AT&T vs. Verizon
AT&T vs. Verizon - User Provided Review:
I was in the market for a new cell phone and service provider over the weekend and I had narrowed my options down to Verizon or Cingular AT&T. I’ve had both services in the past and haven’t really had any complaints about either. I was looking for a pretty basic plan, nothing too fancy. I am a little bit of a gadget junkie so a cool phone was mildly important. Here’s what I found.
AT&T
- Plans - Plans in my range were very similar to Verizon, no difference there
- Phones - Had their ups and downs, much larger selection online. I came in the day after the iPhone release and they were obviously sold out. I wasn’t looking to spend quite that much but after playing with the model in the store, I probably would’ve caved if one was in stock.
- Customer Service - CRAP. I go to the same AT&T store every time and its always busy so there was no surprise there. I meandered (yes, meandered) around the store for at least 15 minutes but it was so busy, I wasn’t able to speak to an AT&T representative. From my previous experience, the in-store folks are as helpful as AT&T will let them be. Unfortunately, AT&T makes you direct any further problems, questions, etc. through their phone system which is horrific.
Verizon
- Plans - The plan at Verizon with the same price was very similar. The only difference was instead of 5000 night and weekend minutes at AT&T (which I’ll never use), I get unlimited night and weekend minutes at Verizon.
- Phones - No iPhone here but thats probably a good thing for my wallet. Verizon offers some interesting features like mobile TV and navigation which is available for a fee. Verizon’s phone are similar to AT&T’s but offer some of these extra services if you subscribe.
- Customer Service - MUCH better than AT&T. First of all, we were greeted at the door. The Verizon store was equally as busy as AT&T but they must have had atleast 10 people working compared to the 4 or 5 at AT&T the day after the biggest event in the history of that company. Seriously…how do you only have 5 people working the day after you released the iPhone? I worked with the same Verizon representative the whole time. It sounded like they aren’t allowed to help other customers until you are done with them. I did notice afterwards that if they didn’t have any employees available to help you, they put your name on a list so they can help people in order which is something very irritating over at AT&T. In the back of the Verizon store, they also had a tech support desk which I had never heard of. You can actually bring your phone into the store, and they attempt to fix it there. I’ve probably sent 5 AT&T phones back to get fixed or trade for a refurbished phone. My sister-in-law who was with us, was having problems with her keypad. She took it in with us and came out with a refurbished phone right on the spot. That would be nice.
You can probably guess I went with Verizon and got a new phone and a 2 year chain contract. It’s only been a couple days but I am pretty pleased so far and would recommend my local Verizon store over the local AT&T store. Maybe they vary from city to city but the customer service and tech support at the store I visited was far superior to anything I have received from AT&T.
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January 15th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
[...] AT&T vs. Verizon [...]
August 18th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Since Sprint and Verizon are both CDMA networks and share towers, I’m using Sprint and roam on Verizon whenever I choose.
Not to mention I have 3000 minutes and unlimited web/txt for $44.99 a month.
August 18th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
What about T-Mobile? I’ve used them for years and love everything about them…plans, phones, contracts (shorter), and customer service.
August 18th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
I can get service with Verizon just about anywhere, and they have way cooler phones than AT&T. Verizon has really great customer service, while AT&T has awful customer service.
August 18th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
You people might be the only ones ever to have a good experience with Verizon’s customer service. Look up some cases online. I’m dumping Verizon as soon as my contract expires - you may think their phones are “way cooler”, but look carefully at the operating systems, and take note of how they’re all the same. I could renew my contract and get a new phone with a huge rebate, but there are exactly zero Verizon phones that do more than the phone I currently have for under $200, and I got my phone five years ago.
August 18th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Maybe you guys didn’t know that employees at Verizon stores work on COMMISSION! You think you’re getting good customer service, and in fact you might be…but not because they care about you, they care that you can bring them commission. Personally, I have Verizon and have had terrible experience with their customer service AFTER signing up. Try giving their Customer Service number a try when your bill isn’t turning out the way you “signed up” for. I’m going back to AT&T.
August 18th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Who cares if they are working for commission? If that makes the customer service better then so be it. Maybe AT&T should do the same thing.
August 18th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Verizon LIED to me when I wanted to increase my minutes. The phone rep said that if I increaed my minutes it wouldn’t extend my contract. Well it did… for another two years. That two years is almost over and I’m done with Verizon. Verizon nickle and dimes ya on everything. And Verizon phones use BREW not JAVA for apps so I can’t use any free stuff from Google Mobile or anywhere. I can only use Verizon apps (that they charge for). Verizon is ugh horrible.
August 18th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Pretty much everything said above is true. I really have only one comment, which is that i do have an iPhone and all the features are great while everything is covered in one bill, BUT my reception and service on the sucker is terrible. I get 5 bars in places i will never need it and no service in places i am desperate. I bought this phone to obtain awesome features, but only the camera has been reliable. Whenever i see the at&t commercials with the “more bars in more places” slogan i laugh and then get pissed. (p.s. i live in arizona so if it works better in other areas don’t mind this comment)
August 18th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
I hate at&t so much. The service with them is crap! Verizons service is so much better and I love how they have CDMA/GSM cells now. AT&T is made up of crap! AT&T lies when they say “The Best Service”! Its fake! They will cut off ur service for Roaming to long!! Its called “Partner Usage”
August 18th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
If At&t would fix there CRAPY customer service I would recommend highly. Business laptop owners look to the 3g service its by far better than verizon hands down, although sprints isn’t bad.
August 18th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
I like AT&T, i get good service just about anywhere (98.999)OF THE TIME. i had(in order) metroPcs,verizon,nextel and now AT&T. For me att is taking over.
August 18th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
AT&T RULES!!!!!!!! YOU CAN’T SPELL “EVIL” WITHOUT TAKING LETTERS FROM “VERIZON WIRELESS”.
August 18th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
verizon has way cooler phones thant att
can verizon phones be used on cingular networks
August 18th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
I meant to say att networks
August 18th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
I have Verizon for 3 phones and I now despise Verizon. They do have better service than ATT where I live but its not worth it. I have had Verizon now for a little over three years and no kidding in the past year my bills vary and have not been the same like they should be. We dont use any fancy features, just call and text and one month my bill goes from 140 to 180. Try reasoning with VZW about it and get nowhere.
August 18th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
Verizon sucks ass! We had three lines for over 4years and for the last couple of years the bill was never less then $130 dollars!! The only thing we did was call and only two phones were used for most calls, with $5 a month texting on only one phone. How the hell did the bill end up $130 and up, try asking them. When I called to ask if we can terminate the service because our two years were up I was asked why was I terminating it. I answered because I get overcharged for minutes that I don’t even use and i only get 50 texts to other networks a month! I was told to “downgrade” my minutes- bullshit! The phones r ALL the same, they have no “cool” features and are overpriced. Plus if you want to switch phones you gotta wait till you two year contract expires because there are no SIM cards and you can’t just put your SIM card into another phone when it breaks. When you get Verizon you are pretty much screwed for two years and you will get charged for everything. It even costs $10 to get your contacts transfered from an old phone to a new one! We got ATT and more then happy with our roll over plan with unlimited texting and most of all with the 15% discount that we got because of where one of us works! ATT is better, more flexible and has awesome phones. And since you have a SIM card you can actually get any phone you want, like those cool phone from Europe or China no one has even heard about here
August 18th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
I’ve had verizon for over 5 years now and have never had any problems. I just got the LG voyager (better than iphone imo though not as flashy) for under $100, so those saying they have no good phones fo runder $200 and all the phones are exactly the same .. stop the lies. they even have the blackberry 8230 for $50.
August 18th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Oh and the person saying it costs $10 to transfer contacts, biggest lie ever. Create an online account and you can back up your contacts online for FREE and transfer them to ANY phone for FREE. Wow people, why lie?
August 18th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
I had Verizon for 2 years and i recently switched to ATT. I switched because verizon nickel and dimes you for everything. Customer service has been pretty good with them over the 2 years, although I would say I had to call in at least 10 times wondering why my bills is much different without changes in usage. They have mostly always taken care of me, but They cripple their PDA devices.
While some on you may use phones like the Voyager and stuff like that, I use blackberries and other smartphones. On these devices, you have to pay more to use extra features (like GPS in which VZW disables and you would have to use VZ navigator which is not free for Blackberrie) that’s already included on the same phone for TMO or ATT. I mean I am already paying 44.99 x 2 for blackberry data and I still have to pay another 20 bucks for GPS??? On Att I pay 30 bucks for blackberry service and the GPS is unlocked. It just seems like for anything I wanted to do, it would cost and extra 10 bucks per month (for 2 lines) to do it. It got too frustrating. Now I switched and coverage is about the same in my area, I have a plan with unlimited feature that include some of the stuff that would have costed an extra 30 bucks more a month with VZW. So for now, ATT works best for myself…. maybe in 2 years when my contract is about up, VZW has made some changes regarding these “extra” features that you are being nickeled and dimed for and stop crippling their PDA devices.
September 7th, 2008 at 4:22 am
who cares if the phone is cooler? a phone is great to me as long as it gets good reception and the sound quality is good. I have at&t and i get great reception almost everywhere i go and in the places i dont, verizon dosent either.