are on the Verizon network we will have a better idea of its capacity.
Was android out before the iPhone?
I know they copied and targeted the iPhone…
I would have to go back and check, but I could have sworn android didn’t launch a phone till a few months after iPhone’s launch. (the first iPhone)
Yeah I was right, iPhone was introduced in jan 2007.
Android was introduced nov 2007.
I re read what you wrote, thought you meant verizon had android before the iPhone came to AT&T.
I agree, I think the larger portion of the iPhone sales for verizon are upgrades from existing verizon customers.
iPhone was demonstrated in January of 2007 and offered for sale in June. First Android phone was t-Mobile’s G1 (made by HTC and called ‘Dream’ outside the US), and it came out in October 2008 (almost two years after iPhone 1.
When all the networks become LTE, does that mean the limitations imposed on one carrier or another due to current technology, CDAM or GSM or whatever, will be a thing of the past? And if you have a ATT LTE iPhone can you use a Verizon LTE ell tower to improve signals in ATT weak areas? If so, what will differentiate the carriers? Price and Data Plans?
The concept of single mobile technology has been working quite well outside of the US, where everyone was on GSM, and everyone upgraded to UMTS at the same time. So, in the rest of the world, your ‘O2’ phone works on ‘O2’ network, but can easily roam on ‘Vodafone’ towers if ‘O2’ does not have a signal. If the phone is unlocked, you can easily pull out your ‘Telenor’ SIM card and stick in a ‘T-Mobile’ SIM card.
Differentiators are generally prices and coverage (much like in the US).
In an informal comparison my iPhone 4, running on AT&T, was able to update Maps, Stocks, Weather and Google faster than the three brand new Verizon versions doing the same things at the same time. We tested them repeatedly over the course of a trip across town.
Admittedly, this is just an infinitesimally small sample, in one city on one day, so one can’t draw conclusions from it. But, it at least suggests that there should be more formal testing to determine if there are really any differences among the networks. I’ve been telling those counting the hours for a Verizon iPhone that their performance will depend on a lot of things, not least of which is where they’re located when they try to use it. I remain of the belief that neither network is universally better than the other [forgetting about the whole simultaneous data/voice thing, which is a point in AT&T’s favor].
@Predrag Cite your research please, I would like to look it over.
The Droid users I know are all “cheap” or “penny-pinchers” who were motivated by the lack of iPhone on Verizon, and the *Perceived* (mistakenly) extra cost of Apple Equipment.
Of the 15 or so I know, 100 percent of them have apps that allow them to download (Illegally) music with seemingly no restraints. The apps reminded me of the hay days of napster, search-download-done. I was shocked at how easy it was for them to do this.
This to me seems like the hidden WOW factor that is selling Android: Cheap, thieves, and Apple haters. I have seen nothing else compelling, the interfaces suck, the software is buggy, confusing, and other than piracy pretty limited.